| 释义 |
Celt1|sɛlt, kɛlt|
Also Kelt |kɛlt|.
[a. F. Celte, ad. L. Celta, sing. of Celtæ, in Gr. κελτοί. (A later Gr. κέλται, in Strabo, etc., was probably from L. Celtæ.) For conjectures as to a possible derivation, see Rhŷs, Celtic Britain (1884) 2.]
1. Hist. Applied to the ancient peoples of Western Europe, called by the Greeks κελτοί, κέλται, and by the Romans Celtæ.
The κελτοί of the Greeks, also called Γαλάται, Galatæ, appear to have been the Gauls and their (continental) kin as a whole; by Cæsar the name Celtæ was restricted to the people of middle Gaul (Gallia Celtica), but most other Roman writers used it of all the Galli or Gauls, including the peoples in Spain and Upper Italy believed to be of the same language and race; the ancients apparently never extended the name to the Britons.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 251 The Indians were wont to use no bridles, like the Græcians and Celts. 1656Blount Glossogr., Celt, one born in Gaul. 1782Warton Hist. Kiddington 67 (T.) This obstinate war between the insular Britons and the continental Celts. 1839Thirlwall Greece VIII. 411 The Celts advanced within five or six days' march of his camp.
2. A general name applied in modern times to peoples speaking languages akin to those of the ancient Galli, including the Bretons in France, the Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Manx, and Gaelic of the British Isles.
This modern use began in French, and in reference to the language and people of Brittany, as the presumed representatives of the ancient Gauls: with the recognition of linguistic affinities it was extended to the Cornish and Welsh, and so to the Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic. celtic has thus become a name for one of the great branches of the Aryan family of languages (see celtic); and the name Celt has come to be applied to any one who speaks (or is descended from those who spoke) any Celtic language. But it is not certain that these constitute one race ethnologically; it is generally held that they represent at least two ‘races’, markedly differing in physical characteristics. Popular notions, however, associate ‘race’ with language, and it is common to speak of the ‘Celts’ and ‘Celtic race’ as an ethnological unity having certain supposed physical and moral characteristics, especially as distinguished from ‘Saxon’ or ‘Teuton’.
[1703Pezron (title), Antiquité de la Nation et de la langue des Celtes. 1706Jones (tr. of Pezron), Antiquities of Nations, more particularly of the Celtæ or Gauls, taken to be originally the same people as our ancient Britains. 1757Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. Introd. 7 Great Britain was peopled by the Celtæ or Gauls.] 1773McQueen in Boswell Johnson Sept. 18, As they [Scythians] were the ancestors of the Celts, the same religion might be in Asia Minor and Skye. 1842Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 185 This race, who had probably been expelled by the Italian nations and the Celts from Italy and Gaul. 1851D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. i. 182 The Celts of Britain are apparently the oldest among the Aryan races. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 21 If that be true..that Celts love unity of power, and Saxons the representative principle.
Hence ˈCeltified ppl. a. (nonce-wd.), made Celtic in fashion or garb. ˈCeltism, the distinctive character of the Celt. ˈCeltist, one who studies the Celtic languages. Celtiˈzation, a making Celtic; conversion to being Celtic.
1837Lockhart Scott xx. 459 Sir Walter's Celtified pageantry. 1866M. Arnold in Cornh. Mag. Mar. 289 A more attentive and impartial study of Celtism than it has yet ever received from us. Ibid. May 547 Celtism is..everywhere manifest still in the French nation. Ibid. Mar. 289 This is a very different matter from the political and social Celtization of which certain enthusiasts dream. 1885Athenæum 17 Jan. 86/1 The name of a French Celtist. |