What is the Difference Between Celtic and Germanic?

[Caledonian]

What's the difference between Celtic versus Germanic?

Is there a difference?

The ancient Gauls are defined as Celtic many times but their culture always seem to resemble one that was Germanic.

I'll use that as one analogy of where I often enough get confused.

Then there is also the way how the Celts of the British isles migrated from mainland Europe in ancient times probally from a group that was very closely related to the group that later on evolved into the ancient Germans.

I would appreciate someone more knowledgeable than myself to explain this fully to me.

[Wynterwade]

I was very confused the same way you were a few months ago.

Here is the shocker- the Celtics originated in southern Germany with the Hallstatt Culture around 6,000 BC. The Danube is named after the Celtic god- Danu.

Here is anouther shocker- At one point they were spread from Ukraine to Turkey to Spain to Ireland- I'm not joking.


Check out the link for more information on customs language and etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts

Over time the Germanic Tribes grew and moved downward into Germany between 750 BC (Dark color) and 1AD (Yellow) .


Check out the link for more information about language customs etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanics

I also bought 2 books that I haven't had time to read yet
1) A history of the vikings (doesn't really go before 500 AD though)
2) The Celts? (Can't quite remember the name but it's a good one)

[Caledonian]

So by that illustration are the Celts and Germans that terribly different or very close to being similar?

I would say by them deriving from the Danube of southern modern Germany that would make them a very close related culture.

The Celts of the south and the Germans of the north in that historical period would of have to derived together from a same ancestor I would think not to mention before the Germanic cultures immigrated south from the northern Scandinavian territories you would think there would be some trade between both respected cultures.

[Wynterwade]

Genetically they are really similar (does depend on the location though).

Culturally they were very different in religion, language and behavior.

What are the exact differences? I don't quite remember exactly off the top of my head right now. But I think it's how they bury their dead (Germanics did mounds I think- or was that celtics? I don't remember), Celtics were more lax in sex and the Germanics were strict (according to some Roman Emperor I believe). Their clothes were different. Celtics had Druids. That's all that comes to my mind right now.

You can easily dig through information on more examples on wikipedia. Some Greek or Roman guy traveled around Europe documenting the behavior of the Celtics and Germanics but I don't remember who that is right now.

[Ediruc]

At one point the Celts were of a high aristocracy over us Germans. But, as later Germanic tribes proved (The Angles, Jutes, and Saxons), Germanics make better warriors and set themselves up above Celts (like in Great Britain).

In fact, some of my writings and short fiction stories deal with this relationship between Germanics and Celts. The Germanic in all of them is always undermining the Celt.

[Hawx]

They have always been the same people, britain was part of europe until 8,000 years ago when britain was cut off by the english channel, even today there's little effort in crossing the channel by canoe. Stop reading roman properganda, that includes "xtian histories", look at the genetics, look at the physical appearance, look at the pagan cultures. Britain and Germania have always been the same people.

[Elessar]

What's the difference between Celtic versus Germanic?

Is there a difference?

The ancient Gauls are defined as Celtic many times but their culture always seem to resemble one that was Germanic.

I'll use that as one analogy of where I often enough get confused.

Then there is also the way how the Celts of the British isles migrated from mainland Europe in ancient times probally from a group that was very closely related to the group that later on evolved into the ancient Germans.

I would appreciate someone more knowledgeable than myself to explain this fully to me.

Think of it this way: The Celts and the Germans were only called so by their Mediterranean neighbors. For instance if you and your tribe were called the AlaricLachlans and your rival tribe were called the so and so's, and a more technologically advanced more powerful culture came in and said you were Germans and your rivals were Celts simply because they lived on the other side of a river. Celt comes from the Greek word Keltoi. Romans referred to them as Gauls.

The only clearly distinguishable feature of the 2 peoples is the Language they spoke. Germanics spoke Germanic language, Celtics spoke Celtic. Culturally as well there were apparent differences. Just because they were "Celt" doesn't mean they were all the same. Most of them were waring amoungst themselves or Rome and Greece. Moreover Celt is an umbrella term.

Racially speaking, they weren't too far off from eachother, depending on their location. Obviously a Celtiberian isn't so close to A Suebii as a Gaul would be. mainly along the Rhein and Franco-German border does one see the line between Celt and German get murky. Elsewhere in Europe were more autonomous and distinguishable tribes of celts.

At one point the Celts were of a high aristocracy over us Germans. But, as later Germanic tribes proved (The Angles, Jutes, and Saxons), Germanics make better warriors and set themselves up above Celts (like in Great Britain).

I'm not too familiar with Celtic supremacy putting "us" Germans down?

[Wynterwade]

I was really bored one day so I wrote down all the towns and cities that my ancestors were from during the 1500's and 1600's.

Then I tried to trace those areas back to around the year 1000 and most were Germanic.

However, as I tracked them back even further to the year 0 the balance started to shift wildly towards the Celtics with something like 95% Celtic and only 5% Germanic (who were Angle and Saxon and Jute Viking Immigrants to England and Scotland).

Genetic studies have been done in England to determine how much Viking ancestry the English have and the most it is today in some port cities was something like 10% Scandinavian ancestry (by paternal lines). This is in one of my previous posts titled "much of Germany was 100% Celtic?" or something like that.

[Elessar]

I was really bored one day so I wrote down all the towns and cities that my ancestors were from during the 1500's and 1600's.

Then I tried to trace those areas back to around the year 1000 and most were Germanic.

However, as I tracked them back even further to the year 0 the balance started to shift wildly towards the Celtics with something like 95% Celtic and only 5% Germanic (who were Angle and Saxon and Jute Viking Immigrants to England and Scotland).

That's true, especially in Germany place-names were overwhelmingly Celtic, then Germanized, as linguists infer that Germania was once inhabbited by Celtic tribes prior to about 0 ad, that give the names to places like Bavaria, the river Ems, Ansbach, Bonn, Mainz, and plenty others.

[Caledonian]

The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of mixed Germanic-Celtic speaking refugees from Gaul (approximately modern day France and Belgium) known as the Belgae, who were displaced as the Roman Empire expanded around 50 BC. They settled along most of the coastline of Southern Britain between about 200 BC and AD 43. A Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii, who had cultural links to the continent, appeared in north-east England.

It is disputed whether Iron Age Britons were "Celts", with some academics such as John Collis[15] and Simon James[16] actively opposing the idea of 'Celtic Britain', since the term was only applied at this time to a tribe in Gaul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Britain



So if the Gauls were Germanic or closely related that would mean that ancient Britain before the Saxon invasion were also equally Germanic to the Saxons?

I also noticed how nobody talks about Ireland at this forum but we can't forget the Viking conquests of Ireland where I'm thinking there is a bit of Germanic influence in Irish culture.