Celt (tool)

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Celt (pronounced /sɛlt/) is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the term had largely been abandoned by archaeologists, who were beginning to classify the tools into more precise sub-groups. It remains in use in a few specific artifact types such as the Danubian and Shoe-last celts, as well as in Olmec studies.

Etymology

The term "celt" came about from what was very probably a copyist's error in many medieval manuscript copies of Job 19:24 in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which became enshrined in the authoritative Sixto-Clementine printed edition of 1592; however the Codex Amiatinus, for example, does not contain the mistake. In the passage: Stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel certe sculpantur in silice (It is indeed carved with an iron pen on a plate of lead or in stone), the certe ("indeed") was spelled as celte by mistake, which would have to be the ablative of a non-existent third declension noun celt or celtis, the ablative case giving the sense "with/by a celt". This is now considered to be the case by most scholars, although some are still prepared to consider the existence of a real Latin word. A 'Celt' was thus wrongly assumed to be a type of ancient chisel. During the late 11th century, the word appeared with this interpretation in scholarly medieval Latin. Eighteenth century antiquarians then adopted the word for the stone and bronze tools they were then finding at prehistoric sites.

Notes

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Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 17:51:51 PST (GMT -0800)
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