An original study revealing the history of place-names from Ireland to Anatolia, from Scotland to the Apennines, and from to Andalusia the Black Seas. Includes numerous original maps and uncovers new methodology for linguistic geography Uses a dataset of over 20,000 names recorded by Greek and Latin authors such as Polybius, Caesar and Tacitus and by early geographers such as Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmographer A significant work for archaeologists, historians and philologists studying the early distribution of Celtic and other Indo-European languages

From prehistory to the present day, an unrivaled look deep into the contentious origins of the Celts Blood of the Celts brings together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic evidence to address the often-debated question: who were the Celts? What peoples or cultural identities should that term describe? And did they in fact inhabit the British Isles before the Romans arrived? Author Jean Manco challenges existing accounts of the origins of the Celts, providing a new analysis that draws on the latest discoveries as well as ancient history. In a novel approach, the book opens with a discussion of early medieval Irish and British texts, allowing the Celts to speak in their own words and voices. It then traces their story back in time into prehistory to their deepest origins and their ancestors, before bringing the narrative forward to the present day. Each chapter also has a useful summary in bullet points to aid the reader and highlight the key facts in the story.

It is widely accepted that the origin of the Celts (in the sense of Celtic-speakers) is probably to be found on the European continent and that they covered a large area in Europe and Asia Minor. Since they lived during the period of Greek and Roman supremacy, many records of the Celts and the places where they dwelled, have been transmitted owing to Greek and Roman authors. Place-names provide a good basis for tracing the 'Celticity' of places and peoples, and as archaeology alone fails to divulge the early history and distribution of Celtic speakers, linguistic research is very relevant. Place-names should be considered as the most widespread linguistic legacy of the earliest Celts, since they occur beyond areas of what belongs to the field of typically so-called 'Celtic' archaeology.

In this handbook, scholars from around the world offer an up-to-date account of the state of the art in different areas of onomastics, in a format that is both useful to specialists in related fields and accessible to the general reader. Since Ancient Greece, names have been regarded as central to the study of language, and this has continued to be a major theme of both philosophical and linguistic enquiry throughout the history of Western thought. The investigation of name origins is more recent, as is the study of names in literature. Relatively new is the study of names in society, which draws on techniques from sociolinguistics and has gradually been gathering momentum over the last few decades. The structure of this volume reflects the emergence of the main branches of name studies, in roughly chronological order. The first Part focuses on name theory and outlines key issues about the role of names in language, focusing on grammar, meaning, and discourse. Parts II and III deal with the study of place-names and personal names respectively, while Part IV outlines contrasting approaches to the study of names in literature, with case studies from different languages and time periods. Part V explores the field of socio-onomastics, with chapters relating to the names of people, places, and commercial products. Part VI then examines the interdisciplinary nature of name studies, before the concluding Part presents a selection of animate and inanimate referents ranging from aircraft to animals, and explains the naming strategies adopted for them.