Names Of The Celts
The various names used since classical times for the people known today as the Celts are of disparate origins.
The name Κελτοί Keltoi and Celtae is used in Greek and Latin, respectively, as the name of a people of the La Tène horizon in the region of the upper Rhine and Danube during the 6th to 1st centuries BC in Greco-Roman ethnography. The name is probably from a tribal self-designation, but its etymology is uncertain. Likewise, the name of the Γαλάται Galatai / Galli is probably from a tribal name, also of uncertain etymology.
The names of the Gauls and of the Welsh, on the other hand, are taken from the designator used by the Germanic peoples for Celtic- and Latin-speaking peoples, *walha-.
The linguistic sense of the name Celts, grouping all speakers of Celtic languages, is modern. In particular, aside from a 1st-century literary genealogy of Celtus the grandson of Bretannos by Heracles, there is no record of the term "Celt" being used in connection with the Insular Celts, the inhabitants of the British Isles during the Iron Age, prior to the 17th century.
Read more about Names Of The Celts: Celts, Galli, Galatai, Welsh, and Gael, Britanni, Celtici
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