Celtic Studies

This chapter focuses on acts of speaking, writing, and hearing verbalized accounts of Icelandic place, and their role in establishing a distinct Icelandic identity in Íslendingabók and Landnámabók. The chapter opens by considering how the landscape of Iceland is verbally mapped, and argues that this is a textual priority for the Icelanders. While many of the places featured in Íslendingabók and Landnámabók were historically real, verbalized topographies, which can collapse time, animate foundational events and actors, accomplish something more. Like pilgrimage and travel accounts, verbal topographies enable moving, affective experiences and provide admission to an aspirational Icelandic national space fusing real and imagined elements. This chapter demonstrates that through the combination of writing, oral performance of placelore episodes (on site and otherwise), and the resultant experience of living within a re-imagined, storied landscape of Iceland, important lessons about Icelandic identity are transmitted.

E x p l o r i n g C e l t i c O r i g i n s is the fruit of collaborative work by
researchers in archaeology, historical linguistics, and archaeogenetics
over the past ten years. T his team works towards the goal of a better
understanding of the background in the Bronze Age and Beaker P eriod
of the people who emerge as Celts and speakers of Celtic languages
documented in the I ron Age and later times. L ed by S ir Barry Cunliffe
and John Koch, the contributors present multidisciplinary chapters
in a lively user-friendly style, aimed at accessibility for workers in
the other fields, as well as general readers. T he collection stands as
a pause to reflect on ways forward at the moment of intellectual
history when the genome-wide sequencing of ancient DNA (a.k.a.
‘the archaeogenetic revolution’) has suddenly changed everything in
the study of later European prehistory. How do we deal with what
appears to be an irreversible breach in the barrier between science
and the humanities? Exploring Celtic O rigins includes colour maps
and illustrations and annotated Further R eading for all chapters.

Paper read at the 1st International Colloquium of Societas Celto-Slavica held in Coleraine on 20 June 2005, and published in Parallels between Celtic and Slavic, Studia Celto-Slavica 1, Proceedings volume of the conference. The paper examines the contribution of Slavic and Western scholars to the question of correspondences between the traditions of early India and those of the Celtic-speaking peoples. While the emphasis is primarily on kingship, religious, sacral and lexicographic parallels are also examined.

Borsje, J., A. Dooley, S. Mac Mathuna and G. Toner (eds. with editorial assistance by N. McGuire, N. Mac Cathmhaoil and T. Oudesluijs). 2014. Celtic Cosmology: Perspectives from Ireland and Scotland (Papers in Medieval Studies 26), Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.

Un misterioso rito, retaggio vivente di epoche remotissime, si rinnova ogni anno all’interno delle celebrazioni del carnevale di Castelnuovo a Volturno, in Molise. Un essere fantastico, Gl’ Cierv, furioso e selvatico Uomo Cervo, muore e rinasce ciclicamente, simbolo solare e della rigenerazione della natura, testimonianza viva di un antico mito cosmico-agrario. Seguendo le sue orme, un viaggio lunghissimo attraverso il tempo e lo spazio ci conduce in un reame magico nel quale sciamani in estasi, contadini e cacciatori sono i custodi dell’arcaico culto del dio cervo.

ENG: A mysterious ritual, a living legacy of ancient times, is renewed every year within the celebrations of the Castelnuovo a Volturno carnival, in Molise (Italy). A fantastic being, Gl ’Cierv, furious and wild Deer Man, dies and reborn cyclically, a solar symbol and the regeneration of nature, living testimony of an ancient cosmic-agrarian myth. Following in his footsteps, a very long journey through time and space leads us to a magical realm in which ecstatic shamans, farmers and hunters are the keepers of the archaic cult of the deer god.

Link per l'acquisto:
https://www.stamperiadelvalentino.it/product/luomo-cervo/

ISBN: 979-12-80721-08-2

Continuation of the Atlantic Theory of Homer's Ilias and Odyssey (part 1: Atlantic Troy; part 2:  Atlantic Ismaros-Kikones). Odysseus' wanderings after his departure from Troy: Route Brittany-Senegal. Study of Atlantic authors De Grave, Cailleux, Gideon, Wilkens, Vinci. Identification of his first stop as North of Spain (Ulla, A Coruña), Kuthera as El Araich (Maroc) and Lotophagia as Senegambia.

