The Celts emerged as a cultural entity in about - 1000 B.C. in an area shown on the map in bright green  to the north east of France and the West of Switzerland.

From there, they gradually expanded throughout Europe to the North, East and West. They reached their hightest point of expansion in around - 400 B.C. when their culture and language predominated all over continental Europe and as far as the Black Sea and Asia Minor (nowadays Turkey). The parts marked in orange on the map to the west extremities of Britain and France show the areas where vestiges of Celtic have survived nowadays as a living language.

They all spoke a variant of one same language but they didn't write , they had an oral tradition. Knowledge was handed down orally by the Druids. The only written trace early Celts left were inscriptions on standing stones to commemorate the name of someone dead . It was a kind of code consisting of longer and shorter lines and slashes visible on the picture of a standing stone here on the left.

It is difficult to define exactly which Celts reached Britain. It is assumed that the majority were Belgae though. It is unknown what kind of prehistoric people lived in the British isles further back in the past than - 1000, i.e. before the Celtic expansion.  Typically the megalithic site of STONEHENGE was built long before the Celts reached Britain.

The only known tribes who lived in Britain long before the Celts were the Picts, to the North of Scotland and as far as the Shetlands. Except one or two place names, nothing remains of the Pictish language because they were absorbed by the Celts.


Celtic Britain & the Celtic language(s)

Although megalithic sites are often associated with Celtic Europe, they are a great deal anterior to the spread and development of Celtic culture and Celtic peoples in Europe. There never was a Celtic nation or even less of a Celtic state, like there was a Roman state. The site of Stonehenge, for example, was built several thousands of years BCE whereas the Celts began to emerge as a pan-European culture in about - 1000 BCE

Introduction

Celtic is one of the three great ancient languages of Europe, together with Latin and Greek, except that before the Roman expansion, Celtic was spoken all over Central and Western Europe while Latin was no more than a local dialect and Greek covered only a limited geographic area. The Greeks became soon aware of these people who lived to the north of their country and it was the Greeks who gave them their name : the KELTOI

The Celtic expansion in Europe

 

The Celtic expansion between - 1'000 and - 400 BCE was not based on a deliberate programme of political conquest and expansion, in the way the Roman Empire began to sweep across Europe as from - 50 BCE . They were and always remained a tribal society. They didn't have a centralized political power and organization. This is the fundamental reason why they were very easily defeated by the Romans who were highly structured - politically, militarily and socially. (for more historical deétails turn to page The English language for more historical information). The Celtic expansion was probably due to a rapid growth of population and the social tensions which might have developed when too many people lived on too limited ground, especially in a pastoral society where a lot of grazing land for animals is required.

The Celtae or Gauls

They lived in nowadays France and have been made popular and famous by ASTERIX the GAUL
The Belgae
They lived in the north of continental Europe ; it was the Belgae who later spread as far as Great Britain
The Celtiberians

They were tribes who populated the north of Spain
The Galatians They spread towards the Black Sea, Asia Minor, etc.; in the Bible there is the well known Epistle to the Galatians
The Goidels (or : Gaels)
They lived first in Ireland and then spread to Scotland, hence thename of the local Celtic languages spoken in the north of Scotland and parts of Ireland nowadays : Gaelic . They are thought to have reached the British Isles before the Belgae
Let's not forget the Helvetes from whom the classical name of Switzerland, HELVETIA, is derived
They belonged to the group of original Celtae proper and it is believed that it was in some secluded Swiss alpine valleys that the Celtic language survived longest, i.e. until around the 6th century A.D.

 

 

 

 

The decline

Why did Celtic languages survive in the North of Scotland, the western part of Wales and the peninsula of Cornwall ?

Around - 200 BCE the Roman empire began it's process of steady expansion. In - 55 BCE Ceasar landed in Britain. The Celtic languages were disappearing fast in continental Europe but they resisted better in Britain. The Romans didn't have much political interest in romanizing Britain and parts of the country were worthless to them : the mountaineous and rocky areas of Whales, of Cornwall and particularly of Scotland where the savage Picts caused such lot of trouble that it became necessary to build a protection stone wall reaching from one sea shore to the other : the Hadrian wall. The Celts began to move to these areas under the Roman occupation.

The Anglo-Saxon invasion, which took place between + 500 and + 600, brought about the total extinction of Celtic everywhere in England except in :

Ireland

Wales, mainly western parts.In Wales the Celtic language is taught at school

The far North of Scotland, the Hebrides and the Island of Skye

Efforts are being made to keep the Celtic linguistic heritage alive in French Brittany but without much success

 

Celtic in Scotland

The Celtic Cross, the modern symbol for the Celtic world. The Celts from Scotland were christianised at a very early date by an Irish monk : St Columba.

According to some modern legends, it would seem that the cross is the Latin-Christian symbol and the circle symbolises the sun, which was worshipped by the local pagan Celts.

Some Gaelic speaking Irish tribes called Scoti moved to Scotland in centuries BCE. The language was predominant until the 12th century. Gradually Scotland became a monarchy and links were established with the Anglo-Normand monarchy especially through intermarriage. The situation got particularly bad after a failed attempt of Scottish rebellion at the beginning of the 18th century, led by the Stuart pretender to the throne - Bonnie Prince Charles - the British government undertook a very hard repression on Scotland.

Ultimately, in the 19th century there were the sad "Highland clearances". Thousands of Highlanders were driven out of and away from their family farms and their homeland because the rich landowners, many of whom were Scots themselves wanted to introduce high scale sheep farming to make big profits with the textile industry that was geginning to florish in the Lowlands and in England. Hundreds of thousands of Scotsmen were obliged to leave their country and emigrated mainly to the USA and Canada. There were very few people left in the Highlands.

In spite of all these sad events, or because of them as they fueled a strong nationalism, Gaelic has survived . Since the beginning of the 20th century there has been a steady revival of  Gaelic culture, traditions and music. It is more difficult for the Gaelic language in Scotland because unlike in Ireland and Wales, the Celtic language does not have an official status there.

In Scotland many people's family name include the typical Mac. Some of this Mac have become very famous like MacDonald for bad (sorry !) food, MacGregor for clothes, MacIntosh for computers and so on. Well this means son of, so MacDonald is "the son of Donald".

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Update : 27.07.2007