Ancient Celtic Language

The Celts were a people who inhabited most parts of Europe in ancient times and spoke the language known as Celtic. Little is known of actual Celtic life due to a lack of written documentation by the Celtic people themselves, but it seems that three groups of people within the society existed. The warrior class fought the battles and wars and also ran the community while the intellectual class consisting of Druids and poets educated the people and saw to the spiritual needs and to the judicial processes, finally the third class there was everyone else within the community, the general populace.

It is believed that warfare was a regular feature of Celtic life and the warriors were fierce and brave but lacked the organised skills of warfare that the Romans and Greeks had developed. This would eventually lead to their downfall and destruction of their culture and beliefs. The Languages of the Celts belong to the Indo-European family and it is believed that at some period far back in history all the Celts actually spoke a single common language that later developed into not just different dialects but different distinctive languages. The Celtic languages were spoken all across Europe and into Asia Minor. Although the ancient tongues have long since disappeared some forms of Celtic exist today. The Celts did not use writing to any great extent although a form called Ogham is believed to have used at some time but only scarcely, they preferred to impart their traditions and religious beliefs through oral communication to keep them alive.

It may have been that the scholars of the Celtic people (the Druids and Poets) wished to keep some of the knowledge secret from all but the selected ones who they decided could learn these teachings. This could have been the reason why the written form was not relied on or used to any great extent. The Celts seemed to rely on the oral teaching methods to ingrain their knowledge into the young. The process of education fell to two main bodies, the druids and the bards who taught by the means of poetry and orally transmitted methods with no written backup. Despite the absence of books and written documents the teaching structure was intensive and included many subjects including astronomy, nature, philosophy and of course religion. The problem that arose from this method is now clearly evident, with the fall and destruction of the Celtic ways no written records were left behind to enlighten modern scholars on the actual spoken languages or behavior of the Druids and their religion.

Trying to understand the ways of the ancient Celts has proven very difficult and the written records available from the Romans and Greeks can only give a biased and culturally misconceived version of a mysterious people. The Celtic or Proto-Celtic language has been divided into four sub-families these are: Gaulish, Celtiberian, Goidelic and Brythonic. Gaulish including Galatian and Lepontic were spoken in Europe from France To Turkey while Celtiberian was spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. Goidelic including Irish, Manx and Scots Gaelic were spoken in Ireland, Scotland and the Islands while Brythonic included Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, Ivernic, Pictish and Welsh were spoken in mainland Briton. Although there are distinct differences in the languages, the Celtic forms show many similarities that may link them. This fact makes scholars believe that at some point in ancient history they did come from a common source and although no version of the old Celtic languages exist some portions of them survive in the modern Celtic tongue.