The aim of this paper is to make a case for the considerable influence British Latin has had on Brittonic and on Old English around the middle of the first millennium AD, and to contribute to our knowledge of the way in which British Latin itself relates to prehistoric Old French and how both were influenced by a Celtic substratum of the Brittonic type

Neste traballo fago un estudo da presenza da lenda irlandesa de Breogán dentro dos escritos de Manuel Murguía. Cinco son os aspectos que quero analizar aquí: a narrativa da lenda; a interpretación que fixo dela; a adaptación da lenda á súa particular concepción do pasado galego; as funcións que exerceu dentro da obra de Murguía; e as fontes de información nas que el se baseou para coñecer o relato irlandés. No derradeiro apartado analizo algunhas das achegas do autor á popularización de Breogán dentro da cultura galega.

Using the critical lens of Claire Sponsler’s scholarship on subversive performance, this essay considers the warrior Cú Chulainn’s lament for his foster-brother in the medieval Irish Táin. This ritualized spectacle washes clean and revivifies the slain hero’s body: poetry’s incantatory alliterations and rhymes re-fuse the dismembered body and animate it with story. By considering the lament in terms of caoineadh (“keening”), a genre typically associated with women, we gain insights into the subversive potential of Cú Chulainn’s performance. A man’s transgressive performance of caoineadh provides a critique of gender and disempowerment: the surrounding narrative provides multiple examples of young warriors, noble daughters, and other figures whose bodies and lives are pawned to execute the wishes of morally bankrupt kings and queens. This lament thus participates in the caoineadh’s mode of protest, as a cry against the slaughter of youth in the wargames of the powerful.

See now full text version on academia.edu!
Apollo Cunomaglos leads to a multi-disciplinary discussion of Celtic religion: from wolves to cosmology, fertility, ancestry, afterlife, rites de passage and manty more.
The epithet Cunomaglos is known from an altar at the Britanno-Roman sanctuary of Nettleton Shrub in Wiltshire. He has traditionally been interpreted as a hunting deity, as «Apollo Hound Prince», in British scholarship. But since it is certain that the ancient Celtic word cuno was used to denote both wolf and dog in this period, it seems more probable that we are dealing here with Apollo «Lord of the Wolves» similar to the Greek Apollo Lykaios. It is important to jettison the negative image that wolves still have in scholarship in order to understand the meaning of Apollo Cunomaglos. An interdisciplinary analysis of pre-Roman and Romano-Celtic iconography —as well as evidence from other cultures in addition to medieval Welsh and Irish mythology— suggests that wolves must have played a significant role in people’s religious understandings, for example in relation to fertility, nourishment, cosmology, strength, ancestry, prophecy, afterlife beliefs, rites de passage, and many more. Altogether, there emerges a certain image of Apollo Cunomaglos as potentially a powerful, even omnipotent deity, perhaps related to Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus, and Vaelicus.
[ES] Resumen: Apollo Cunomaglos es conocido gracias a un altar procedente del santuario britano-romano de Nettleton Shrub, en Wiltshire  Inglaterra). En la historiografía anglosajona, ha sido tradicionalmente nterpretado como una deidad cazadora, como «Apolo, el Príncipe  azador». Sin embargo, dado que la antigua palabra céltica cuno fue tilizada en esa época tanto para aludir al lobo como al perro, parece más probable que en este caso nos encontremos ante un Apolo «Señor de los Lobos» similar al Apollo Lykaios del mundo griego. Para poder comprender el significado de Apollo Cunomaglos es necesario superar la imagen negativa que se tiene de los lobos en el ámbito académico.
Con ese propósito, este artículo plantea un análisis interdisciplinar de la iconografía prerromana y romano-céltica, de las mitologías medievales galesase irlandesas, y de evidencias de otras culturas relacionadas con el lobo, que muestra la gran importancia de ese animal en las concepciones religiosas de esas poblaciones, como, por ejemplo, en las relacionadas con la fertilidad, la nutrición, la cosmología, la fortaleza, los ancestros, la profecía, las creencias escatológicas, y los ritos de paso, entre otras. De todo ello emerge una potencial imagen de Apollo Cunomaglos como una deidad poderosa, casi omnipotente, que quizás estuvo relacionada con otros dioses como Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus y Vaelicus

