Comments by "Jack Mac" (@TheEggmaniac) on "What Does Celtic Even Mean? From the Ancient Celts to the Celtic Nations of Today" video.

How Celtic are the Celtic Nations today. Many academics have shown the people of Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not closely related to the Celts who came from Central Europe. Infact there is no evidence that the Irish, Scottish or Welsh people of the past, ever described themselves as Celts. This idea only came about in the 19th Century revival. When historians decided they should be classified as Celts. Obviously the people of these Nations, spoke a Celtic language. So they must have been heavily influenced by the Celts from the European mainland. Possibly a cultural take over, occurred sometime in first millennium BCE. An incoming cultural elite brought new technology with them and became the ruling classes in these Nations. Which would of included the whole of Britain at the time. There is no evidence of a great invasion by Celts from the continent. DNA analysis shows the people of Ireland Scotland and Wales to be more related to the previous migrants who moved up from Iberia, centuries before.
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@hardywatkins7737 Yeah I would love to know what language the early bronze age people, of what is today Britain spoke. Fascinating subject. But the truth is nobody really knows. Its all just guess work. The Celtic languages came to Britain and Ireland sometime in the 1st or 2nd century BCE. The Celts of these lands did not generally write anything down. So anything they knew about the people there before them, is lost. There are legends, but they dont mention the language. Its been suggested that proto Celtic was spoken. But again no evidence of this. Its also possible some pre Celtic words might have been used by the people after the Celtic takeover. As you mention there are very few Celtic words that made it into English. So perhaps little was carried over. Im not sure if we will ever know.
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@damionkeeling3103 I didnt say the British Celtic speaking population came from Iberia. DNA analysis shows that people from Ireland, Scotland and Wales are largely related to earlier migrations of people from Iberia, possibly up through northern France. There is a large amount of Beaker people DNA in there. They were part of an earlier migration into Britain and Ireland. The populations in these islands are not related to the Celts who originated in Central Europe. The Celtic culture came to Britain and Ireland after 1000 BCE. But it didnt change the DNA of the inhabitants of these islands very much. I refer you to Professor Daniel Bradley's, Trinity College, Dublin, research on this from 2016, updated 2022.
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@hardywatkins7737 Eh? I didnt say that in my comments? I think the video presenter put this forward as a theory. Perhaps you meant to comment directly on his video?
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@hardywatkins7737 No worries bud. I think your point was very valid. I would like to hear more about where the idea of the Celtic language/ culture coming from Eastern Seaboard or British Isles. From Barry Cunliffe's theory. If thats what you mean.
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@hardywatkins7737 I dont think anyone can say with any confidence what language stone age Britons or Irish people spoke. They may have spoken languages similar to those at the time, spoken on the European continent. But I think its quite possible they spoken a non Indo European language. Due to their remoteness. As do the Basques of Spain, speak a language based on a non Indo European language.
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