Celtic toponymy explained

Celtic toponymy is the study of place names wholly or partially of Celtic origin. These names are found throughout continental Europe, Britain, Ireland, Anatolia and, latterly, through various other parts of the globe not originally occupied by Celts.

Celtic languages

See main article: Proto-Celtic language. The Proto-Indo-European language developed into various daughter languages, including the Proto-Celtic language.

In Proto-Celtic ("PC"), the Proto-Indo-European ("PIE") sound *p disappeared, perhaps through an intermediate *pronounced as /ɸ/. It is a common point between all the Celtic languages. Examples : Latin pater "father", but Gaulish *atir / ater (atrebo, dativ plural), (Old) Irish athair / athir.[1]

After that, languages derived from Proto-Celtic changed PC *kw into either *p or *k (see: P-Celtic and Q-Celtic languages). In P-Celtic languages, PC *kw changed into *p. In Q-Celtic dialects it developed into /k/.

P-Celtic languages include the Continental Gaulish language and the Brittonic branch of Insular Celtic. Common Brittonic is the ancestor of Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

Ancient Q-Celtic languages include the Continental Celtiberian and the Goidelic branch of Insular Celtic. Goidelic is the ancestor of the Gaelic languages Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx.

Examples : PIE *kʷetwóres "four" >

Frequent elements in place-names and their cognates in modern Celtic languages

European connection

Continental Celtic

Austria

Belgium

France

Most of the main cities in France have a Celtic name (the original Gaulish one or the name of the Gaulish tribe).

Germany

From Celtic Celtic languages: alisa, s.f., 'alder'. (Compare the modern German Erlenbach) and Old High German (OHG) aha, s.n., 'flowing water'.

Hungary

Italy

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain

Asturias and Cantabria

Castile

Galicia

See main article: List of Celtic place names in Galicia.

Switzerland

Switzerland, especially the Swiss Plateau, has many Celtic (Gaulish) toponyms. This old layer of names was overlaid with Latin names in the Gallo-Roman period,[16] and, from the medieval period, with Alemannic German[17] and Romance[18] names.

For some names, there is uncertainty as to whether they are Gaulish or Latin in origin. In some rare cases, such as Frick, Switzerland, there have even been competing suggestions of Gaulish, Latin and Alemannic etymologies.[19]

Examples of toponyms with established Gaulish etymology:

Insular Celtic

See main article: List of generic forms in place names in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Brittonic

England (excluding Cornwall)

Evidence for a Celtic root to place names in England is widely strengthened by early monastic charters, chronicles and returns: examples relate to Leatherhead and Lichfield. To describe a place as of the Celts, the Old English wealh becoming Wal/Wall/Welsh is often used. This was the main Germanic term for Romano-Celtic peoples, such as the Britons. Such names are a minority, but are widespread across England. For example, a smattering of villages around the heart and east of The Fens hint at this: West Walton, Walsoken, and the Walpoles indicate their continued presence. Nearby Wisbech, King's Lynn and Chatteris have Celtic topographical elements.

Scotland

The post-6th century AD Brittonic languages of Northern England and Scotland were Cumbric and Pictish. Cumbric place-names are found in Scotland south of the River Forth, while Pictish names are found to the north.

Wales

See main article: Welsh toponymy. The vast majority of placenames in Wales (part of the United Kingdom) are either Welsh or anglicized Welsh.

Cornwall

The vast majority of placenames in Cornwall are either Cornish or anglicized Cornish. For examples, see List of places in Cornwall.

Brittany

The vast majority of placenames in the west of Brittany (part of France) are either Breton or derived from Breton. For examples, see .

Goidelic

England

Place names in England derived partly or wholly from Goidelic languages include:

Furthermore, some non-Goidelic place-names in mainly Northern and Midland England reference Irish personal names, due to Norse-Gaelic settlement Britain during the 10th century.

Place names that directly reference the Irish include Irby, Irby upon Humber, Ireby and Ireleth. Place names with Scot- or similar, such as Scothern in Lincolnshire or Scotton in the North Riding of Yorkshire, may refer to Gaelic speakers from Scotland or Ireland, since Old English Scottas originally had connotations of Irish Gaels.

Ireland

See main article: Place names in Ireland. The vast majority of placenames in Ireland are anglicized Irish language names.

Scotland

See main article: Scottish toponymy. The majority of placenames in the Highlands of Scotland (part of the United Kingdom) are either Scottish Gaelic or anglicized Scottish Gaelic. Gaelic-derived placenames are very common in the rest of mainland Scotland also. Pictish-derived placenames can be found in the northeast, while Brythonic-derived placenames can be found in the south.

