Slaintѐ Brothers and Sisters

The ethnic names of this List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes are stated or implied by the ancient authors to have belonged to an overall ethnic identity called by them generally Celts. Some of the main authors, such as Julius Caesar, explicitly state that Celtic, the adjective, implies the use of a distinctive Celtic language. If a tribe did not speak Celtic, it was not called Celtic. This implication is sufficiently widespread for modern linguists to conclude that if a tribe was called Celtic, it spoke Celtic.

From widespread evidence in literature, inscriptions, and names, modern linguists are able to conclude to a group of closely related languages termed Celtic languages. Linguistic classification of languages by the Tree Method, or Genetic Method, which establishes degree of similarity of vocabulary and syntax between languages, can be used to assign a relationship of one language to another. Closely similar languages are closely related by definition. This relationship is termed ethnolinguistic.

An ethnolinguistic relationship has nothing to do with biological genetic relationships. Two populations may be close ethnolinguistically but totally different genetically, as when one population learns the language of another. Similarly the customs of two populations apart from language have nothing to do with either the people or the language. Among such customs are the archaeologies. The archaeological finds and culture names have nothing to do with the langage, except for inscriptions found. This article attempts to arrange Celtic languages by ethnolinguistic similarity. Nothing is impled concerning the origins of the peoples or their material culture.

In Classical antiquity, Celts were in large number and were a significant part of the population in many regions of Western Europe, Southern Central Europe, the British Isles, parts of the Balkans, and also Central Asia Minor or Anatolia.

Modern people and their languages are excluded from this list. A few Celtic languages are still extant. They are not of interest here.

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The ancestor language

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In the Tree Model of language development, languages develop historically (or diachronically, "through time") by splitting. At a point T1 in time a population of P speaks a common language L. Over the range of P two different groups, P1 and P2, within P begin to speak L differently, so that at T2 there are now L1 and L2 where before was only L. L1 and L2 are sister languages, while L is variously called the common, proto-, or parent language.

It is clear that in the Tree Model of language development, groups of sister languages, L1, L2, ..., Ln, exist, and every group must come from a proto-language. The very assertion that any languages are related implies the former existence of one, and only one, proto-language as ancestor. Thus to refer at all to a group of languages termed Celtic implies the sometime existence of Proto-Celtic. The population P of this L is often referenced as the Proto-Celts. Such a term implies that they spoke the language. There is no other definition of Proto-Celtic. They cannot logically have not spoken it, or have spoken anything else as a primary language.

There is only one Proto-Celtic. From it descend all the Celtic languages without exception. Proto-Celtic is the ancestor of the Celtic languages. The linguistic possibilty that a language might belong to more than one tree and thus have more than one ancestor is not of concern here but is considered in the lists below. Such a case might happen when two populations combine and develop a combined language. There is, however, only one Celtic ancestor of any Celtic language, regardless of what else it might be. If any of its languages are considered out of the group, then it is not Proto-Celtic. If Proto-Celtic is considered not to have existed, then none of the supposed Celtic languages are that. There is a theory that Celtic languages and therefore Celts did not exist as such. Such a view linguistically would require linguists to discard all their dictionaries and start over, an unlikely event.

Merging into the Tree Model is the Genetic Model. In the latter, an ancestor with all its descendants is termed a clade, and is called monophyletic. As languages do not suddenly appear from nowhere, the Celtic clade must have had a mother language as well. It undoubtedly had sister languages to Proto-Celtic. Proto-Celtic and its ancestor alone are called paraphyletic, meaning that some of the sister languages of Proto-Celtic are not considered. One of the problems of historical linguistics is to determine what sister groups are clades and what not.

Asit turns out, Proto-Celtic and all its sister languages are in a virtual clade called Indo-European. The term virtual refers to the possibility of other Indo-European languages being discovered. As this possibility is always open, then neither Indo-European nor any of its descendant groups can ever be a clade. For the time being, however, based on what is known, they are generally considered clades.

Corresponding to this conception there must have been a Proto-Indo-European language spoken by a population that linguists may call Proto-Indo-Europeans. This is a linguistic exonym. The speakers did not imagine themselves such or know of their far-ranging linguistic alliances. Analysis of tribal names suggests they may have called themselves by some sort of family name, such as "the people" or "our people." There is no evidence of an Indo-European race, as anyone could come into contact with the Indo-Europeans and learn Indo-European.

Proto-Indo-European, though the mother of Proto-Celtic was not a Celtic language, nor a Greek language, nor an Anatolian language, nor any of the others. The proto-language has a number of characteristics that, passed on to the descendant languages, are termed in linguistics shared retentions. No daughter language can ever be defined on shared retentions, as there is no way it can differ from the parent. What makes a language distinctive is the shared innovations, characteristics that are not in Proto-Indo-European. It can get these from anywhere as long as it is non-Indo-European. The term shared applies to different subjects in each case. The innovations will be shared by daughter languages of the daughter.

Map 2 depicts the current state of the virtual clades of Indo-European in the view of D.W. Anthony. Credibility requires a fundamental assumption that archaeological cultures can represent language groups. For example, perhaps there is something about the archaeology of London that tags it as English-speaking rather than French-speaking, etc.

