FABLE AND FOLKLORE 43 



The harried people north of the Po, themselves mostly 

 descendants of the earlier invasion, spoke of these raiders 

 by an old Teutonic epithet which the Romans heard and 

 wrote as Gall us, the meaning of which was "stranger" — 

 in this case "the enemy." 



The word G alius, Gaul or a Gaul, then, was an ancient 

 Teutonic epithet inherited by the Romans from the 

 Etruscans, and had in its origin no relation to gallns, 

 the lord of the poultry-yard. It is most likely, indeed, 

 that the term was given in contempt, as the Greeks called 

 foreigners "barbarians" because they spoke some language 

 which the Greeks did not understand; for the occupants 

 of the valley of the Po at that time were of truly Ger- 

 manic descent, and did not regard the round-headed, 

 Alpine "Kelts" as kin in any sense, but rather as ancient 

 foes. What the word on their lips actually was no one 

 knows ; but it seems to have had a root gal or vol, inter- 

 changeable in the sound (to non-native ears) of its initial 

 letter, whence it appears that Galatai, Gael, Valais, 

 Walloon, and similar names connected with Keltic history 

 are allied in root-derivation. Wales, for example, to the 

 early Teutonic immigrants into Britain was the country 

 of the Wealas, i.e., the "foreigners" (who were Gaulish, 

 Keltic-speaking Kymri) ; and the English are not yet 

 quite free from that view of the Welsh. 



The opportunity to pun with gallus, a cock, is evident, 

 just as was a bitter pun current in Martial's time between 

 Gallia, a. female Gaul and gallia, a gall-nut ; but in all this 

 there is nothing to answer the question why the pun of 

 which we are in search — if there was such a pun — has 

 endured so long. I think the answer lies in certain appear- 

 ances and customs of the Keltic warriors. 