Rechercher la signification du serpent à tête de bélier, cette « chimère » celtique, est d'autant plus délicat que le corpus des exemples est assez limité et que ses deux parties sont des symboles quasiment universels qui ouvrent un très vaste champ sémantique. Il convient toutefois de les examiner le plus brièvement possible avant de porter l'accent sur leur combinaison. Si un fond de croyances immémoriales relie partout le serpent aux « profondeurs humides de la terre » 1 à la fécondité et au renouveau de la vie, l'iconographie celtique le montre avec une tête de bélier, s'élevant du sol et associé justement au dieu-cerf. Le serpent à tête de bélier a peut-être été vénéré comme « germe de vie » indépendamment du dieu aux bois de cerf dont il semble parfois un doublet parfois un aspect chthonien.

The kings of East Anglia and Northumbria both died at the hands of the Great Heathen Army in the late 860s; one became a renowned martyr saint and one a villain. The latter, the Northumbrian Ælla, also became the antagonist in legends concerning the ancestors of the Uí Ímair, principal successors of the northern Great Army and leaders of the tenth-century Insular Norse.  According to a previously neglected text, 'De Northumbria post Britannos', another of northern England’s great dynasties claimed descent from Ælla. The Eadwulfings of Bamburgh were based in northern Northumbria, and appear to have gained leadership of their political community in the late ninth or early tenth century. With the rival position held by the Uí Ímair in the south, it is possible that Ælla’s later reputation and associated legends arose as a bi-product of tenth-century political conflict.

This is a PDF output of the 2002 publication.  Unfortunately, the IPA has not come across as it should. You may find a 3rd edition of this grammar - with IPA intact - in the Appendix of Scottish Gaelic Speech and Writing (Lamb 2008), also available on this site.

The Gundestrup Cauldron has remained enigmatic since the day it was discovered in a Danish peat bog near Borremosebog in May of 1891. Many have wondered and pondered over the mysterious imagery and have tried to give it an interpretation. Some have proposed a Scythian or Vedic Indian origin to it, while others have recognized the clear connection to Celtic mythological themes and motifs. The following article is but a brief and detailed interpretative iconographical analysis of what is in truth a star chart such as those formerly conceived and maintained by the Celtic Druids of the La Tène cultural period. Our understanding of zodiacal stellar symbolism is but a "cultural construct." For instance, when one looks at the vastness of the night sky, all one sees is an infinity of pin point specks of light. Connecting the bright dots into a recognizable pattern is truly an

After several decades of modern archeological practices, scholars now have a fuzzy snapshot of Gallic religious life before the Romans.  It is this snapshot that I will use to find any connection between Druidism and the appearance of Black Madonnas in France.  For this paper, I will use references from Celtic historians and archaeologists as well as work from scholars of French cathedrals and churches to see if the Black Madonnas make their appearances at sites sacred to the preChristian Gaels.  In addition to this study, I will review Gallic  deities to see if the Celtic tribes of France did indeed venerate a goddess who could be considered to be their own version of a Black Madonna, a goddess of justice with compassion.

The Gaulish inscription from Chamalières has been the subject of
many different interpretations over the years, a significant
proportion of them not accepting that its epigraphic context
points to it recording a defixio or ancient binding spell.
Nonetheless it appears to be a regular-enough aquatic curse-tablet
find, and a defixio of the handing-over or registering variety
employed in the context of litigation, although it is expressed
metrically and employs only native vocabulary. Moreover some of
the language employed seems to be reflected in expressions used
to describe key narrative features in Insular Celtic tales.

Siaburcharpat Con Culaind is a great cross-over saga. Cú Chulainn, the greatest of pagan heroes, helps Patrick in his mission to convert the king of Ireland. What does this story tell us about conversion? What role is played by the pagan past? Why is telling stories so important?