The pre-WWII scholars had adopted this view with reservations; for example, Heinrich Schlieman had applied the term Minyan Ware to a Middle Helladic pottery type found over much of Greece, especially at Orchomenus (Boeotia). At that location the legendary king Minyas (mythology) was said to have ruled. Schlieman assigned the pottery to an ethnic identity, which he created from the myth, the Minyans. The traditional archaeologists of the WWII period, such as Carl Blegen, and his students and successors, went Schlieman one better, so to speak, in daring hypotheses by supposing Minyans to have been Proto-Greeks. This supposition was abruptly opposed on the grounds that it was too far out of the evidence to be justitifed. One had to invent Minyans and then invent a Proto-Greek for them without a shred of evidence about the language.

Archaeologists of the times were daring. Eurasian cultures were fair game for anthropological archaeologists such as V. Gordon Childe, who became the British mentor of archaeology. He was sorting through dozens of new cultures without really knowing what to do with them, as there was no way to date them. He threw them all into the thousand years around 2000 BC, and developed some very imaginative links betweem them, influenced, as they all were by the rising Nazi racial standards. James Henry Breasted provided a benchmark with his concept of the Great White Races, as opposed to the Mongoloids and Negroids, who didn't fare so well. He was only a notable example of a general line of thought.

A catastophe was about to fall on the archaeology of the 1950's and before. The field of atomic research concomitant with the development of the atomic bomb discovered a method of dating organic material by estimating time of radioactive decay (Radiocarbon dating). Streams of new dates for the Eurasian cultures fell upon the works and estimates of the WWII scholars. Although Childe's success in some areas stood, for the most part his sequences lost meaning. The dates were quite different from previously expected. The whole thing needed to be redone. Childe's Aryan Race, for example, vanished away. Aged and ill from cancer, Childe jumped off a cliff.

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Continental Celts

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Continental Celts were the Celtic peoples that inhabited mainland Europe. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Celts inhabited a large part of mainland Western Europe and large parts of Western Southern Europe (Iberian peninsula), southern Central Europe and some regions of the Balkans and Anatolia. They were most of the population in Gallia, today's France, Switzerland, possibly Belgica – far Northern France, Belgium and far Southern Netherlands, large parts of Hispania, i.e. Iberian Peninsula – Spain and Portugal, in the northern, central and western regions; southern Central Europe – upper Danube basin and neighbouring regions, large parts of the middle Danube basin and the inland region of Central Asia Minor or Anatolia. They lived in these many regions forming a large arc stretching across from Iberia in the west to the Balkans and Anatolia in the east. Many of the populations from these regions were called Celts by ancient authors. They are thought to have spoken Gaulish (P-Celtic type), Lepontic (P-Celtic type), Hispano-Celtic (Celtiberian and Western Hispano-Celtic or Gallaecian) (Q-Celtic type), Eastern Celtic or Noric (unknown type). P-Celtic type languages are more innovative (*kʷ > p) while Q-Celtic type languages are more conservative. However, it is not fully known if this grouping of peoples, such as their languages, is a genealogical one (phylogenetic), based on kinship, or if it is a simple geographically based group. Classical Antiquity authors did not describe the peoples and tribes of the British Islands as “Celts” or “Galli” but by the name “Britons”. They only used the name “Celts” or “Galli” for the peoples and tribes of mainland Europe.[1]

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Eastern Celts

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They lived Southern Central Europe (in the Upper Danube basin and neighbouring regions) which is hypothesized as the original area of the Celts (Proto-Celts), corresponding to the Hallstatt Culture. Later they expanded towards the Middle Danube valley and to parts of the Balkans and towards inland central Asia Minor or Anatolia (Galatians). Hercynian Forest (Hercynia Silva), north of the Danube and east of the Rhine was in their lands. Celts, especially those from Western and Central Europe, were generally called by the Romans “Galli” i.e. “Gauls”, this name was synonym of “Celts”, this also means that not all of the peoples and tribes called by the name “Gauls” (Galli) were specifically Gauls in a narrower more regional sense. Their language is scarcely attested and can not be classified as a P-Celtic or Q-Celtic. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

• Anartes/Anartoi – Areas of modern Slovakia and modern Northern Hungary, north of the river Tysia / Tibiscus (Tisza). They lived in the eastern part of the Hercynia Silva (Hercynian Forest). Areas of modern central Slovakia and modern Northern Hungary, north of the river Tysia/Tibiscus (Tisza), north of the Teuriscii.[3] They were later assimilated by Dacians.

• Arabiates[4] - areas of modern Western Hungary and eastern Austria, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

• Belgites[5] - areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

• Boii [2]– a tribal confederation, originally from today's Bohemia (Western Czech Republic) that dwelt in the Hercynia Silva and dispersed through migrations to other regions of Europe, to areas of modern Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Northern Italy.[6][7][8] Another hypothesis is that they were a tribal confederation, originally from today's Southern France who migrated to Hercynia Silva under Segovesus, and dispersed through migrations to other regions of Europe, to areas of modern Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary.[6][7]

  • Boii tribes of unknown names in the Hercynia Silva - roughly in today's Bohemia

  • Boii (in Cisalpine Gaul)  – Central Emilia-Romagna (Bologna) and Lodi, Lombardy.

  • Boii (in Transalpine Gaul)  – Boui near Entrain[6] - They were related to or a branch of the Boii.

  • Boii Boiates / Boviates / Boiates  – La Tête de Buch, probably around Arcachon Bay and northwest of Landes (departement), in the Pays de Buch and Pays de Born. Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been ancestor of the Basques).

  • Boii (in Pannonia) - Pannonia, today's Western Hungary (west of the Danube) and part of eastern Austria

  • Tulingi (Tylangii?)  – localization unclear, possibly Southern Germany, Switzerland, or Austria; an originally Boii Celtic tribe that migrated along the upper Danube and later allied with the Helvetii?; also, may have been a Germanic tribe.

