Celtic Ireland: Problems of language, history and archaeology

Abstract

It is with pleasure that I offer this short paper to Miklos Szabo, not only for his outstanding contribution to the field of Celtic archaeology, but also with sincere thanks for my many years of friendship with him. Seventy years ago R. A. S. Macalister, the first occupant of the Chair of Celtic Archaeology in University College Dublin, wrote of “that nightmare of ethnology, archaeology and, we may add, politics, the Celtic problem”.1 Three quarters of a century have passed yet still the Celtic problem remains, still there are many aspects of the Celtic conundrum which remain unresolved. The subject of this paper concerns Ireland. Historically, nobody doubts that around the middle of the first millennium A.D. Ireland throughout, in its language, its place names, its personal names indeed, in the manners and customs of its inhabitants, may legitimately be termed Celtic. Indeed, even before this, in the early second century A.D., using sources from the preceding century, the well-known map of the Greek ethnographer Ptolemy includes names which can undoubtedly be regarded as Celtic in the truest sense of the word.2 It was before the period of the written word, however, that the critical changes took place, changes which ultimately made the country what it is today. Thus our knowledge of Irish Celtic beginnings can only be found in the archaeological record. The supposed celticity of Ireland is all-pervading, beginning with language, for the official language of the State is labelled “Celtic”. For that country, too, all are familiar with that creature known as the Celtic Tiger still, thankfully, holding its own in a world of increasing political and financial tension. To the south-east of Ireland is the Celtic Sea, as yet, alas, without the hoped for oil. In rugby there is a Celtic Cup between Scotland, Wales and Ireland and in the Scottish city of Glasgow emigrants from Ireland formed the famous soccer team Glasgow Celtic, the same Celtic, even though the “C” is soft. In the Dublin telephone directory there are 84 entries with Celtic prefixes, entries such as Celtic Beauty Salon, Celtic Bedding, Celtic Bookmakers, Celtic Business Systems, Celtic Concepts Ltd., Celtic Global Procurement, Celtic Logistics, Celtic Road Sweepers, even Celtic Helicopters. Random glances at directories for other parts of the country show the “Celts” to be equally ubiquitous. Thus, to pick a few examples, we have Celtic Bookmakers in Athlone, Celtic Internet Services in Bunbeg, Celtic Seaweed Baths in Sligo, Celtic Weave China in Ballyshannon and even a Celtic Futon Store in Galway. And with the foundation of University College Dublin in 1908, the head of Archaeology was, and remains, the Professor of Celtic Archaeology even though Celtic studies formed, as it does today, only a very small part of the teaching curriculum.