Published in: CSANA Yearbook 1 (2001) 109–25

Публикация представляет собой комментированный перевод раннесредневекового ирландского текста, известного как «Синод Западного Мунстера». Речь идет об одном из важнейших источников по политическому устройству и королевской иерархии в раннесредневековой Ирландии. Текст сохранился в составе одного из самых ранних корпусов генеалогий Ирландии, представленном в манускрипте Laud Miscellany 610 в Бодлеанской библиотеке в Оксфорде, и датируется приблизительно началом IX в. В нем описывается заключение соглашения между королем (rí) Мунстера (Южная Ирландия) и правителями небольших туатов1 (rí tuatha), входивших в состав королевства Мунстер. Перевод сопровождается вступительной статьей и небольшим глоссарием раннесредневековых ирландских терминов.

The present publication includes a commented translation of an untitled early medieval Irish text, known as «West Munster Synod», together with an introduction and a short glossary of medieval Irish terms. The text is a major source on the political institutions and the kingship hierarchy in Early Medieval Munster (southern Ireland). It came down to us as a part of a corpus of early Irish genealogical tracts from MS. Laud Miscellany 610 in The Bodleian Library, Oxford, and dated approximately by the late early ninth century. It describes the agreement between the king (rí) of Munster and the kings of the subordinate tuatha of West Munster.

This article deals with the loss of the affected possessor construction (external possessor construction, sympathetic dative) in the history of English. First it is shown that Old English made a formal and semantic distinction between coding the possessor noun-phrase externally in the dative and noun-phrase internally in the genitive, as all other old Indo-European languages do, and as German does to the present day. [Sie schlug ihm (dative) den Kopf ab ‘she cut off his head (he: a living person)’ vs. Sie schlug seinen (genitive) Kopf ab (he/it: a corpse, a statue, etc.)’. Then the loss of this distinction in Middle English is demonstrated. Several possible reasons for this development are discussed and rejected, and the fact is pointed out that the only other languages spoken in Europe (beside Lezgian and Turkish) not making the distinction are the Insular Celtic languages. This leads to the conclusion that English lost the distinction because the Celtic substrate population did not acquire it in the language shift to Anglo-Saxon. Finally the question how Insular Celtic itself lost the distinction is answered analogously, viz. by the Semitic substrate population’s not learning to make the distinction in the language shift to Celtic (which then still made the inherited distinction), all the old Semitic languages only knowing the internal genitive possessor construction.

The principles of Saenger and Parkes on the analysis of word spacing in Insular manuscripts are here applied to the Irish ogam corpus.  Differences in the adoption of aerated text between that corpus and the Anglo-Saxon epigraphic corpus are examined and the reasons for these differences are explored.  Finally, the dating of the adoption of aerated text in both Insular manuscripts and the ogam corpus is compared.

The folk tradition of Serbia contains references that resemble Vedic Gods. Their chief God was known as Triglav, literally meaning ‘three heads’. This has a parallel to Trimurti (Shiva) and the four-faced Brahma of the Hindu pantheon. This paper examines the folk tradition of Serbia and arrives at a conclusion that it was based on later migrations from North west India (present day Pakistan and Afghanistan) in the wake of Mongol raids while the concept of Triglav was much earlier and related to celtic practices which however had the conceptual origins in India of old, particularly linked with Mt Kailash.

Brochure descriptive du Master international "Langues et cultures celtiques en contact" / "Celtic Languages and Cultures in Contact" - Mention "Langues et sociétés" proposé à l'université de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest).
Deux options sont proposées:
- Celtique médiéval : apprentissage notamment du moyen-gallois, moyen-breton et vieil irlandais couplé à celui de l'ancien français et/ou du latin médiéval
- Celtique moderne: apprentissage notamment du breton, du gallois et de l'irlandais modernes

Exploring the tales of many of the mysterious and captivating Faerie Queens, this exceptional anthology contains eighteen essays exploring the diverse accounts and themes associated with the Faerie Queens and their influence in magic, literature and folklore. From the Arthurian mythos to Scandinavia, from ancient Greece to Renaissance poetry and beyond, the awesome power of the Faerie Queens to inspire, challenge and transform is investigated and discussed from both scholarly and personal perspectives.

Bien que n’y ayant jamais enseigné, Joseph Vendryes a légué un lot important de manuscrits au Collège de France. Classé en 2012, ce fonds d’archives, largement consacré aux langues celtiques, présente un intérêt évident pour l’histoire de la linguistique. L’objet de cet article est d’offrir un premier aperçu raisonné du fonds Joseph Vendryes et de ses spécificités.

