Szerző: Wolfgang Meid Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, 2010 The
Celts ? who were they? Did they really exist, or are they, as some
archaeologists seem to believe, a mere scientific construct, a fictitious
entity? The basis of this misapprehension is the fact that it is not possible to
diagnose Celticity by archaeological means alone. Celtic is, in the first
instance, a linguistic concept, and disregarding this linguistic foundation must
lead to an impasse. It is the proven relationship of the so-called Celtic
languages and their derivation from a common ancestor which justifies this
scientific concept. Celts, on the other hand, is an ethnic term attested for
population groups in western Continental Europe, but which has been extended to
include also population groups in the British Isles for which this name is not
attested. The basis of this terminological extension has been the discovery of
the genetic relationship of the languages spoken by all these groups, which
consequently have been termed Celtic languages, going back to a common
prehistoric ancestor language termed Proto-Celtic, a distinct branch of the
Indo?European language family. Since a language presupposes speakers, these
could be called Celts. From a linguistic point of view these Celts were real
people; today their descendants would be rather called by other names, like
Irish or Welsh. Tartalomjegyzék: Origin and Early Evidence of the Celts Celtic
Archaeology Expansion of the Celts and Quest for New Homelands. Historical
Events The celts int he British Isles Society and Culture Religion The insular
Celtic Literary Tradition Epilogue A kötet adatai: Kötés: keménytábla Formátum:
B/5 Megjelenés éve: 2010 Terjedelem: 187 oldal