Blogger’s Note: I wrote the following today – whilst sharing this article with a fellow “Celt”:
‘The Romans noticed the Celtic tribal names that existed in Gual (France) also existed in Britain. Furthermore, the two groupings both used war chariots (around 1000 years out of date by 40 BCE), stripped naked for battle, with men and women fighting in the ranks together. Both ethnic groups routinely communicated via boat across the Channel – and apparently we knew about Julius Caesar before he arrived.’
I have previously written about the Greek explorer – “Pytheas” – and from what I remember, it was “rumoured” that there was a landmass to the West of Gaul, but many doubted this at the time (the UK is about 25 miles from France across the English Channel). I suppose boating and navigation at the time was fairly primitive – and yet Pytheas – being a typical Classical Greek, was determined to prove the theory right or wrong, and prove it he did. He did not arrive in Britain to cause trouble – or militarily invade – and so the Celts treated him very well. I hesitate to “agree” regarding the Ogham script and would like to see the evidence (that it evolves from the Roman alphabet). I have seen Ogham etched along the side of clay tablets (which were then “dried” for preservation) and engraved along the edge of stone tablets (a much more difficult task). As in China, early reading and writing evolved around the ruling families – the kings – and their specially trained advisors. Why write along the edge of things? Romans did not do this. I suppose a case can be made that Ogham might be a development of Roman numerals – but I would like to see the evidence. My parents live in South Devon, and although born in Oxford, I was brought-up in Devon and Cornwall – two of the UK’s Celtic heartlands. I learned Country Dancing at school, and visited museums that contained the Celtic Coracle (round fishing boat). We also learned about the magic of Druidism and how the mighty Boudicca united the Celtic tribes and inflicted terrible defeats on the Roman invaders. I also drink cyder and eat clotted cream. All of this I have imparted to the Chinese members of my family (we take our children all over the Celtic South-West) – just as they have imparted Hakka culture to me. Of course, also possessing Irish ancestry (my father’s mother was from Mullingar) – this confirms the Celtic identity. ACW (2.1.2025)
Emily Costello – Director of Collaborations + Local News – The Conversation – Published: December 31, 2025
Together, these fragments form the puzzle pieces through which we try to understand how Celtic languages spread across Britain and Ireland. But the Celticity of Britain and Ireland has been questioned in recent decades.
Some archaeologists have argued that the people of Britain and Ireland may never have been “Celtic” in the same sense as communities on the continent. They have pointed to differences in material culture and a lack of clear evidence for major prehistoric migrations.
They also noted that classical authors from the Greek geographer and historian Strabo (born around 64BC) onwards contrasted Britain and Celtica on the continent. This led a rejection of the mid-20th century orthodoxy of hordes of warlike Celts from central Europe pouring in to these islands during the iron age.
It has been supposed that Indo-European may have arrived early in the islands and developed there into Celtic, or that Celtic languages may have spread from the continent without much movement of people. The argument even spilled into popular commentary, most recently in a polemical and misleading book by journalist Simon Jenkins in 2022, who, contrary to all evidence, cast doubt on whether the Celts, as a people, even existed at all.
Reshaping the debate
But recent research is challenging those assumptions. Recent studies of ancient DNA have revealed waves of migration into Britain from regions that are now in France during the late bronze age and to a lesser extent, the iron age. These movements of people were not visible to archaeologists.
Of course, you cannot guess someone’s language from their genes. But these migrations provide a plausible vehicle by which Celtic speech may have arrived in Britain. And a recent study has shown that Pytheas, in the fourth century BC, placed Celts in Britain.
When taken together, these findings may support the old idea that Celtic languages were brought to the islands by migrating Celts after all. It’s certainly an exciting time to be studying ancient Celtic in Britain and Ireland.
This is the backdrop to new research underway by myself and colleagues at Aberystwyth University. We are gathering every surviving piece of evidence for early Celtic languages in Britain and Ireland before around 500AD. We shall compile the first comprehensive dictionary of the ancient Celtic languages of these islands.
Bringing all of this material together will help answer longstanding questions about how the Celtic languages are related and how they fit into the wider Celtic world of ancient Europe.
We will never recover the full picture of the Celtic languages spoken in Britain and Ireland more than 2000 years ago. But by piecing together the clues left behind, we can begin to understand the linguistic landscape that shaped the Celtic languages still spoken today.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 