Isle of Man

See main article: List of places in the Isle of Man. Many placenames on the Isle of Man (a Crown dependency) are Manx or anglicised Manx, although there are also many Norse-derived place names.

See also

Notes and References

  1. [Pierre-Yves Lambert]
  2. [Pierre-Yves Lambert]
  3. Lambert, p. 37
  4. Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, 2nd edn. (Paris: Errance, 2003), p. 111.
  5. See Noviomagus and Lexovii.
  6. Other examples include Ruan (Rothomago 1233 / Rotomagus 5th century), Rom.
  7. Delamarre 2003, pp. 261-2.
  8. [Hans Bahlow|Bahlow, Hans]
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20070926211921/http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?flags=eygtnrl&single=1&basename=%2Fdata%2Fie%2Fpokorny&text_recno=571&root=leiden see Pokorny, IEW
  10. Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Paris (éditions errance) 2001, p. 221.
  11. Web site: RIA - Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources.
  12. Book: Prósper, Blanca María. Lenguas y Religiones Prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica. 2002. Universidad de Salamanca. 978-84-7800-818-6. 375.
  13. Book: Matasovic, Ranko. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. 2009. Brill. 978-90-04-17336-1. 28.
  14. Book: Matasovic, Ranko. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. 2009. Brill. 978-90-04-17336-1. 77–78.
  15. Ptolemy II 6.21.
  16. such as Basel, Latin Basilea, from the personal name Basilius, ultimately of Greek origin,
  17. such as Bern, founded 1191
  18. such as Neuchâtel, founded 1011
  19. Frick has been derived from (a) a Celtic word for "confluence", cognate with fork, (b) an Alemannic personal name Fricco and (c) Latin ferra ricia "iron mine, ironworks".
  20. Bernhard Maier, Kleines Lexikon der Namen und Wörter keltischen Ursprungs, 2010, p. 51.Julius Pokorny, IEW (1959:325), s.v. "ē̆reb(h)-, ō̆rob(h)- 'dark reddish-brown colour'": "alb.-ligur.-kelt.-germ. eburo- 'rowan, mountain ash, yew, evergreen tree with poisonous needles'."
  21. Mills, AD. Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford University Press, 1991.
  22. Book: Mackenzie . William Cook . Scottish Place-names . 1931 . K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company . 124 .
  23. Book: Simon . Taylor . Markus . Gilbert . The Place-names of Fife . 2006 . Shaun Tyas . 9781900289771 . Illustrated.
  24. Book: MacBain . Alexander . Place names Highlands & Islands of Scotland . 1922 . 156 . 20 April 2020.
  25. Book: Watson . W.J. . Taylor . Simon . The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland . 2011 . Birlinn LTD . 9781906566357 . 387 . reprint .
  26. [Alex Woolf|Woolf, Alex]
  27. Web site: Mac an Tàilleir . Iain . Gaelic Place Names (K-O) . The Scottish Parliament . 2021-03-31 . 2018-11-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181116011540/http://www.parliament.scot/Gaelic/placenamesK-O.pdf . dead .
  28. Web site: Rhys . Guto . Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic . University of Glasgow .
  29. Book: Hall . Mark A . Driscoll . Stephen T . Geddess . Jane . Pictish Progress: New Studies on Northern Britain in the Early Middle Ages . 11 November 2010 . Brill . 9789004188013 . 30 June 2019.
  30. Book: Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness . 1899 . 330 . The Society . Volume XX . 14 May 2020.
  31. Web site: Forsyth . Katherine . Protecting a Pict?: Further thoughts on the inscribed silver chape from St Ninian's Isle, Shetland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (2020) . University of Glasgow . 6 March 2021.
  32. Web site: Survey of English Place-Names . English Place-Name Society.
  33. Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html (appendix at http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html); Web site: Archived copy . 2009-11-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100215004340/http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/p.l.younger/documents/TheGaelicFoundationsoftheGoldenAgeofNorthumbria.pdf . 2010-02-15 .
  34. Web site: James . Alan . The Brittonic Language in the Old North . Scottish Place Name Society . 28 March 2021.
  35. A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of British Place Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), s.v.
  36. Book: Stenton . Frank Merry . Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England: The Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stenton . 1970 . Clarendon . 0198223145 . 312 . 5 January 2019 .
  37. Book: Ekwall . Eilert . The Place Names of Lancashire . 1922 . The University Press . 9789353897918 . 5 February 2024.

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