Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

Irrbfiilngia Camlirasii THIRD SERIES, No. XIV.—APRIL, 1858. ON CERTAIN TERMS OF CELTIC ETHNOLOGY, AND ON A RECENT THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WELSH.1 (Read at Monmouth.) The remarks which I am going to make, must be re¬ garded as a humble contribution towards determining the origin of certain national appellations, with which we are all familiar. But in speaking of the origin of these ap¬ pellations, I would not be understood to refer to their etymology. The etymology of gentile names is from the nature of the case, in almost every instance, extremely obscure and uncertain. The names themselves may be traced back to a very remote antiquity, and the languages to which they belong have undergone such modifications that it is generally difficult to recognize the roots. The attempts which have been made to assign them have in Many cases been particularly infelicitous. Accordingly, ]t is not my intention to wander into these dark and slip¬ pery ways of antiquity. My object is to trace the history ot these terms, and by these means to throw some light ypon the history of the races to which they belong. When Jt can be made out that a national name was at any period l his paper has undergone various modifications since it was de- ivored, which it is unnecessary to specify. But the afterthoughts nave mainly taken the form of foot-notes. ARCH. CAMB., THIRD SERIES, VOL. IV. S