'Celtic', a term with
many meanings
Most people have some
opinion on what 'Celtic' means, although their answers vary greatly. Still,
most answers are usually associated with the peoples, ancient and modern,
who have lived in the British Isles, especially Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The term 'Celtic' is enormously evocative; but the images it evokes
are highly diverse and confusing.
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For some, 'Celtic' has become a general term for much of the prehistoric
past of the British Isles, and is widely used particularly in New Age circles.
'Celtic' evokes spiritual unity with nature, and a seamless link with the
remote past, particularly of Britain and Ireland.
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To others, it is especially connected with early medieval Christianity
in the British Isles, centred on the cultural and artistic brilliance of
the early Irish church before the time of the Vikings.
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It is widely used as a collective term for the peoples of Western and Northern
Britain, Ireland and other areas who speak, or recently spoke, related
languages such as Gaelic and Welsh, which comprise a 'family' of tongues
labelled 'Celtic' by linguists.
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Yet there are some people, especially increasing numbers of archaeologists
in Britain, who are much more wary of a term which is used so loosely,
and which has shifted its meaning so far over the 2,500 years it has been
recorded.
So, just what does 'Celtic' really mean?
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