Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I am also 1/4 Irish, and the Irish and the French are Kelts (formerly known as Celts). Along with the Scotch, Welsh, Romanians, and the Celt-Iberians who are the base of many of the northern Spanish people, they are what remains of the powerful Keltic invasion, who were the original Indo-European settlers of northwestern and central Europe. France is named after the Germanic Franks, but its language and population are mostly descended from the Gauls, who were conquered for Rome by Julius Caesar.
The Kelts were dominated by the later German invaders, but are still in the the majority in their old territories west of the Rhine, except in England, where the Keltic Britains were mostly pushed out by the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and the later Viking descended Normans, as well as directly by Vikings. In modern times, until the end of the 19th century, the only Keltic people controlling a nation were the French Gauls. Since then, others have reached, or are striving towards independence.
I think you are wrong about Gallic having a Latin root. It comes from the name of the Gauls, the Keltic people who inhabited what is now France and northern Italy. The Romans called them Gauls, but that was the name the Keltic tribes in this territory gave themselves collectively, IMO, as can be seen by the fact that when one of these tribes took off on a raid in Greece and continued on into Asia Minor (Turkey today), they created a small country whose name has persisted until today as Galatia, a people whom Paul sent an Epistle to. See post 13681 above.
That's what Webster's Third New International Dictionary says.
"ML Gallicus, fr. L, of the Gauls"
Dan
I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to be, but thanks anyway for your concern! I was just thinking that I was going to be getting home late and I was already very tired, that I might not get back online after getting home. I should have realized that I couldn't stay away from FR. :)
This is one of my MOST favorite movies!! Samuel L. Jackson was hilarious; "I be honkin Miss Daisy". It is one of those movies I could watch once a week and enjoy it every time! As a matter of fact it is one of only 4 DVDs we've actually cared to buy!
Really? Not even Tim Curry performing "Sweet Transvestite"? I would have thought that performance was impossible to forget. ;)
I don't really think that we are in real disagreement here. Gaullish was never a written language, so Webster's would have to use the Latin cognate. The relation between the Latin 'Gaul' and the Gaullish word for themselves is likely the same as between the Latin descended Italian word 'Italia', and the English word 'Italy', a word derived from it, and referring to the same country.
If Tolkien would drop in here he would be able to discuss the speculated etymology of the change from the Gaullish to the Latin form of this name.
This would be very different from the relationship between the German, French, and English names for Germany. The English word derives from the Latin name for the German people, and the ancient Germans themselves did not seem to be much concerned with collective names for their people, and likely used the Latin word when they needed to discuss the concept. The Germans, of course, call their country Deutschland, 'Land of the Deutsch', so their name for themselves is Deutsch, at least now. This is the reason that the residents of the Netherlands do not like to be called 'Dutch', since Dutch, like English, is a form of Low German, and the residents of that nation recognize that to call them Dutch is essentially calling them Germans. In France Germany is called 'Allemagnia' a word derived from the name of one of the German tribes who were early enemies of the Gauls, the Allemani, as the Romans called them.
My point in all this is that all evidence is that the Latin word 'Gaul' is derived from a similar Gaullish word, so that 'Gaul' is, in essense, what they called themselves.
/pedantry.
'I'm just a sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania'
That is Mr. Curry, not me, you understand.
Tell that to the image of you singing that is now burned into my memory! lol.... You did the RHPS thing too huh? - Cool enough!
Quick! - Break out the grapes, and the large leaf fans and the scented oils!
Just kidding, I am just jealous... I shall repent.... later ;~D
That is my wife's favorite part of the movie... she always exclaims upon how well Mr. Curry could strut in high heels. :)
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