How do you pronounce the word Celtic?

For years, English speakers pronounced the word Celtic with a soft “C” in all contexts. It’s how people in the United Kingdom said the word in the late 19th century when the famed Glasgow soccer team, Celtic [soft ‘C’], was formed.

Why is Celtic pronounced with a soft’c’?

For years, English speakers pronounced the word Celtic with a soft “C” in all contexts. It’s how people in the United Kingdom said the word in the late 19th century when the famed Glasgow soccer team, Celtic [soft ‘C’], was formed. It’s also how people around here said it in 1947, when our now beloved basketball team debuted.

What is the etymology of the noun Celt?

The etymology of the noun Celt —from which the adjective Celtic is derived—is straightforward. It’s a 16th-century borrowing of the French word Celte, which itself is from Latin Celta, the singular of Celtae, which is the name for a member of an early Indo-European people from antiquity who spread…

Is it’Celtic’or’Celic’?

The same goes for Classical Latin. So, while the rules of the English language suggest “Celtic” should be said with a soft ‘C’ — and for a long time, that was how English speakers said it — that has changed since the mid-20th century.

What is the origin of the Celtic language?

Definition of Celtic (Entry 2 of 2) : a group of Indo-European languages usually subdivided into Brythonic and Goidelic and now largely confined to Brittany, Wales, Ireland, and the Scottish Highlands — see Indo-European Languages Table.

When did people start pronunciating \\K\\ as the default for Irish?

By the mid-20th century, \\k\\ became the norm, which is fitting since the pronunciation is in line with that of the Celtic family of languages that include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, and the now-extinct (or, depending on who you talk to, nearly extinct) languages Manx and Cornish. Apparently, people appreciated the ethnic pronunciation.

Why do we say ‘Celtic’ in English?

It’s how people in the United Kingdom said the word in the late 19th century when the famed Glasgow soccer team, Celtic [soft ‘C’], was formed. It’s also how people around here said it in 1947, when our now beloved basketball team debuted. This makes all the sense in the world, said linguist, author and educator James Harbeck.

Is it “Celtic” or “Keltic?

I prefer “keltic” as the Celtic pronunciation to refer to the Celtic languages and cultures, and so all of the English-speaking Medievalists and Celticists (that’s “kelticists”) I know.

Is “Keltic” the correct pronunciation of the letter K?

There are some who argue that “keltic” is the “correct” pronunciation because both Irish and Welsh use the letter C to indicate the sound represented by the letter K in English. This is a spurious argument since the ancient Celts did not refer to themselves as “Celts.”