PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. II3 



Gauls under the leadership of another Brennus invaded Greece in 279 B.C., and 

 were prevented by some miraculous interposition from gaining possession of the 

 treasures at Delphi. The Gauls were defeated and their leader was killed. After 

 their departure from Greece they crossed into Asia Minor, and finally settled in the 

 province which was known as Galatia — a name which doubtless owed its origin to 

 the Gauls who planted their homes in that portion of Asia Minor. Max Miiller and 

 others are of opinion that Brenmis is akin to the Welsh Brennin; and that the meaning 

 of the word in question is king. The conjecture may be advanced that, as the two 

 leaders of the Gauls bore the same name, Brennus may be regarded as a distinction 

 of ofifice, or as an appellation which every Gaul who occupied the highest position 

 bore in virtue of his office. I am disposed to believe that Brennus is a Gaelic word ; 

 and that in it we have a faithful if not an unmistakable reproduction of Breitheanas, 

 or Judgment, or better still, Brcith a mias. Judgment from above. The presence in Gaelic 

 annals of Vergobretus, or Fear ' gu breith, or Man of Judgment, or judicial officer, 

 strengthens the conjecture that Brennus is a reproduction of our Gaelic word 

 Breitheanas. 



Various opinions have been advanced as to what the true meaning of the term 

 Celt is. In his introduction to the " Beauties of Gaelic Poetry " Mackenzie writes : 

 " The appropriate name which this remarkable people gave themselves was Celtae, 

 but the terms Calatae, Galatae or Gallatians, and Galli or Gaul, were adopted by the 

 Greeks and Romans, and were the appellations by which in later ages they were 

 usually distinguished. A more probable derivation is from the fair complexion by 

 which the ancients characterized this race. This is the Etymon given by Greek 

 scholars, as if the body were Galactoi, milky-coloured. And as G and C are com- 

 mutable letters, it must be confessed that the Gaelic Gaelta or Cealta has the closest 

 possible resemblance to Celta." Zeuss, the erudite author of the Grammatica Celtica, 

 suggests that Gael has its origin in a word meaning zvind; and that it, therefore, 

 signifies a violent, stormy people. Latham contends that Kelt means Mountaineer. 

 In the description which Virgil has given of the various scenes that were represented 

 on the shield of Aeneas, reference is made to the Gauls who captured Rome, " Aurea 

 Caesaris oilis et aurea vestis." Two allusions are found in Herodotus to the Celts. 

 His words, literally rendered, are these : " For the River Danube, beginning from 

 the Kelts, and the City of Pyrene, flows, dividing the middle of Europe. But the 

 Celts, or Keltoi, are outside the pillars of Hercules, and border on the Cynesii, who 

 are the last that dwell toward the west of those who reside in Europe. The Ister. 

 or Danube, beginning from the Celts, i.e., having its source at the country of the 

 Celts, flows through the whole of Europe. The Celts are the last of the Europeans 

 after the Cynesii, who live in the direction of the setting of the sun." Pausanias 

 thus writes in reference to the Celts of his own time : " The custom of calling them 

 Galatae or Gauls has only prevailed of late. They were formerly named Celtae, 

 both by themselves and others." We may conclude with at least a large measure 

 of reason, that the words Keltoi, Galatai, Gaul and Gael have very much in common, 

 and that their signification is to a large extent the same. Kelt is a more ancient, 

 and doubtless a more comprehensive term than Gaidheal. So strong and palpable 

 is the relation which Gael bears to geal (white) that there is valid ground for 

 believing, in consideration of the argument which Mackenzie adduces, as well as of 

 the reference which is found in Virgil to the yellow or golden hair of the Gaul, 

 that the origin of the appellation, Celt or Gael, is to be traced to the fair complexion 

 of the ancient members of the Celtic race. 



The earliest settlers of a country are wont to leave behind them indelible remin- 

 iscences in the names of mountains, streams and lochs. There can be no doubt 

 whatever that the word Alp is Celtic; and that we have in the very name of one of 

 the largest mountain ranges of Europe, an enduring proof that the Keltoi, at some 

 time in the remote past, inhabited that portion of Europe which is embraced by the 

 region of the Alps. There is an old Gaelic word Alp. which signifies a height or 



