In 1703, a French historian and Biblical
antiquary, Paul Yves Pezron, wrote a book about the people of Brittany,
entitled _Antiquite de la Nation et de la Langue des Celtes autrement
appellez Gaulois_. It was translated into English almost immediately,
and philologists soon discovered that the language of Caesar's Celts was
related to the Gaelic of the Scottish Highlanders. On this ground
progressed the extension of the name, and the Highlanders became
identified with, instead of being distinguished from, the Celts of Gaul.
The word Celt was used to describe both the whole family (including
Brythons and Goidels), and also the special branch of the family to
which Caesar applied the term. It is as if the word "Teutonic" had been
used to describe the whole Aryan Family, and had been specially employed
in speaking of the Romance peoples. The word "Celtic" has, however,
become a technical term as opposed to "Saxon" or "English", and it is
impossible to avoid its use.
Besides the Goidels, or so-called Celts, and the Brythonic Celts or
Britons, we find traces in Scotland of an earlier race who are known as
"Picts", a few fragments of whose language survive. About the identity
of these Picts another controversy has been waged. Some look upon the
Pictish tongue as closely allied to Scottish Gaelic; others regard it as
Brythonic rather than Goidelic; and Dr. Rhys surmises that it is really
an older form of speech, neither Goidelic nor Brythonic, and probably
not allied to either, although, in the form in which its fragments have
come down to us, it has been deeply affected by Brythonic forms.
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