Salah

Could the French be considered Celtic in any way? France is pretty much the same as Britain in that it's original people were Celtic, with the Roman and Germanic invaders merely being a ruling elite. Is the population, therefore, still basically Gaulish Celtic?

oshron

while one wouldnt normally call them that, yes, you COULD say that theyre celtic, at least distantly

Jomsvikingr

I believe French themselves just consider themselves French, not Celtic or Germanic...just French. Though their are some ties with their Gallic pasts, I'm not sure if they would consider themselves Gallic or Germanic.


I'm not sure on this but I believe their population to be a mixture of Celts and Germanic. Not sure on that though.

oshron

actually, they wouldnt even be french, theyd be frankish

Kronos

Gallic can be understood as part of the ancestors, so it's part of the roots, but the tree is altogether different, such like the French framed as nation, culture and all that defines them as French.

Jomsvikingr

Today I don't know of very many French people saying that are Frankish, or Celtic, or etc. They just call themselves French. Their has been too much, er whats the word? Can't think of it! But their has been too much..sexual relations between those of different tribes to consider anyone in France a particular tribe of people or not.

crossroadclarence

The folks in Brittany (Breton) are no questions Celtic. So are the Galicians of the north coast of Spain.

gaius valerius

Gallo-Roman => pars pro toto => Franks = French. There you go. (of course with regional variation, for example Armorica became thoroughly "bretonised"). The Franks in no way could replace the indigenous Gallo-Roman populace which severely dwarfed them. Pars pro toto people, pars pro toto.

barlier

In Brittany yes, elsewhere no. Think of Alsace, Lorraine, Burgondy, Savoie, Corsica, Provence, Pays Basque, Auvergne, Normandy, Flandre, etc. There are still several regional languages unrelated to each others. Among to-day French, many (50% ?) have a foreign ancestor. In the 20thcentury, France had a large immigration from Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugual, Vietnam, Cambodge, North-Africa and West-Africa. All these people are now French.

Nick

The Bretons even have their own version of the bagpipes. They're descended from the fierce Gaulish warriors that held out against the Romans.