Cette conférence a permis de présenter le Projet Collectif de Recherche "Le Chablais au second âge du Fer : la nécropole des Léchères à Chens-sur-Léman", qui vise à étudier un ensemble funéraire de La Tène ancienne / moyenne sur la rive méridionale du lac Léman (Haute-Savoie) afin de caractériser les communautés occupant à cette époque les marges nord-orientales du territoire allobroge, par une analyse archéo-anthropologique, paléométallurgique et céramologique.

This paper is an acoustic investigation of laterals in contemporary Scottish Gaelic. Scottish Gaelic is described as having three phonemic laterals /l̪ˠ l̪ʲ l/, which have previously been the subject of small-scale acoustic and static palatographic work. I expand on previous acoustic studies, including static and dynamic formant measures, and consider data from the diverse contemporary Gaelic-speaking population including [1] older speakers in a Gaelic-heartland area, [2] middle-aged speakers living in Glasgow, [3] adolescent speakers in immersion education in a heartland area, [4] adolescents in immersion education in Glasgow. Results suggest overall maintenance of the triple lateral system, but with substantial variation in the production of (phonemically) palatalised laterals in particular, which some young Glaswegians do not produce. These results are discussed with reference to language change in language revitalisation contexts, language contact, and modes of acquisition in revitalisation contexts.

Abstract : this study, which first aim was to demonstrate the correspondences between the Gaulish language and the Slavic languages, between which I found 500 common words, allowed me also to demonstrate, on the basis of genetical, archaeological and religious data, that those correspondences were linked with ancient migrations linked with the diffusion of the Dravidian civilisation of the Indus Valley to Iran, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, the North of the Black Sea, Danubian and Balkanic Europe, towards Gaul and Iberia, where the Neolithic agriculturalists contributed to the formation of the megalithic civilisation which developed from -5.000. This explains also the linguistic correspondences I established between Gaulish and Dravidian languages – 250 common words from the 500 words I studied, as well as similarities I found in the organisation of the Society and the religion, which lead certain researchers to suggest, on the basis of the diffusion of the very ancient gene H2-P96 from India to Western Europe, that the first Europeans and the proto-Dravidians had a common origin.
Extrait : cette étude, dont l’objectif initial était de démontrer les correspondances entre le gaulois et les langues slaves, entre lesquelles j’ai trouvé 500 mots communs, m’a en outre permis de démontrer, sur la base de données génétiques, archéologiques et religieuses, que ces correspondances étaient liées à des migrations anciennes liées à la diffusion de la civilisation dravidienne de la vallée de l’Indus vers l’Iran, la Mésopotamie, l’Anatolie, le Caucase, le Nord de la Mer Noire, l’Europe danubienne et balkanique, la Gaule et l’Ibérie, où les agriculteurs néolithiques ont contribué à former la civilisation mégalithique qui s’est développée à partir de -5.000. Cela explique aussi les correspondances linguistiques que j’ai établies entre le gaulois et les langues dravidiennes - 250 mots communs sur les 500 mots étudiés, et les similitudes que j’ai constatées dans l’organisation de la société et la religion, qui amènent certains chercheurs à suggérer, sur la base de la diffusion du gène très ancien H2-P96 de l’Inde à l’Europe de l’Ouest, que les premiers Européens et les proto-Dravidiens avaient une origine commune.

V práci chci formulovat novou metodu výkladu mýtu, která vychází z terapeutických metod, které Jung popsal a využíval. Sepsáním následující práce se také pokusím o závan čerstvého vzduchu mezi tradiční interpretační východiska, vnesení nového dynamického postupu mezi proudy, které už pár let provází stagnace. Zvykli jsme si mýty vykládat jako něco mrtvého, často jsou pro nás jen součástí zaniklých náboženských tradic. Stále zapomínáme na to, že jsme to "my a příběh ", co při interpretaci mýtu předkládáme dalším čtenářům. V následujícím textu budu studovat mýtus jako samostatnou živou substanci, jejíž prvky se obměňují a neustále k nám ve svých proměnách pronikají nejen v příbězích. Představená metoda bude záhy aplikována na text mýtu Tochmarc Étaíne.

