Who are the Celtic People?
The peoples
who spoke
Celtic languages
Similar to many peoples whose history goes back to early and pre-historic times, those who spoke Celtic languages were tribal peoples whose societies spanned central Europe– from the Caucasus in the east, to Britain and
Ireland in the west – these peoples spoke related languages and shared much in common culturally: governing structures, trade, spirituality, agriculture, and military tactics.
What does Celtic mean?
Celtic refers to a family of languages that has its origins in an earlier form of lan-guage, known as Proto-Celtic. Possibly 6,000 years old, Proto-Celtic was spoken by a group of peoples who were referred in antiquity as Keltoi by the Greeks and Celtae by the Romans.
In the 18th century the languages that these peoples spoke became referred to as the Celtic language family.
Peoples, cultures, Celtic languages and regions today
The accompanying cultures of each Celtic language express and inform the identity of the peoples who share them. These cultures encompass poetry, song, music, dance, stories, traditional dress, food ways, customs, world-view, vernacular beliefs and spirituality.
Today, the peoples who speak Celtic languages or come from regions or heritages associated with a Celtic language identify themselves using words that are associated with the name of their language.
Speakers and learners of Celtic languages are found throughout the world. This chart includes the peoples, Celtic languages, and primary regions where Celtic languages and their accompanying cultures are found.