• Breuci[9]

• Carni  – Carnic Alps, South Austria (Carinthia/Kärnten), Western Slovenia (Carniola/Kranjska) and Northern Friuli/Friûl (Carnia/Cjargna). A tribe related to the Carnutes? Also, may have been a Venetic tribe (the Veneti were a transitional people between Celts and Italics or a Celticized Italic people).

• Catubrini  - In the Alps Southeastern slopes, close to Plavis (Piave) and near Bellunum (Belluno), to the Southwest of the Carni. They came from Central Europe and not from Gaul (Gallia). (They were not Cisalpine Gaulish Celts).

• Celts of Tylis / Tylisian Celts[10]

• Cornacates[11]- areas of modern Western Hungary, west of river Danubius (Danube).

• Cotini  – areas of modern Slovakia, west of the Anartes, and areas of Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube), south of Lacus Pelsodis / Pelso (today's Lake Balaton).

• Eravisci / Aravisci [12]– areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube), Aquincum (modern Budapest) was in their territory.

• Helvetii-Rauraci / Raurici

  • Helvetii  – original dwellers of Agri Decumates region, in the western part of Hercynia Silva, to the east and north of the Rhine; later, possibly at the end of the 3rd century BC they expanded to the South and Southwest to land later called Helvetia (modern day Switzerland). They were possibly more related to the Celtic populations of the upper Danube basin than to the Celts of Gaul.

    • Decumates may have meant "Ten Cantons". La Tène, (tribal confederation of four tribes).

    • Tigurini  – Yverdon

    • Tougeni

    • Verbigeni

    • Tribe of unknown name (Helvetii Proper?)

  • Rauraci / Raurici   – Kaiseraugst (Augusta Raurica), a tribe closely related to the Helvetii.

• Hercuniates / Hercuniatae[13] - areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

• Latobici / Latovici[14] - not the same tribe as the Latobrigi but they could have been related, they dwelt in areas of modern Slovenia and Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

• Latobrigi - uncertain location, maybe to the north or northeast of the Helvetii in the upper Danube (Danubius) and upper Rhine river basins, original dwellers of Agri Decumates region, in the western part of Hercynia Silva.

• Scordisci[15] - areas of modern Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Romania, west of the river Danubius (Danube). According to Livy, they were related to the Bastarnae.

  • Celegeri / Celengeri[16]

  • Dindari or Dindarii (Greek Δινδάριοι),[16] a tribe that was a branch of the Scordisci.[17]

  • Serdi[18][19] - in Serdica region (today's Sofiya, Bulgaria's Capital)

  • Serrapilli / Serapilli - areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

  • Serretes[20] - areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).

  • Tricornenses[21] (a later formation tribe)

  • Norici / Taurisci / Varisci - a tribal confederation

  • Alauni - in the middle Aenus river basin (Inn), east of the Aenus in the Eastern Alps, Chiemsee and Attersee lakes region.

  • Ambidravi / Ambidrani - in the upper and middle Dravus (Drau/Drava) river basin in the Eastern Alps and also in the Mur/Mura river basin, today's Carinthia and Styria, Austria.

  • Ambilici - in the Dravus (Drau/Drava) river basin, east of the Ambidravi/Ambidrani (today's Southeast Austria and Northeast Slovenia).

  • Ambisontes / Ambisontii - in the Alpes Noricae (East Central Alps), in the upper Salzach river basin.

  • Norici (Narisci) / Nori - may have been a tribe of the larger Taurisci tribal federation; in the Eastern Alps and in the Mur/Mura and Schwarza rivers basins and other areas, today's Styria and Lower Austria (Austria) south of the Danubius (Danube), also may have been a Germanic tribe.

  • Sevaces - in the low Aenus river basin (Inn), east of the Aenus and south of the Danubius (Danube), roughly in today's Upper Austria.

  • Teuriscii - A branch of the Celtic Taurisci (originally from Noricum) in the Tysia/Tibiscus (Tisza) river basin south of the Anartes/Anartii/Anartoi. Celts assimilated by Dacians[3]

  • Varciani  [14]– areas of modern Slovenia, Croatia.

  • Vindelici   – a tribal confederation, areas of modern Southern Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), in the upper Danube basin. May have been a confederation of mixed Celtic and Germanic tribes.

  • Brigantii   – in the Lacus Brigantinus (Lake Constance) area, Brigantia (Bregenz) was the main centre, in the border areas of modern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, north of the Vennonetes/Vennones/Vennonienses.

  • Catenates   - South of the Danubius (Danube), in the low Licus (Lech) river area, Augusta Vindelicorum region (today's Augsburg), north of the Licates.

  • Consuanetae / Cosuanetes / Cotuantii - Upper and middle valley of fl. Isarus (r. Isar) (Bavarian Alps) in today's Upper Bavaria, Germany.

  • Estiones   - South of the Danubius (Danube), in the Ilargus (Roth) and Riss rivers area, including today's Ulm area (between modern Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), Cambodunum (today's Kempten) was one of their towns.

  • Leuni   - in the Isarus (Isar) and Ammer (Amper) river areas, Munich area, Bavaria.

  • Licates   -in the Licus (Lech) river valley, south of the Catenates.

  • Rucinates / Rucantii - Between rivers Isarus (Isar) and Danuvius (Danube), Low Bavaria.

  • Vennones / Vennonienses / Vennonetes - Upper valley of fl. Rhenus (r. Rhine) in today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, south of the Brigantii.

  • Vindelici Proper   – a tribe to the north of the Upper Danube.