Only download paper you can translate! When examining the local names of settlements was found a Celtic origin of the name of one of the villages - Košťany. The village has retained its Celtic name until such time when the name was in the 18th century Czechicized. The original name of the village is characterized by the activity of their inhabitants - tin mining.  First name was Costen - phonetic wording Costean?
Při zkoumání pomístních názvů osad byl zjištěn keltský původ názvu jedné z obcí - Košťan. Obec si zachovala své keltské jméno až do doby, kdy byl název v 18. století počeštěn. Původní název obce charakterizuje činnost jejich obyvatel - těžbu cínu. Původní název byl Costen fonetické znění názvu Costean?
KW: PREHISTORIC TIN , TIN MINING , ERZGEBIRGE , WASHING , TIN DEPOSIT , CELTS , KRUŠNÉ HORY , PRAMENÁČ , KOŠŤANY , latén, keltové,kosten, costean, pravěký cín, cornish, toponymy

This paper aims to describe pre-aspirated and post-aspirated stops in an endangered language, Scottish Gaelic. Our small-scale study investigates several acoustic parameters of Scottish Gaelic stop consonants designed to measure the duration and noisiness of aspiration of the stop in its immediate phonetic context. Our study expands on previous phonetic descriptions of phonemic (pre-)aspiration in three ways: firstly, we provide a more complete durational description of Scottish Gaelic than previous work in the literature; secondly, we apply a new measure, band-pass filtered zero crossing rate (Gordeeva & Scobbie 2010), in order to examine the noisiness of aspiration in addition to durational characteristics. The results from this measure are presented in tandem with durational results in order to assess its usefulness for future research. Thirdly, we consider the possibility of change in the Scottish Gaelic stop system by examining data from older and younger speakers. Results suggest that band-pass filtered zero crossing rate is a useful tool and should be considered in future research on aspiration. Also, durational and zero crossing results indicate that younger speakers have shorter and less noisy pre-aspiration than older speakers. We discuss these results as a possible sound change in progress.

Appians Keltiké, das vierte Buch seiner vierundzwanzig Bücher umfassenden Römischen Geschichte, behandelt die kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Römern und Kelten, beginnend mit dem von Brennus geführten Angriff auf Rom bis hin zur Eroberung Galliens durch Caesar. Die Keltiké, obgleich nur bruchstückhaft erhalten, stellt eine wertvolle Quelle für die Geschichte der Kelten sowie der römischen Republik dar, denn sie bietet eine Reihe von Informationen, die entweder sonst nirgends belegt sind oder die sich deutlich von den bei anderen Autoren überlieferten Traditionen unterscheiden, da Appian für seine Darstellung auf heute weitgehend verlorene Historiker zurückgegriffen hat. Um so verwunderlicher ist es, daß bislang noch kein Kommentar zur Keltiké veröffentlicht wurde. Dieses Defizit will die vorliegende Publikation beheben: Nach einer kurzen Einleitung folgt der eigentliche Kommentar, in dem zunächst von jedem Fragment der Originaltext und eine Übersetzung geboten wird. Daran schließt sich eine Analyse, die die einzelnen Zeugnisse in möglichst umfassender Weise auswertet. Dabei wird nicht nur die Überlieferung für jedes Fragment diskutiert, wozu die Eigenheiten und die Arbeitsweise der verschiedenen byzantinischen Exzerptoren genauestens untersucht wurden, sondern auch die sehr kontrovers verhandelte Quellenfrage. Ferner wird der historische Zusammenhang, in den das jeweilige Bruchstück gehört, vorgestellt, wofür die gesamte antike Parallelüberlieferung herangezogen werden mußte. Die Übereinstimmungen wie auch die Abweichungen zur übrigen literarischen Evidenz wurden herausgearbeitet, um Appians Position innerhalb der historiographischen Traditionen besser bestimmen zu können. Schließlich wurden mehrfach Überlegungen zum Inhalt der verlorenen Teile der Keltiké angestellt. Der vorliegende Kommentar erfüllt zunächst ein Desiderat der Appianforschung, indem er eine Lücke in der wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung dieses Autors schließt. Aber auch die Forschung zur römischen Republik und den antiken Kelten kann von der Arbeit profitieren, mit der eine wenig beachtete Quelle erstmals gründlich erschlossen wird.