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Thread: Why do a lot of locations with Celtic history or ancestry have names like...

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    Default Why do a lot of locations with Celtic history or ancestry have names like...

    Galicia
    Gaul
    Wales

    The Irish language is called Gaelic, which is related again.

    These words all have a common root, but what does it mean? Did Celtic populations call themselves something that was more similar to that root than the word "Celtic"?

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    Wales = Gales in portuguese
    Portugal = Port Gaul

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    Galatian/Gaul/Galician derive from the Proto-Celtic *gala "brave, valor, ability" meaning the strong/brave ones. The etymology of Celt is unsure but it may derive from the Proto-Celtic *kellako "to fight, to go to war" meaning the warriors.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sikeliot View Post
    Galicia
    Gaul
    Wales

    The Irish language is called Gaelic, which is related again.

    These words all have a common root, but what does it mean? Did Celtic populations call themselves something that was more similar to that root than the word "Celtic"?
    Celts named themselves Gaels or Kelts, ancient Greeks named them Keltoi, or Galatai (those Celts who invaded Thrace and then moved to central Anatolia, in the area that was named after them Galatia).

    Various regions were named after them by Romans or by Greeks :

    Galicia = Gallaecia
    Gaul = Gallia
    Galatia = Galatia
    Cornwall = Cornu Galliae (Horn of Gaul)
    Portugal = Portus Galliae (Port of Gaul) -> Portus Cale (Vulgar Latin)
    Bordeaux = Bordus Galliae (Edge, Border of Gaul) -> Burdigala (Vulgar Latin)

    The name Wales instead is Anglo-Saxon, it just means land of the Welschen (plural of Welsch), the germanic adjective used to name the non-germans or romans, same etymology of Vlach, Walloon etc.etc. While the Celtic name of Wales is Cymru (from Latin "Cambria") same etymology of other regions like Cumbria, Cumberland, Northumberland.
    Non Auro, Sed Ferro, Recuperanda Est Patria (Not by Gold, But by Iron, Is the Nation to be Recovered) - Marcus Furius Camillus (Roman General)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sikeliot View Post
    Galicia
    Gaul
    Wales

    The Irish language is called Gaelic, which is related again.

    These words all have a common root, but what does it mean? Did Celtic populations call themselves something that was more similar to that root than the word "Celtic"?
    Apparently Galatia in Anatolia is related, as well.

    I'm not sure if the meaning has survived. A lot of English places end in -ly or -ley, but I'm not sure if it means anything.

    -dale, as a suffix in English placenames, I think means "valley", because it reminds me of German -thal. (For example, you see a lot of Jews with last names like Rosendale, which is clearly an attempt to Americanize Rosenthal)

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