  • Volcae - a tribal confederation, originally from today's Moravia (Eastern Czech Republic), Central and Upper Danube basin (Slovakia, Austria, Southern Germany), also in Main river basin, to the west of the Boii. They dwelt in Hercynia Silva, north of the Danuvius (Danube) but dispersed through migrations to other regions of Europe (Southern Gaul) and Asia Minor/Anatolia (Galatia).

  • Volcae tribes of unknown names in Hercynia Silva - roughly in today's Moravia and Main river basin.

  • Volcae Arecomici / Volcae Arecomisci – in southern Gaul, in the Mediterranean coast of today's Languedoc.

  • Volcae Tectosages (in Southern Gaul and also in Galatia, Central Asia Minor or Anatolia, one of the main tribes that formed the Galatians)

  • Possible Volcae tribes

  • Volciani  – may have been a tribe related to the Volcae and not to the Hispano-Celts / Iberian Celts (i.e., the Celts of the Iberian Peninsula). Located north of the river Iberus (Ebro), but not very precisely.

  • Galatians

  • In the middle 3rd century BC, Celts from the middle Danube valley, immigrated from Thrace into the highlands of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), which was called Galatia after that. These people, called Galatians, a generic name for “Celts”, were eventually Hellenized,[22][23] but retained many of their own traditions. They spoke Galatian, a name derived from the generic name for “Celts”. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

  • Aigosages,[24] between Troy and Cyzicus

  • Daguteni,[24] in modern Marmara region around Orhaneli

  • Inovanteni,[24] east of the Trocnades

  • Okondiani,[24] between Phrygia and Galatia northeast of modern Akşehir Gölü

  • Rigosages,[24] unlocated

  • Trocnades,[24] in Phrygia around modern Sivrihisar

  • Unknown tribe (Territory of Gaezatorix, a Celtic Chieftain),[24] between Bithynia and Galatia at modern Bolu

  • Core Galatians

  • Tectosages,[24] in Galatia

  • Tolistobogii,[24] in Galatia

  • Trocmii,[24] in Galatia (easternmost known Celtic tribe)

  • See also: List of ancient tribes in Illyria

  • See also: List of ancient tribes in Thrace and Dacia

• Gauls

• Gauls were the Celtic people that lived in Gaul having many tribes but with some influential tribal confederations. Galli (Gauls), for the Romans, was a name synonym of “Celts” (as Julius Caesar states in De Bello Gallico[25]) which means that not all peoples and tribes called “Galli” were necessarily Gauls in a narrower regional sense. Gaulish Celts spoke Gaulish, a Continental Celtic language of the P Celtic type, a more innovative Celtic language - *kʷ > p. Romans initially organized Gaul in two provinces (later in three): Transalpine Gaul, meaning literally "Gaul on the other side of the Alps" or "Gaul across the Alps", is approximately modern Belgium, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Western Germany in what would become the Roman provinces of Gallia Narbonensis, Gallia Celtica (later Lugdunensis and Aquitania) and Gallia Belgica. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

• Abrincatui - in Aremorica or Armorica

• Aedui / Haedui  - Gaulish Celts largest tribal confederation, roughly in the geographical centre of Gaul and controlling important land, river, and trade routes

• Aedui / Haedui proper - Bibracte

• Ambivareti

• Parisii (Gaul) - Lutetia, today's Paris, was their capital. A tribe of similar name, the Parisi, dwelt in East Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

• Senones – Sens

• Agenisates / Angesinates – Angoumois

• Agnutes – Vendée

• Allobroges/Allobriges – Vienne, Southern Gaul

• Ambarri (they were allies to the Aedui Confederation but not part of it)

• Ambiliates / Ambilatres – Low Liger (Loire), in Aremorica or Armorica

• Ambivarii / Ambibarii  - in Aremorica or Armorica

• Anagnutes

• Andecamulenses

• Andecavi/Andes – Angers

• Antobroges

• Arverni – Gergovia (tribal confederation)

• Arverni proper

• Gabali

• Armoricani / Aremoricii - in Aremorica or Armorica (Land "Before the Sea” or “Close to the Sea” - Are Morica)

• Arvii

• Atacini – Aussière

• Atesui

• Aulerci (tribal confederation)

• Aulerci Brannovices/Brannovii/Blannovii (a southern branch of the Aulerci but within the Aedui tribal confederation)

• Aulerci Cenomani / Gaul Cenomani – Le Mans

• Aulerci Diablintes

• Aulerci Eburovices

• Aulerci Sagii

• Baiocasses / Boiocasses – Bayeux, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Bebryces (Gauls) – in southern Gaul, south of the Volcae Arecomici, close to Narbo (Narbonne) region.

• Bipedimui / Pimpedunni

• Bituriges

• Bituriges Cubi – Bourges (an eastern branch of the Bituriges but within the Aedui tribal confederation)

• Bituriges Vivisci – Bordeaux (Burdigala)

• Cadurci – Cahors

• Caeresi

• Cambolectres

• Carnutes – Autricum (Chartres), Cenabum / Genabum (Orléans), in Aremorica or Armorica

• Chalbici – Chablais, in Southern Gaul, south of Lake Leman

• Corisopiti

• Curiosolitae / Coriosolites – Corseul, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Edenates – in Southern Gaul

• Eleuterii

• Elycoces

• Epomandui

• Esuvii / Esubii / Sesuvii 

• Helvii / Elvi - Southern Gaul

• Lemovices – Limoges

• Lexovii – Lisieux, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Lingones

• Mandubii – Alesia (under Aedui Confederation influence but not part of it)

• Medulli Meduci – Médoc, southwestern Gaul

• Namnetes – Nantes, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Nantuates / Nantuatae

• Nitiobroges/Nitiobriges

• Osismii - Western end of Brittany Peninsula, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Petrocorii – Périgueux

• Pictones/Pictavi – Poitiers

• Redones – Rennes, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Ruteni – Rodez

• Santones – Saintes

• Seduni – High Rhône river valley, Sion (Middle Valais, Switzerland)

• Segusiavi / Segobriges - Lugdunum (Lyon), that was to be capital of Gallia Lugdunensis, was in their land (they were allies to the Aedui Confederation but not part of it).

