The Religion of the Ancient Celts | Page 8

athair,
Manx ayr, and Irish iasg, represent respectively Latin pater and piscis.
P occurring between vowels was also lost, e.g. Irish caora, "sheep," is
from _kaperax_; for, "upon" (Lat. _super_), from uper. This change
took place before the Goidelic Celts broke away and invaded Britain in
the tenth century B.C., but while Celts and Teutons were still in contact,

since Teutons borrowed words with initial p, e.g. Gothic fairguni,
"mountain," from Celtic percunion, later Ercunio, the Hercynian forest.
The loss must have occurred before 1000 B.C. But after the separation
of the Goidelic group a further change took place. Goidels preserved
the sound represented by qu, or more simply by c or ch, but this was
changed into p by the remaining continental Celts, who carried with
them into Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Britain (the Brythons) words in which
q became p. The British Epidii is from Gaulish epos, "horse," which is
in Old Irish ech (Lat. _equus_). The Parisii take their name from
Qarisii, the Pictones or Pictavi of Poictiers from Pictos (which in the
plural Pidi gives us "Picts"), derived from quicto. This change took
place after the Goidelic invasion of Britain in the tenth century B.C. On
the other hand, some continental Celts may later have regained 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 by Professor Meyer,[33] who holds that the first Goidels
reached Britain from Ireland in the second century, while Dr.
MacBain[34] was of the opinion that England, apart from Wales and
Cornwall, knew no Goidels, the place-names being Brythonic. But
unless all Goidels reached Ireland from Gaul or Spain, as some did,
Britain was more easily reached than Ireland by migrating Goidels
from the Continent. Prominent Goidelic place-names would become
Brythonic, but insignificant places would retain their Goidelic form,
and to these we must look for decisive evidence.[35] A Goidelic
occupation by the ninth century B.C. is suggested by the name
"Cassiterides" (a word of the q group) applied to Britain. If the Goidels
occupied Britain first, they may have called their land Qretanis or
Qritanis, which Pictish invaders would change to Pretanis, found in
Welsh "Ynys Pridain," Pridain's Isle, or Isle of the Picts, "pointing to
the original underlying the Greek [Greek: Pretanikai Nêsoi] or Pictish
Isles,"[36] though the change may be due to continental p Celts trading
with q Celts in Britain. With the Pictish occupation would agree the
fact that Irish Goidels called the Picts who came to Ireland
_Cruithne=Qritani=Pre-tani_. In Ireland they almost certainly adopted
Goidelic speech.
Whether or not all the Pictish invaders of Britain were called "Pictavi,"
this word or Picti, perhaps from quicto (Irish cicht, "engraver"),[37]
became a general name for this people. Q had been changed into p on
the Continent; hence "Pictavi" or "Pictones," "the tattooed men," those
who "engraved" figures on their bodies, as the Picts certainly did.
Dispossessed and driven north by incoming Brythons and Belgæ, they
later became the virulent enemies of Rome. In 306 Eumenius describes
all the northern tribes as "Caledonii and other Picts," while some of the
tribes mentioned by Ptolemy have