Wandering Angus
Celtic views
Wandering Angus
Kingship
The matter of who would lead a Celtic group seems to have been decided by a prominent group of nobles rather than divine right or primogeniture (i.e. the throne being passed to the eldest son or daughter as the case may be when no sons were conceived). Although these data are circumstantial (recall that the Celts left no written record), it appears that Kings were chosen on the basis of who was the fittest mentally and physically for the job rather than by kinship to the current King. The King ... << MORE >>
Cead Mile Failte
Cead Mile Failte (pronounced "kaid meel-aa fall-cha") means one hundred thousand welcomes in Gaelic.
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Onen hag oll (one and all)
Onen hag oll (pronounced owan hag ol) is Cornish for "one and all" and appears in a variety of contexts. Its meaning seems self-evident.
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Caste system
The caste system among the Celts be they Irish, Scottish, Welch, etc. was similar to the caste system in place in most of the ancient world. At the bottom was the menial class...herdsman, house servants, and so forth. Next, came the warriors and, then, the intellectual class (judges, doctors, priests...druids, that is...and the like). At the top were the Kings and Queens. There were a whole range of Kings and Queens...not just one. The origin of the terms associated with Kings and Queens has to do with reaching ... << MORE >>
Literacy
Some have argued that the Celts were illiterate because they did not develop a language of their own until the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. It is true they did not develop a written language of their own until then, but it is not true they were illiterate prior to that time. In effect, they used languages of those they came into contact with to record a variety of things (praises to various Gods, words on coins, records of ceremonies, and so forth). The languages used were typically Latin and Greek. Later after they developed Ogham script (depicted above and discussed in detail in other portions of this blog) work began to appear in "Irish" (the oldest literature after those of Latin and Greek in the western world) and eventually "Welch" (Scottish and other Celtic languages came much later). Thus, though they did not develop a language of their own until the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. They were not illiterate in that they used written language prior to that time.
One reason they did not write down their religious tenets is that they wanted their priests to commit the beliefs to memory (training that often took the better part of twenty years) and thought that written texts would weaken that tradition.
Origin of the term "Celts"
There is some dispute over the whether the term Celts originated with them or was made up to refer to them by more recent scholars (for an overview of this dispute see Ellis, 2004). We will take the view that the Celts referred to themselves as Keltoi (which has to do with being hidden). At least that is the way the Greeks who came into contact with the early Celts reported that they referred to themselves as "Keltoi". From Keltoi to Celts is not a great leap and seems a ... << MORE >>
Kiss me I'm Irish!
Tabhair pog dom, Taim Eireannach pronounced "Too-irr pogue dum, Toyme ay-ron-ock" in Gaelic translates to "Kiss me I'm Irish!" in English.
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Introduction
The early Celts did not leave a written record. They did not develop a written language until after they came into contact with the Greeks and Romans. Many think this was due to an inability to do so. More likely, it is due to their strong oral tradition and belief that if they put their central tenets into written form that outsiders could access those records and weaken their belief structure. Regardless, the account here will rely on others accounts of the Celts (trading ... << MORE >>
God be with you (hello)
"Dia dhuit" is pronounced "dee-ah dwit" and translates as "God be with you" but functions as "Hello" in conversation.
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