• Segovellauni / Segovi – in Southern Gaul

• Sequani – Besançon

• Tornates / Turnates

• Tricasses / Tricassini

• Triviatii

• Trones

• Turones / Turoni – Tours

• Uberi / Viberi – High Rhône river valley, Upper Valais

• Vellavi / Velaunii – Ruessium

• Veragri - High Rhône river valley, Lower Valais

• Veroduni

• Venelli / Unelli – Coutances, Cotentin Peninsula, in today's Western Normandy region, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Veneti – Vannes, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Viducasses / Vadicasses / Vadicassii – Vieux, in Aremorica or Armorica

• Mix of several Gaulish tribes

• Gaesatae – Numbering c. 30,000, they participated in the battle of Telamon[26] a group of mercenary Celtic warriors from several tribes of the western Alps slopes, not a tribe.

• Possible Gaulish tribes

• Galli (tribe) – along Gallicus (Gállego) river banks, see place names (toponyms) like Forum Gallorum, Gallur, a different tribe from the Suessetani; may have been a tribe related to the Galli (Gauls) and not to the Hispano-Celts / Iberian Celts. Some Gaulish tribes may have migrated southward and crossed the Pyrenees (by the north, the central, or the south areas of the mountains) in a second or a third Celtic wave to the Iberian Peninsula. These tribes were different from the Hispano-Celtic / Iberian Celtic tribes.

• Garumni – along the banks of the high Garumna (Garonne), southwest of the Volcae Tectosages, and in and around Lugdunum Convenarum, among the Convenae. Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been the ancestor of the Basques).

Cisalpine Gauls:

• Cisalpine Gauls (Celtae / Galli Cisalpini) - They lived in Cisalpine Gaul, most of today's northern Italy. Multiple waves of population movements from France.[7] They spoke Cisalpine Gaulish (a Continental Celtic language of the P Celtic type) closely related to Gaulish or Gallic. They lived in Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina), also called Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata,[27] was the part of Italy continually inhabited by Celts since the 13th century BC.[28] Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy.[29] Until that time, it was considered part of Gaul, precisely that part of Gaul on the "hither side of the Alps" (from the perspective of the Romans), as opposed to Transalpine Gaul ("on the far side of the Alps").[30]

  • Seven Gaulish tribes that according to Livy settled in Cisalpine Gaul around 600 BC. Led by Bellovesus, they defeated the Etruscans at the Ticino, settled in Insubria and founded the city of Mediolanum, the modern Milan.[31] They were ancestors of Cisalpine Gauls.

    • Aedui (many Insubres descended from them)

    • Ambarri

    • Arverni

    • Aulerci (many Cisalpine Gaul Cenomani descended from them)

    • Bituriges

    • Carnutes

    • Salyes or Salluvii (Celto-Ligurians)

  • Anani – Western Emilia, Po Valley, (Fidentia, Province of Piacenza)

  • Anamares – Minor tribe whose precise location along the southern bank of the river Padus in Italy is uncertain

  • Anares – Middle Po Valley, Placentia (Piacenza, Province of Piacenza)

  • Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul) – Eastern Lombardy (Brixia, Cremona). Related to or a branch of the Cenomani (Aulerci Cenomani) that lived in Transalpine Gaul (Gallia Transalpina).

  • Insubres – Western Lombardy (Milan). Said by Pliny to descend from the Aedui.

  • Lingones – North-eastern Emilia-Romagna (Ferrara), Po Valley. Related to or a branch of the Lingones that lived in Gaul (Gallia).

  • Senones – South-eastern Emilia-Romagna (Rimini) and Northern Marche (Senigallia). Related to or a branch of the Senones that lived in Gaul (Gallia).

Lepontine Celts

They seem to have been an older group of Celts that lived in Cisalpine Gaul before the Gaulish Celtic migration. They spoke Lepontic (a Continental Celtic language) a Celtic language that seems to precede Cisalpine Gaulish.

• Lepontii / Lepontii / Leipontii / Lepontes  – Valle Leventina and Val d'Ossola in today's Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piemonte, North-eastern Piedmont, far Northwestern Lombardy, and Switzerland in the Lepontine Alps. They were not Gaulish Celts

• Orobii or Orumbovii – Central Lombardy (Bergamo)

Celto-Ligurians / Gallo-Ligurians

May have been Celtic tribes influenced by Ligurians, heavily Celticized Ligurian tribes that shifted to a Celtic ethnolinguistic identity or mixed Celtic-Ligurian tribes. They dwelt in southeastern Transalpine Gaul and northwestern Cisalpine Gaul, mainly in the Western Alps regions, Rhodanus eastern basin and upper Po river basin.

