Re: Volcae/*Walh-

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 56015
Date: 2008-03-26

This is what Wikipedia has to say re: etymology of
Volcae, but I think all of you could come up with
something better

Traditional etymologies have attributed Volcae to a
word akin to Welsh golchi "to wash" and Irish folc "to
bathe" (Proto-Celtic *volkiō), making this tribe
the "river people" after a rough semantic adjustment.
A more likely scenario is that this or a cognate in
Pannonian Illyrian was used to name the river Volcos,
from which the Volcae took their name. C.W. von
Glück[19]derived the name from a word related to Old
Irish folg "agile, energetic".[20]
Most Celticists today seem to agree that the tribal
name Uolcae is related to Welsh gwalch "hawk" (and
they compare the Gaulish personal name Catuuolcus to
Welsh cadwalch "hero", literally "battle-hawk"),
though some prefer to translate Gaulish *uolco- as
"wolf" and, by semantic extension, "errant
warrior"[21]
The name Tectosages, literally "possession-seekers",
meant "claim-stakers", perhaps closer in sense to
"claim-jumper" or "land grabber", and a direct cognate
is found in Old Irish techtaigidir "he/she seeks to
(re)establish a land claim" [22].



____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