> The Lithuanian word seems to be related to Slavic *c^IlnU 'boat,
canoe',
> but not to the Celtic ethnonym *kelto-/*kelta:-, I'm not sure what
the
> latter "means" in the sense that it has no obvious etymology. Maybe
> Chris Gwinn can help us.
On the face of it, Gaulish *Celtos, pl. *Celti/*Celtoi (the source of
Greek Keltoi, Latin Celtae) seems to be derived from one of the
various PIE *kel- roots (*kel- 1. "to strike, cut", 2. "cover,
conceal, save", 3. "to drive, set in swift motion", 4. "to be
prominent, hill", 5. "to prick", 6. "to deceive, trick"). Not all of
these various *kel-'s survive in Irish or Welsh, but that does not
mean that most (if not all) of them couldn't have existed in Gaulish -
so it's hard to say precisely which one might have been the root of
the ethnic name. "Prominent One" of "Swift" seem attractive choices
to me.
- Chris Gwinn