• Acitavones

• Adenates / Adanates – slopes of the Western Alps (Maurienne-Modanne), Southern Gaul

• Adunicates – Andon área, Southern Gaul

• Albici – Middle and Lower Durance river valley, Southern Gaul (tribal confederation)

  • Albienses / Albici Proper

  • Vordenses

  • Vulgientes

• Anatili

• Avantices (Avantici)

• Avatices / Avatici – Camargue – Rhodanus river delta, south of the Volcae Arecomici, in Southern Gaul

• Belaci

• Bodiontici – in Southern Gaul

• Bormanni

• Bramovices – Low Tarentaise, Savoy, Southern Gaul

• Briganii / Brigianii – Briançon, High Durance river valley, Southern Gaul

• Caburri

• Camatulici

• Casmonates / Cosmonates (in the area of Castellazzo Bormida)

• Caturiges – Chorges, High Durance river valley, in Southern Gaul

• Cavares/Cavari – North of Low Durance, Arausio (Orange), in Southern Gaul

• (tribal confederation)

  • Cavares Proper

  • Meminii / Menimii

• Ceutrones / Centrones – Moûtiers, in the western Alps slopes,

• Southern Gaul

• Coenicenses

• Dexivates

• Esubiani – Ubaye Valley, Southern Gaul

• Euburiates

• Gabieni

• Glanici

• Graioceli / Garocelli – Alps western slopes in part of eastern Savoy,

• and Alps eastern

• slopes, northwestern Piedmont in the Graian Alps

• Iadatini

• Iconii – Gap, in Southern Gaul

• Irienses

• Libii / Libici

• Ligauni

• Maielli

• Medulli – upper valley of Maurienne, Southern Gaul

• Naburni

• Nearchi

• Nemalones / Nemolani – in Southern Gaul

• Nemeturii – High Var river valley, Southern Gaul

• Orobii - in the northern Italian Alpine valleys of Bergamo, Como and Lecco

• Quariates – in Southern Gaul

• Reieni / Reii - in Southern Gaul

• Salassi (Gallo-Ligurian people) – Aosta Valley and Canavese (Northern Piedmont) (Ivrea)

• Salyes / Salluvii

• Savincates

• Sebagini

• Segobriges

• Segovi

• Segusini - in Segusa (today's Susa, Piemonte)

• Sentienes / Sentii – Senez, in Southern Gaul

• Sigorii

• Sogiontii

• Suelteri / Sueltri

• Suetrii

• Taurini – parts of central Piedmont (Turin region)

• Tebavii

• Tricastini

• Tricorii – in Southern Gaul

• Tritolii

• Ucenni

• Veamini – in Southern Gaul

• Vennavi

• Vergunni – Vinon-sur-Verdon, Southern Gaul

• Verucini

• Vocontii   / Transalpine Gaul Vertamocori – Vaison-la-Romaine, Southern Gaul (in modern Provence, on the east bank of the Rhône and Vercors, southern Gaul.

  • Vertamocorii – Eastern Piedmont (Novara). Said by Pliny to descend from the Vocontii.

• Hispano-Celts / Celts of Hispania

• They lived in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Northern, Central, and Western regions (half of the Peninsula's territory). The Celts in the Iberian peninsula were traditionally thought of as living on the edge of the Celtic world of the La Tène culture that defined classical Iron Age Celts. Earlier migrations were Hallstatt in culture and later came La Tène influenced peoples. Celtic or (Indo-European) Pre-Celtic cultures and populations existed in great numbers and Iberia experienced one of the highest levels of Celtic settlement in all of Europe. They dwelt in northern, central and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula, but also in several southern regions. They spoke Celtic languages - Hispano-Celtic languages which were of the Q-Celtic type, more conservative Celtic languages. Romans initially organized the Peninsula in two provinces (later in three): Hispania Citerior ("Nearer Hispania", "Hispania that is Closer", from the perspective of the Romans), was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly occupying the northeastern coast and the Iberus (Ebro) Valley and later the eastern, central, northern and northwestern areas of the Iberian peninsula in what would become the Tarraconensis Roman province (of what is now Spain and northern Portugal). Hispania Ulterior ("Further Hispania", "Hispania that is Beyond", from the perspective of the Romans) was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in what would become the provinces of Baetica (that included the Baetis, Guadalquivir, valley of modern Spain) and extending to all of Lusitania (modern south and central Portugal, Extremadura and a small part of Salamanca province). The Roman province of Hispania included both Celtic speaking and non-Celtic speaking tribes. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

• Western Hispano-Celts (Celts of Western Hispania)

• Western Hispano-Celts were Celtic peoples and tribes that inhabited most of north and western Iberian Peninsula regions. They are often confused or taken as synonym of Celtiberians but, in fact, they were a distinct Celtic population that was most part of Iberian Peninsula Celtic populations. They spoke Gallaecian (a Continental Celtic language of the Q Celtic type, a more conservative Celtic language) which was not Celtiberian (Celtic languages of Iberian Peninsula are often lumped as Hispano-Celtic).

• Allotriges / Autrigones – East Burgos (Spain), Northwestern La Rioja (Spain) to the Atlantic Coast

• Astures – Asturias and northern León (Spain), and east of Trás os Montes (Portugal), (tribal confederation).Cismontani

• Amaci

• Cabruagenigi

• Gigurri

• Lancienses

• Lougei

• Orniaci

• Superatii

• Susarri/Astures Proper

• Tiburi

• Zoelae – Eastern Trás-os-Montes (Portugal), (Miranda do Douro).

• Transmontani

• Baedunienses

• Brigaentini

• Cabarci

• Iburri

• Luggones/Lungones

• Paenii

• Paesici

• Saelini

• Vinciani

• Viromenici. Might be related to the Viromandui.

