of doubtful authenticity. Mr. Knight Watson,[1] in a paper communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, has shown that the reading in many MSS. is certe, and the question has been fully discussed by Mr. J. A. Picton,[2] Mr. E. Marshall,[3] Dr. M. Much,[4] and others. K. v. Becker[5] suggests that the error in writing celte for certe originated between A.D. 800 and 1400, and he points out that Conrad Pickel, the poet laureate, who died in 1508, latinized his surname by Celtes. Treating the subject as one of probability, it appears much more unlikely that a scribe should place a new-fangled word celte in the place of such a well-known word as certe, than that certe should have been substituted for a word that had become obsolete. I am, therefore, unwilling absolutely to condemn the word, especially having regard to there being a recognized equivalent in Latin, Cælum.
It has been suggested that there may originally have been some connection between the Latin celtis and the British or Welsh cellt, a flint; but this seems rather an instance of fortuitous resemblance than of affinity.[6] A Welsh triad says there are three hard things in the world—Maen Cellt (a flint stone), steel, and a miser's heart.
The general form of stone celts is well known, being usually that of blades, approaching an oval in section, with the sides more or less straight, and one end broader and also sharper than the other. In length they vary from about two inches to as much as sixteen inches. I do not, however, propose to enter at once into any description of the varieties in their form and character, but to pass in review some of the opinions that have been held concerning their nature and origin.
One of the most universal of these is a belief, which may almost be described as having been held "semper, ubique et ab omnibus," in their having been thunderbolts.
"The country folks[7] of the West of England still hold that the 'thunder-axes' they find, once fell from the sky." In Cornwall[8] they still have medical virtues assigned to them; the water in which "a thunderbolt," or celt, has been boiled being a specific
- ↑ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S. vol. vii. p. 395.
- ↑ N. and Q., 6th S. vol. ix. p. 463.
- ↑ Op. cit., x. p. 73.
- ↑ Mitth. d. Anth. Ges. in Wien, vol. xxiv. (1894) p. 84.
- ↑ Arch. f. Anth., vol. x. (1876) p. 140.
- ↑ Barnes, "Notes on Ancient Britain," 1858, p. 15.
- ↑ Tylor, "Early Hist. of Man.," 2nd ed. p. 226, which also see for many of the facts here quoted. See also Tylor's "Prim. Culture," vol. ii. p. 237, &c.
- ↑ Halliwell, "Rambles in West Cornwall," 1861, p. 206. Rev. Celt., 1870, p. 6. Polwhele's "Traditions, &c.," 1826, vol. ii. p. 607. Folk-lore Journ., vol. i. p. 191.
