The Religion of the Ancient Celts by J. A. MacCulloch
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page 26 of 525 (04%)
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the power of pronouncing _q_. In Gaul the _q_ of _Sequana_ (Seine) was
not changed to _p_, and a tribe dwelling on its banks was called the Sequani. This assumes that Sequana was a pre-Celtic word, possibly Ligurian.[25] Professor Rh[^y]s thinks, however, that Goidelic tribes, identified by him with Cæsar's Celtæ, existed in Gaul and Spain before the coming of the Galli, and had preserved _q_ in their speech. To them we owe Sequana, as well as certain names with _q_ in Spain.[26] This at least is certain, that Goidelic Celts of the _q_ group occupied Gaul and Spain before reaching Britain and Ireland. Irish tradition and archæological data confirm this.[27] But whether their descendants were represented by Cæsar's "Celtæ" must be uncertain. Celtæ and Galli, according to Cæsar, were one and the same,[28] and must have had the same general form of speech. The dialects of Goidelic speech--Irish, Manx, Gaelic, and that of the continental Goidels--preserved the _q_ sound; those of Gallo-Brythonic speech--Gaulish, Breton, Welsh, Cornish--changed _q_ into _p_. The speech of the Picts, perhaps connected with the Pictones of Gaul, also had this _p_ sound. Who, then, were the Picts? According to Professor Rh[^y]s they were pre-Aryans,[29] but they must have been under the influence of Brythonic Celts. Dr. Skene regarded them as Goidels speaking a Goidelic dialect with Brythonic forms.[30] Mr. Nicholson thinks they were Goidels who had preserved the Indo-European _p_.[31] But might they not be descendants of a Brythonic group, arriving early in Britain and driven northwards by newcomers? Professor Windisch and Dr. Stokes regard them as Celts, allied to the Brythons rather than to the Goidels, the phonetics of their speech resembling those of Welsh rather than Irish.[32] The theory of an early Goidelic occupation of Britain has been contested |
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