r/Celtic

I have Celtic ancestry and I want to incorporate Celtic lore and mythology into a fantasy world I'm building. I'm working on the world map rn and I'm curious if there's a name that Celtic people generally would have used as a name for the land they live on? Or is it more that Irish people's name for the land was different from the Scottish name for the land. Please let me know!

Would appreciate it if you checked it out.

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-nine-muses-for-albion/

Did the Celtics win this trade in terms of value? Definitely not. But this is still a top 3 team in the east. This team won 56 games last year, and is now swapping Brown with Tatum and added George, Robinson, and Conley. This team is objectively more talented with proven playoff performers, and the young core gets better every game. Joe just won coach of the year. If every trade was a win, no one would ever make trades. The Celtics lost this trade in terms of raw value, but Brown had to go, and overall they've had a successful offseason.

Celtic and Greek alternation of m \ b, loanwords (Draft)

Sean Whalen

stlatos@yahoo.com

June 28, 2026

A. Greek alternation of m \ b

Many Greek words have m \ b, but m \ w is much more common in IE (from various causes). If this*m > *w represents the earlier stage, some of this alternation might show that *m \ *v was the earliest shift, but with no details clear. In support of the reality of these changes, these words seem to show alternation of b \ m in clear IE roots, and others of unknown origin :

*tergW- > S. tarj- ‘threaten’, G. tarmússō ‘frighten’, tárbos ‘fright/alarm/terror’

G. κικυμίς \ κίκυμος \ κίκυβος 'little owl (Athene noctua)', L. cucubīre \ cūcubāre to screech, hoot '(of the screech-owl)'

*kH2am-? > L. camur(us) ‘bent’, G. khamós ‘crooked’, khabós ‘bent’

G. kubernáō ‘steer (a ship)’, Aeo., Cyp. kumern-

G. kolúmbaina \ kolúbdaina ‘a kind of crab’ (maybe a swimmer crab)

? > G. bátos \ mantía ‘blackberry’

*wra(H2)d- > G. rhádamnos ‘branch’, rhámnos ‘box-thorn’, rhábdos ‘rod (for punishment) / staff (of office) / wand’

*H2swid-mā 'bright (red)'? > G. síbdē \ sílbā, ?Cr. rhímbā, Aeo. xímbā ‘pomegranate’

G. términthos \ terébinthos ‘terebinth’

G. phérbō ‘feed / pasture / graze’, ?Cr. phormúnios ‘a kind of fig’, phormíon \ phórbion ‘Salvia viridis’ (formerly Salvia horminum)

Again, no clear regularity, but there are too many ex. for these not to have some common cause. There are also several with m \ p instead. Since these are concentrated in Crete, it might also have *b > p (G. ablábeia, Cretan ablopia ‘freedom from harm/punishment’) :

*s(a)m-akis > Greek hápax ‘once’, Cretan hamákis (formed like '2 times', etc.)

Cr. kamá ‘field’, Dor. G. kâpos, Al. kopsht ‘garden / orchard’

G. hapalós ‘soft / tender / gentle / raw (of fruit)’, amalós ‘soft / weak’, Cretan hamádeon ‘a kind of fig’

L. saepēs ‘hedge/fence’, G. haimasiā́ ‘wall of dry stones’ [often related as *p-m, but was is -masiā́ ?; unclear, but with other m \ p, why not?]

B. Semitic Loanwords

Many Greek words have m \ b, & some Semitic loanwords show b > m, bb > mb, etc. :

Aramaic sabbəḵā >> G. sambū́kē \ σαμβύκη 'a triangular musical instrument with four strings' >> L. sambūca

Hebrew ḥăḇaqqūq 'a prophet' >> *abbakūk > *-p ? > G. Ἀμβακοὺμ \ Ambakoùm

Hebrew ʔavaq 'dust' >> G. ábax \ abákion, Lac. amákion ‘slab/board / reckoning-board / abacus / board sprinkled with sand/ dust for drawing geometrical diagrams’

Akkadian qabuttu 'a bowl', Hebrew qubba'ath 'goblet' >> G. κύμβη, Cyp. κύββη 'hollow of a vessel: drinking-cup, bowl', also 'boat', Phoenician acc. to Pliny

There is no known regular change that would account for this. It is not clear if Cyp. κύββη shows retained *bb > bb or a later internal mb > bb in Greek dialects. Also, some of these are of disputed origin (though not in clear cases like Ambakoùm, etc.), and in https://www.academia.edu/125812098 Rafal Rosol derived sambū́kē from Akkadian sammu 'harp / lyre', itself likely a loan << Sumerian zamin 'lyre'. If sabbəḵā is related, maybe Greek is from an older form, or just a series of changes in several languages: *mm-n > *bb-n (optional?), then bb > mb (like the others) when loaned into Greek.

