Celtic Words in Spanish

[00:00:01]A greatly overlooked aspect of Spanish history is that much of Spain was occupied by Celts or Celtic adjacent peoples since the late Bronze Age.

[00:00:12]The Indo-European language was first brought to Iberia through the Bell Beakers in the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age.

[00:00:19]But by the late Bronze Age and through the Iron Age, migrations from Central Europe into France and from France into Iberia shifted the language in many places to a very early form of Celtic.

[00:00:35]When the Romans conquered Iberia, the Celtic language would gradually be overtaken by Latin, which evolved into Spanish.

[00:00:44]But traces of the Celtic language can still be seen not only in the many place names throughout Iberia, but in the languages themselves.

[00:00:54]Even in standard Castellano has so many words that originate from the Celtic language that you may not believe it.

[00:01:02]Even I was shocked about how Celtic Spanish is.

[00:01:07]Of course, most of them also have their cognates in Portuguese.

[00:01:11]One thing to keep in mind is that the Latinization obscures much of the cognate vocabulary, making it impossible in many cases to tell if a word comes from Latin or from a Celtic language.

[00:01:24]Some of this was discussed in my video on the Italo-Celtic theory, which you may want to check out.

[00:01:30]There are many such cases where it's not easy to tell if a word is of Latin or [music] Celtic origin because anciently the language groups are very closely related.

[00:01:42]Now, as I go through some of the words, Spanish speakers are going to have to forgive my pronunciation because I am not at all competent in Spanish, but I will try my best.

[00:01:54]Now, to get us going, I chose a fun one.

[00:01:57]Cerveza.

[00:01:59]Beer.

[00:02:00]The word ultimately comes from Proto-Celtic kormi, which gives us Gaulish kurmi, Welsh kuru, and Gaelic cuirm.

[00:02:09]Though here it has taken on the more modern meaning of a feast, likely because beer was always copiously drunk on such occasions.

[00:02:18]A cerveza is from Celtic, but there is some debate about whether it's from Gaulish or Celtiberian, >> [music] >> and then adopted into Latin, then passed into Spanish and other languages that come from Latin.

[00:02:33]Whichever may be the case, when you drink beer in Spanish, you drink it in Celtic style.

[00:02:41]The word has a few interesting broader Indo-European cognates. Latin cremor, which is a thick juice made from boiling grains. Russian korm, food. Sanskrit karamba, a kind of gruel made from boiling grains.

[00:02:59]These seem to point to an ancient Indo-European practice of boiling grains, perhaps even before grain was cultivated.

[00:03:08]Just taking raw seeds from grasses and such and boiling them into a mixture.

[00:03:14]And it was likely this kind of process that led to the discovery of beer.

[00:03:21]Garza.

[00:03:22]Crane.

[00:03:23]From Hispano-Celtic carcia.

[00:03:26]From Proto-Celtic korikyos.

[00:03:30]Cognate with Welsh krekyth, crane, and Gaelic corra.

[00:03:37]Mbreka.

[00:03:38]The common pandora.

[00:03:41]This is from Proto-Celtic breikos, meaning spotted, referring to the coloration of the fish.

[00:03:48]It's cognate with Gaelic breac and Welsh brych.

[00:03:53]In Old Irish, it was also used to refer to a trout.

[00:03:58]Brezo or brezo, heather, is from Celtiberian broikios, Proto-Celtic brikos, cognate with Gaelic froich and Welsh grig.

[00:04:12]Bruja, witch, from Iberian Celtic brukstia, from Proto-Celtic briksta, meaning spell or magic, cognate with Old Irish bricht and Welsh compounds like setrith, meaning illusion, and brithron, magic wand.

[00:04:36]Varga, the steepest part of a slope.

[00:04:40]This is also found in Galician, where it has an extended meaning and forms vargo, stake, and varganzo, wattled fence, from Proto-Celtic regis, a wall or enclosure, cognate with Gaelic fraig, a wattled wall, and used in the Welsh construction achre, meaning a palisade or fence.

