203 



"THE CELTIC MISNOMER. 



At the final meeting of the Archaeological Section for this 

 session, held in the Museum, College Square, on Wednesday, 

 ioth March — Mr. W. J. Fennell, F.R.I. B. A., presiding — Mr. 

 John M. Dickson read a paper on "The Celtic Misnomer," in 

 which he referred to the very frequent misapplication of the term 

 Celtic when used to describe the dark-haired inhabitants of these 

 countries as "the Celtic fringe" of the population, &c, &c, 

 while in fact this darker and smaller race are the aborigines of 

 Western Europe, who had been either displaced or enslaved every- 

 where by the tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed Continental Celts. He 

 quoted Caesar and Tacitus with regard to these " Celtae," who had 

 previous to their times occupied three-fourths of what is now France, 

 which from them was called Celtica; while in Spain they had 

 driven off the natives and occupied the North-Eastern corner, now 

 the province of Catalonia, and then known as " Hispania Celtica." 

 Long before Caesar's time the Celtae had crossed to Britain and 

 largely occupied it, bringing with them their language (the Gaelic), 

 a branch of the Aryan stem, as testified by the local nomenclature, 

 and especially by the river names. He supported this evidence of 

 authentic history by quoting from the Irish traditions, which, when 

 studied " between the lines," reveal the same result of the collision 

 between the two races, the aboriginal, or " black Irish," though 

 "the most numerous," having been treated as a servile or helot 

 class by these tall fair-haired invaders, and held in subjection by 

 them until the Gaelic supremacy was destroyed in the seventeenth 

 century. He suggested that this misapplication of the term 

 " Celtic " may have arisen from the assumption that because 

 Gaelic was now common in some districts — to the west and north 

 of these islands — the speakers must themselves be Celts, whereas 

 this survival of Gaelic is due to their remoteness and want of 

 intercourse with English speakers, both races having spoken 

 Gaelic all over the country up till five centuries ago. He 