• Bebryaces / Berybraces – unknown location, may have been related to the Bebryces (gauls) or the Berones, there is also the possibility that it was an old name of the Celtiberians.

• Berones – La Rioja (Spain). Could have been related to the Eburones.

• Cantabri – Cantabria, part of Asturias and part of Castile and León (Spain); some consider them not Celtic, may have been Pre-Celtic Indo-European as could have been the Lusitani and Vettones [2]. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). A Tribal confederation.

• Avarigines

• Blendii / Plentusii / Plentuisii

• Camarici / Tamarici

• Concani / Gongani – two tribes of similar name (the Britannia Gangani and Hibernia Gangani) lived in Britannia and Hibernia, they could have been three branches of the same tribe, three related tribes with common ancestors or three different tribes that shared similar names.

• Coniaci / Conisci

• Moroecani

• Noegi

• Orgenomesci

• Salaeni / Selaeni

• Vadinienses

• Vellici / Velliques

• Caristii / Carietes – today's West Basque Country, they may have been Celtic (see Late Basquisation), they were later assimilated by the Vascones in the 6th and 7th centuries CE; Some consider them not Celtic, may have been a Pre-Celtic Indo-European people as the Lusitani and Vettones could have been. [3]. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic).

• Carpetani – Central Iberian meseta (Spain), in the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula, in a large part of today's Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions. A tribal confederation with 27 identified tribes.[32] (the name of these tribes is known today by archaeology discovery of their names in old stellae and not by mention of any known or survived works of Classical Antiquity authors)

• Aelarici / Aelariques

• Aeturici / Aeturiques

• Arquioci - in Iplacea, Roman named Complutum (today's Alcalá de Henares) region.

• Acualici / Acualiques

• Bocourici / Bocouriques

• Canbarici - in Toletum (Toledo) region.

• Contucianci - in Segobriga region.

• Dagencii

• Dovilici / Doviliques

• Duitici / Duitiques

• Duniques

• Elguismici / Elguismiques

• Langioci

• Longeidoci

• Maganici / Maganiques

• Malugenici / Malugeniques

• Manucici / Manuciques

• Maureici

• Mesici

• Metturici

• Moenicci

• Obisodici / Obisodiques - in Toletum (Toledo) region

• Pilonicori

• Solici

• Tirtalici / Tirtaliques - in Segobriga region.

• Uloci / Uloques

• Venatioci / Venatioques

• Celtici – Portugal south of the Tagus and north of Guadiana (Anas), Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal), western Extremadura (Spain), (tribal confederation).

• Celtici of Arunda (Ronda) – in south Turdetania, later Baetica Roman province, (in today's western Málaga Province), Andalusia region (southernmost known Celtic tribe).

• Cempsi

• Conii – according to some scholars, Conii and Cynetes were two different peoples or tribes and the names were not two different names of the same people or tribe; in this case, the Conii may have dwelt along the northern banks of the middle Anas (Guadiana) river, in today's western Extremadura region of Spain, and were a Celtici tribe wrongly confused with the Cynetes of Cyneticum (Algarve) that dwelt from the west banks of the Low river Anas (Guadiana) further to the south (the celticization of the Cynetes by the Celtici confused the distinction between the two peoples or tribes).[33]

• Mirobrigenses

• Saephes / Saefes / Sefes - people or tribe of the Celtici that has been identified as synonymous with the Ophi or Serpent People (their land was called Ophiussa), a people that migrated westward and conquered and expelled an older people known as the Oestrymni or Oestrimni (in a land that was called Oestriminis).

• Unknown tribes

• Gallaeci / Callaici (Gallecians) – Gallaecia (Portugal & Galicia). Western Hispano-Celts largest tribal confederation.

• Abobrigenses

• Addovi / Iadovi

• Aebocosi

• Aedui (Gallaecian tribe)

• Albiones / Albioni – western Asturias (Spain).

• Amphiloci

• Aquaflavienses / Aquiflavienses - Vila Real District (Chaves), (Portugal)

• Arroni / Arrotrebi

• Arrotrebae / Artabri (Turodes Artabri) – Northern Galicia (Spain), They might be related to the Atrebates of Gallia Belgica.

• Artodii

• Aunonenses

• Baedi

• Banienses – around Baião Municipality, Eastern Porto District, (Portugal).

• Barhantes

• Bibali / Biballi

• Bracari / Callaeci Bracari – roughly in today's Braga District, (Portugal).

• Brassii

• Brigantes (Gallaecian tribe) – Northern Bragança District, Bragança, (Portugal).

• Caladuni

• Capori / Copori

• Celtici (Gallaecian)

• Celtici Praestamarici

• Celtici Supertamarici

• Cibarci

• Cileni

• Coelerni – southwestern Ourense Province (Spain), south of Minho (river).

• Cuci

• Egi

• Egovarri / Varri Namarini

• Equaesi – Minho and Trás-os-Montes (Portugal).

• Gallaeci or Callaeci Proper, this tribe gave name to the larger tribal confederation of the same name (not the same tribe as the Bracari) - roughly in today's Porto District (Portuguese District = County) west of the Tâmega.

• Grovii / (Turodes Grovii) – Minho (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain).

• Iadones

• Interamici / Interamnici – Trás-os-Montes (Portugal).

• Lapatianci

• Lemavi

• Leuni – Minho (Portugal).

• Limici – Lima river banks, Minho (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain).

• Louguei

• Luanqui – Trás-os-Montes (Portugal).