[00:05:08]Sabueso, a type of hunting dog, from Proto-Celtic segu, to follow, sharing a connection with Gaelic segh.

[00:05:19]It was adopted into Vulgar Latin as segusius, likely from an Iberian Celtic, as it's not found in French.

[00:05:28]Dog breeds were actually listed by Roman writers as a major export of the Celts.

[00:05:35]Tejón, badger, from Proto-Celtic taksos, cognate with Old Irish tadg and the modern name tadg, which in Old Irish had developed a meaning of poet.

[00:05:48]Possibly from the emerging subterranean nature that the bard draws up inspiration from the underworld. Perhaps emerging like the badger.

[00:06:02]Tranca, a door bar or bolt.

[00:06:05]From Proto-Celtic tarankios, a nail, a spike or fastener.

[00:06:11]Cognate with Gaelic tarank, a nail or pin.

[00:06:17]Duerna, a wooden trough, often one specifically used for kneading dough.

[00:06:22]It's thought to derive from Proto-Celtic durnos, meaning a hand or fist. First referring to the shape of the trough or for the action of the kneading.

[00:06:33]Cognate with Welsh dwrn and Gaelic dorn.

[00:06:38]Carro, meaning cart or car, of course.

[00:06:41]>> [music] >> Carro is cognate with English car and both ultimately come through Latin, meaning a chariot or cart. And ultimately from Gaulish carros, cognate with Welsh carr and Old Irish carr.

[00:06:56]However, there are a host of other words which use this as a base, which are then also Celtic, such as carrera, a race, run, journey, and English career.

[00:07:10]Carril, lane or track. Cargar, to load or carry, and so on.

[00:07:18]Now, your chariot needs something to run on, and for that there is vereda, a path or way.

[00:07:25]Ultimately from Proto-Celtic uforeddos, a construction meaning under ride.

[00:07:32]At least in Gaulish and Brythonic came to mean a horse, such as Gaulish weredos and the Welsh construction gorwydd, meaning a horse, but which in Celtiberian takes on the meaning of the road itself.

[00:07:48]Berrendo, a bull with two colors, a pronghorn.

[00:07:54]From Celtic barowindos, bar meaning extremity or tip, cognate with Gaelic bar, and windos meaning white, cognate with Gaelic fin or Welsh gwyn.

[00:08:09]So, literally it means something like with the white tips or surmounting white.

[00:08:16]Brenia, scrubland or rough ground, either from Celtic brigna, hill, or brsnios, hill, from whence comes Welsh bryn.

[00:08:30]Comblesa or comblatha, meaning a rival lover, from Celtic combero, meaning to take away with, similar to Welsh cymryd, to take.

[00:08:44]Abedul, meaning a birch tree, from Proto-Celtic betulla, birch tree, cognate with Gaelic bethe, and Welsh bedw.

[00:08:58]Mina, mine, from Proto-Celtic manis, meaning mine, and also ore, cognate with Welsh mwyn, ore, and Gaelic main.

[00:09:11]Also with Proto-Germanic smithaz, though with a slightly different meaning here, obviously giving rise to the modern English word smith.

[00:09:20]Now, this is ultimately the origin of the English word mine as well, which was borrowed from Latin, but it entered Latin through the significance of Celtic mining in Iberia, Las Médulas being perhaps the largest gold mine in the entire Roman Mining was such a significant part of the Celtic economy that even the Romans borrowed the word that the Celts used for the action into their own language.

[00:09:51]Garaña tangled hair.

[00:09:53]And yes, this is actually from Proto-Celtic garannos, meaning a mustache or beard.

[00:10:00]Cognate with Gaelic garrawn bristling hair and Welsh garan.

[00:10:07]camino way, path, road from either an Iberian Celtic or Gaulish cammanos.

[00:10:16]This is related to the Gaelic word caem and Welsh cam, meaning step or pace.

[00:10:23]And it made its way into Vulgar Latin, taking on the meaning of a beaten path, and eventually a road, and has cognates now in French and Italian.

[00:10:35]terco stubborn from Proto-Celtic tercos scarce, meager cognate with Gaelic terc few or scarce.