The changes in ḥăḇaqqūq >> *abbakūp > Ambakoùm require either k-k dsm. or opt. *uk(W) (and later kW > p), with details in https://www.academia.edu/167984147

C. Celtic

Zachary Rothstein-Dowden in https://www.academia.edu/169121802 considers several ideas for why PIE *nebh(H1)os- 'cloud, sky' > S. nábhas-, etc., but > Celtic *nemos- > OI nem nu., nime g., OW nem ‘heaven’. These include ana. with L. nemus ‘sacred grove’, etc., or :

&gt;

Nasal spreading, OIr. noíb ‘holy’ → MIr. noeb/noem > Irish naomh, Occasional confusion between /v/ and /˜ v/ in loan words:

OIr. promad ‘prove’ for Lat. probare/proba [= PRom. provã]

OIr. carmocol ‘carbuncle’ for Lat. carbunculus [= PRom. carvũculũ]

&gt;

I wonder what *carvũculũ & *provã are supposed to be. These surely aren't Proto-Romance, or any branch. I doubt that original nasality is needed to cause b > m (as also absent in most Greek ex. of known origin). To these ex., I'd also add Latin presbyter >> Old Welsh primter >> Og. qrimitir (showing that -b- > -m- lasted a long time, even if irreg. I think some have explained part of this by saying p-b > p-m was common. Here, maybe instead ana. with L. prīmus or with prīmās 'chief bishop, primate'.

In https://www.academia.edu/169281642 Václav Blažek mentioned Old Irish cuib \ cuim ‘hound, wolf’ (others have 'whelp'). This would show the same *b > b \ m as in loans, but this is likely native, cognate with G. κικυμίς \ κίκυμος \ κίκυβος 'little owl (Athene noctua)'. If from PIE *k^u(H\C)- 'make noise, screech, howl, etc.', then it would match other words with this meaning used to name birds & canines ( https://www.academia.edu/164645760 ). Since PIE *b is fairly rare, most in this group must be inherited, but some ono. might also exist :

*k^ubi-s > OI cuib \ cuim ‘hound, wolf’, G. κικυμίς \ κίκυμος \ κίκυβος 'little owl (Athene noctua)', L. cucubīre \ cūcubāre to screech, hoot '(of the screech-owl)'

S. kúkkubha-s 'wild rooster, cock, pheasant', Eg. κουκούφας 'hoopoe' (attested in G. sources; loan?, ono.?)

That the same odd & irr. alternation of b \ m is found in the same stem in both branches might be significant. It seems slightly more common near u in Greek, but hardly excessive. However, if PIE had *mw, *bw, etc. ( https://www.academia.edu/165248349 ) it might be behind all these (including G. *gW > *bW > *bw \ *mw ??). There's no way of knowing *b vs. *bw for most words, but proba- \ proma- would fit: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/probus Etymology From Proto-Italic *proβwos, from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰH-wó-s (“being in front”), from *pro- (“forward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). See also prōsum. Cognate with Sanskrit (prabhú, “excellent, foremost, potent”).

D. I also wrote about m / bh in https://www.academia.edu/127220417 . I plan to add more (& maybe remove some, or add details) later, & some are in other drafts.

I recently came across the efforts to revive the Cornish language and preserve Cornish Celtic traditions, and while reading about Cornish folklore I discovered the legend of Jan Tregeagle.

I found the story fascinating, especially how he has become a restless supernatural figure tied to the Cornish landscape.

Inspired by the legend, I wrote a short scene for one of my science-fantasy stories. I tried to keep Tregeagle recognisable while imagining how the old myths might survive thousands of years into the future.

I'd love to hear what people familiar with Cornish folklore think.

A small cabin near the coast of Bodmin, west of Northern City...

The family had spent all their savings to buy a reinforced fisher's cottage surrounded by grey-green-blue waters, hoping to live independently from the megacorporations. It even had its own solar power generation and a reverse-osmosis water purification system supplied by Lionheart Enterprises.

Five entropic demons, resembling giant crimson caterpillars, clawed at the walls of the house.

The creatures were moments away from breaking through one of the reinforced windows when the temperature suddenly dropped.

The mist thickened.

Frost spread across the synthetic floorboards.

One light went out.

Then another.

Only then...

The figure appeared.

A strange, ethereal man dressed like an ancient lawyer, or perhaps a tax collector.

"HO!!!" the ghostly entity roared.

The monstrous creatures froze before the eerie apparition.

Then he spoke in a preternatural howl:

"Yth esov vy ow kelwel dhis y fydh gans an fos ow tos dhyworth an bedh, mes nyns y fydh kenwel dhis y fydh gans ow wul owth omdhiswul."

Even though no one present understood the ancient words, every soul inside the cottage understood their meaning:

"Thou hast found it easy to bring me from the grave, but thou wilt not find it so easy to put me away."

The aliens felt fear—not of physical danger, but of something far older and far more terrifying.

"Praised be Tregeagle!" the father shouted.

__________

What do you think?

Ps. I used an online translator for the words in Cornish. I also sent an email to the Cornwall official website to see if they could help me with the translation.