• Naebisoci / Aebisoci

• Namarii

• Narbasi -Minho (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain).

• Nemetati – Minho (Portugal).

• Nerii / Neri

• Poemani, they might be related to the Paemani.

• Quaquerni / Querquerni – Minho (Portugal).

• Segodii

• Seurbi – Minho (Portugal).

• Seurri – Sarria Municipality, East Central Galicia (Spain)

• Tamagani – Chaves (Portugal).

• Tongobrigenses

• Turodi / Turodes – Trás-os-Montes (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain).

• Cynetes – Cyneticum (today's Algarve region) and Low Alentejo (Portugal); originally probably Tartessians or similar, later celtized by the Celtici; according to some scholars, Cynetes and Conii were two different peoples or tribes[33] [4].

• Oestrymni or Oestrimni or Oestrymini - They lived in far-western Iberian Peninsula in coastal Atlantic regions (today's Galicia and Portugal) before other Celtic peoples, their land was called Oestryminis or Oestriminis (their existence is not well proven, semi legendary people).

• Osismii (Iberian Peninsula) - people mentioned along with the Oestrymni or may have been the same people.

• Plentauri – Northwestern La Rioja (Spain).

• Turduli – Guadiana valley (Portugal) and Extremadura (Spain); may have been related to Lusitanians, Callaeci or Turdetani.

• Turduli Baetici / Turduli Baetures - Baeturia/Baeturia Turdulorum (ancient northern region of Baetica Province), south and east of the river Anas (Guadiana) and northern slope of Marianus Mons (Sierra Morena), Southern Extremadura region, Badajoz Province, Portugal Southeastern corner, East Beja District, Alentejo region.

• Turduli Bardili – Setubal Peninsula (Portugal); may have been related to Lusitanians, Callaeci or Turdetani.

• Turduli Oppidani – Estremadura and Beira Litoral (Portugal); may have been related to Lusitanians, Callaeci or Turdetani.

• Turduli Veteres – Southern Douro banks, between Douro and Vouga River, Aveiro District, (Portugal); may have been related to Lusitanians, Callaeci or Turdetani.

• Turmodigi or Turmogi - Central Burgos.

• Vaccaei – North Central Iberian meseta (Spain), middle Duero river basin. A tribal confederation. Ptolemy mentions 20 vaccaean Civitates (that also had the meaning of tribes)[34]

• Cauci (Vaccaei) – in Cauca (Coca, Segovia)

• Other tribes (19 other tribes mentioned by Ptolemy)

• Varduli – today's East Basque Country, they may have been Celtic (see Late Basquisation), they were later assimilated by the Vascones in the 6th and 7th centuries AD; Some consider them not Celtic, may have been a Pre-Celtic Indo-European people as the Lusitani and Vettones could have been. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). 

• Eastern Hispano-Celts (Celtiberians)

• Eastern Iberian meseta (Spain), mountains of the headwaters of the rivers Douro, Tagus, Guadiana (Anas), Júcar, Jalón, Jiloca and Turia, (tribal confederation). Mixed Celtic and Iberian tribes or Celtic tribes influenced by Iberians. Not synonymous of all the Celts that lived in the Iberian Peninsula but to a narrower group (the majority of Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula) were not Celtiberians. They spoke Celtiberian (a Continental Celtic language of the Q Celtic type, a more conservative Celtic language).

• Arevaci (Celtiberian Arevaci – Celtiberian tribe “Before or Close to the Vaccaei” – Are Vaci – Are Vaccaei)

• Belli

• Cratistii

• Lobetani

• Lusones – Western Zaragoza (province), Eastern Guadalajara (Spain).

• Mantesani / Mentesani / Mantasani – La Mancha Plateau, Castilla-La Mancha (Spain); they were a different people from the Oretani.

• Olcades

• Oretani? – northeastern Andalusia, northwest Múrcia and southern fringes of La Mancha, (Spain), mountains of the headwaters of the Guadalquivir (ancient river Baetis); Some consider them not Celtic [6] (see Germani (Oretania)).

• Pellendones / Cerindones, in high Duero river course (Numantia) and neighboring mountains, may also have been related to the Pelendi/Belendi that dwelt in the middle of the river Sigmatis, today's Leyre.

• Titii (Celtiberian)

• Turboletae / Turboleti

• Uraci / Duraci

• Possible Celtiberian tribe

• Belendi / Pelendi – Belinum territory (Belin-Béliet), in the middle Sigmatis river (in today's Leyre) river area, south of the Bituriges Vivisci and the Boii Boiates; they may have been related to the Pellendones (a Celtiberian tribe). Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been the ancestor of the Basques).

• See also: Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula

• Insular Celts

• Insular Celts were the Celtic peoples and tribes that inhabited the British Islands, Britannia (Great Britain), the main largest island to the east, and Hibernia (Ireland), the main smaller island to the west. There were three or four distinct Celtic populations in these islands, in Britannia inhabited the Britons, the Caledonians or Picts, the Belgae (not surely known if they were a Celtic people or a distinct but closely related one); in Hibernia inhabited the Hibernians or Goidels or Gaels. Britons and Caledonians or Picts spoke the P-Celtic type languages, a more innovative Celtic language (*kʷ > p) while Hibernians or Goidels or Gaels spoke Q-Celtic type languages, a more conservative Celtic language. Classical Antiquity authors did not call the British islands peoples and tribes as Celts or Galli but by the name Britons (in Britannia). They only used the name Celts or Gauls for the peoples and tribes of mainland Europe.[1]

• ​

• ​

• See also: List of peoples of Gaul

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