[00:10:47]caballo or cavallo, a horse from Proto-Celtic caballos cognate with Gaelic capall and Welsh ceffyl.

[00:10:58]Now, there are many other words linked to this word for horse, such as caballero meaning a knight or horseman which also then have [music] a Celtic root.

[00:11:10]gubia, a gouge [music] tool from Proto-Celtic gulbinos cognate with Old Irish gulban and Welsh gylfin, a bird's beak.

[00:11:22]This is likely due to the curved shape of the beak.

[00:11:27]landa a plain or a sandy plain from Proto-Celtic landa, meaning an open space, cognate with Gaelic lan, >> [music] >> meaning an enclosed space, a church site, and Welsh san, meaning a church or a churchyard enclosure or a small town.

[00:11:46]Taladro, a drill, from Proto-Celtic taratorom, a drill or auger, cognate with Irish tadaher and Welsh tarador, also meaning a drill or auger.

[00:12:03]Guero has a very interesting origin because although it tends to in Mexico at least referred as someone having a pale skin or being blonde, uh effectively meaning whitey, it has an origin meaning empty or infertile.

[00:12:21]Now this comes from an earlier meaning of brooding found in Galician from Proto-Celtic gworeiti to heat, warm, or incubate, cognate with Irish gor, to hatch, incubate, or warm, and Welsh gory, borona, millet, maize, corn, cornbread from Proto-Celtic barigina, bread or cake, cognate with Old Irish bairgen, bread, loaf, food, and Welsh bara, bread.

[00:12:57]Centollo or centollo, spider crab.

[00:13:03]Now this comes from a Proto-Celtic construction using kintu, meaning first, cognate with Gaelic kint, Welsh kint, and ollos, large, cognate with Gaelic oll, a suitable name for a >> [music] >> large species of crab.

[00:13:23]Cleda, a siege tower.

[00:13:26]Now this one's a bit of a reach, not because it isn't Celtic, but because the word is fairly rare now in Spanish.

[00:13:33]From Proto-Celtic cleta, a palisade or hurdle, cognate with Gaelic cleath, a grating or lattice or grid, and Welsh clwyd, a hurdle.

[00:13:47]Garra, a claw or talon, from Proto-Celtic garros, leg, calf, or shank, cognate with Welsh gard and Old Irish gath.

[00:14:00]Truhan, a scoundrel, crook, jester, buffoon, from an Iberian Celtic or Gaulish trugantos, from Proto-Celtic trougos, sad, miserable, cognate with Gaelic truag, meaning sad or miserable, and Welsh truwan.

[00:14:22]Tocino or tocino, bacon, or salt pork.

[00:14:27]This is a word with culinary history. In the age before refrigeration, the ancient Celts had mastered a technique for preserving meat using a combination of salt and liquid lard.

[00:14:41]Meat could be preserved for as long as a year submerged in this brine.

[00:14:46]Following the Roman conquest, the Celtic word for this lard, tucca, made its way into Vulgar Latin.

[00:14:55]Banalgo, the broom plant, [music] from Celtiberian and ultimately Proto-Celtic banatlon, cognate with Welsh banatlo, Gaulish balano, and with an Indo-European root meaning path or to clear away.

[00:15:14]Finally, a word which describes something that Spanish are very associated with.

[00:15:19]Brío, vigor, zeal, from Celtic Brigos power, worth cognate with Welsh bri, steam or honor Irish bri, strength, significance and Gaelic bri essence Of course, there are many other words which may be of Celtic origin.

[00:15:45]I left out many that I was less sure about, even though sometimes in searches they may flag as being Celtic. In some cases, this is actually due to poor early research.

[00:15:57]Many are hard to detect or distinguish from Latin because many of the core nouns in Latin and Celtic languages are shared.

[00:16:05]Others may have entered Latin even before Latin came to Iberia as Celts were present through northern Italy.

[00:16:12]But that my friends, is a topic for a future video.

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[00:16:27]Thank you so much for watching. And as always stand tall.