Real Celtic names?

[docoflove1974]

Although it may be slightly off-topic - does anyone know which is the right term: 'Gaulish' or 'Gallic'. I have seen both used in history to describe the peoples, language, customs etc. of Gaul.

 

In the linguistic sense, those are two different terms:

 

Gaulish is the Celtic language and people of what is now Central and Southern France.

 

Gallic is often used to discuss the branch of Romance spoken in the country of France, as well as northwestern Italy (think Piemonte, Lombardia, Liguria, and often Val d'Aosta and Emilia-Romagna), and its people.

 

Perhaps there are other definitions for those terms, but linguistically that's what they refer to.

Edited January 14, 2007 by docoflove1974

[DecimusCaesar]

Thanks for the clarification Doc! I was unsure about the use of Gaulish and Gallic as well.

[The Augusta]

Yes, thank you, Doc - it clears things up wonderfully. I suppose the confusion has not been helped by the fact that there were several 'Gauls' - Cisalpine, Traspadane, etc.

[caldrail]

What worries me is how accurate can we be about celtic languages? Latin survived as a dead language purely because the christian church preserved it, but we don't know how it was spoken by romans. 'Celtic' on the other hand hasn't anything like that that continuity. Take for instance a hill fort near me. Barbury Castle. The name is definitely english and derives from Bera's Burgh, or the 'Hilltop Fort of Bera'. I'm sure you can think of other examples. My point is that our modern perception of these names is coloured by a historical blending and change, not to mention the invasions of our lands by romans and normans, both of whom foisted their own languages on us and therefore coloured the local dialects somewhat. Can we really be accurate about celtic names that were rarely recorded in the first place?