# How is "Celtic" pronounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229 "2018-04-27T17:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/1 "2018-04-27T17:09:45Z")
With an ‘s’ or a ‘k’ sound? I’ve been wondering about this for a long time and got two reference points: the famous soccer club Celtic Glasgow, which I’ve never heard otherwise than as “sseltic”, and the Van Morrison song “Celtic Ray” where he sings “keltic”. Is it a dialect/regional thing? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/2 "2018-04-27T17:21:15Z")
Well for me it’s a usage thing: if it’s a basketball team from the NE then it’s Sell-tick. Anything else and it’s Kell-tik. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/3 "2018-04-27T17:28:46Z")
> **[Why There are Two Ways to Pronounce 'Celtic'](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/77222/why-there-are-two-ways-pronounce-celtic)** > > Celtic may be pronounced either way in standard English—even if this bothers some people. [https://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/keltic-or-seltic/](https://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/keltic-or-seltic/) > **[Why We Pronounce 'Celtic' Music And Boston 'Celtics' Differently](https://www.wgbh.org/news/2018/03/27/how-we-live/why-we-pronounce-celtic-music-and-boston-celtics-differently)** > > It’s that time of the year when basketball takes center stage. The NCAA Final Four is set, and the NBA is in the final push toward the playoffs. It's the perfect time to take on this question from Ken Westhassel, a loyal listener from... They’re both valid, it’s all about context and history. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/4 "2018-04-27T17:39:11Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > [Why There Are Two Ways to Pronounce 'Celtic' | Mental Floss](http://mentalfloss.com/article/77222/why-there-are-two-ways-pronounce-celtic) > [Is Celtic Pronounced “Keltic” or “Seltic”?](https://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/keltic-or-seltic/) > [https://news.wgbh.org/2018/03/27/how-we-live/why-we-pronounce-celtic-music-and-boston-celtics-differently](https://news.wgbh.org/2018/03/27/how-we-live/why-we-pronounce-celtic-music-and-boston-celtics-differently) > > They’re both valid, it’s all about context and history. Wow well, I thought that this was just a mundane question from a non-native speaker, but I’d never thought that this is a hot topic in some circles! How the dope never fails to surprise (or the English language, for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/5 "2018-04-27T18:30:04Z")
Keltic unless it’s the Boston NBA team, then Seltic. I have the same confusion with other words from Latin. I know that ancient Latin used the “K” sound for all written "C"s. Caesar was pronounced “Kaisar”. But you know, that was 2000 years ago, and languages change. In particular, the family of French/Italian/Spanish/Romanian is basically modern Latin, and they pronounce "C"s as "S"s all the time. So I tend to pronounce “Caesar” as “Seezer” in deference to hundreds of years of English (and Romance) tradition, but other less common Latin words trip me up sometimes. Like “Cicero”. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/6 "2018-04-27T18:43:35Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Keltic unless it’s the Boston NBA team, then Seltic. > > I have the same confusion with other words from Latin. I know that ancient Latin used the “K” sound for all written "C"s. Caesar was pronounced “Kaisar”. But you know, that was 2000 years ago, and languages change. In particular, the family of French/Italian/Spanish/Romanian is basically modern Latin, and they pronounce "C"s as "S"s all the time. So I tend to pronounce “Caesar” as “Seezer” in deference to hundreds of years of English (and Romance) tradition, but other less common Latin words trip me up sometimes. Like “Cicero”. [Relevant Wiki article.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Celts#Celts,_Celtae) The earliest attested form is from the Greek, and the word is “Κελτοί” (“keltoi”). From about 500 BC, speaking of (what we would later call) Gauls in (what we would later call) France and Germany. That carried through with the “hard K” customary pronunciation of “C” in Classical Latin. Later Latin is where that leading “C” became palatalized, shifting into the “S” sound we use a lot now. Interestingly, those early-historical roots of the word “Celt” were only applied to continental Europeans Gallic peoples, not the Celts of the isles; this is rather different from modern usage, which usually would call the former “Gauls” and use “Celts” for the latter. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/7 "2018-04-27T18:53:38Z")
Both are technically correct. Though I’m not a prescriptivist, if you use the “s” sound for anything but the Boston basketball team \*\*or \*\*the Glasgow association football team, then your knowledge in the subject is suspect. > [@DrCube](#): > > So I tend to pronounce “Caesar” as “Seezer” in deference to hundreds of years of English (and Romance) tradition Ave, true to Kaiser. [Degenerates like you belong on a cross.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAIQ68snVMw) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/8 "2018-04-27T20:32:52Z")
When I first heard of the Keltic people, back in the Eisenhower Administration, the books I read spelled them as _Kelts_. Wouldn’t that spelling help us all get along? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/9 "2018-04-27T20:48:39Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > When I first heard of the Keltic people, back in the Eisenhower Administration, the books I read spelled them as _Kelts_. > > Wouldn’t that spelling help us all get along? Maybe, but the reason is that there is no “k” in Irish, Scottish, or Welsh, the dominant 3 Celtic languages. Cornish, Breton, and Manx do have it, but I think it’s always hard. Kelts sounds like some street gang from a cyberpunk novel. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/10 "2018-04-27T21:14:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Kelts sounds like some street gang from a cyberpunk novel. Or like small, thick, multi-purpose mat/coaster/rug/towel things. The kind that are so useful that they’re too often dirty when you need one. Hmmmm. My Scottish friend John is like that - small, thick, very useful, too often dirty when you need him. 😃 And I just realized he IS quite absorbent as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/11 "2018-04-28T21:25:44Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Keltic unless it’s the Boston NBA team, then Seltic. But that misses the example of Glasgow Celtic, the football club. Which is always pronounced with the “soft” version in Scotland, regardless of allegiance - as indicated in the OP. Which in turn has made the pronunciation of the term for the people/language/culture/made-up-historical-construct often a bit delicate in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/12 "2018-04-30T08:15:52Z")
There’s a story about Richard Burton, who was apparently approached at a party by an Irish-American who said he too was a ‘Selt’. Burton replied to the effect “I am a Celt, You sir, are a Sunt” (probably apocryphal). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-celtic-pronounced/813229/13 "2018-05-01T18:01:36Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > But that misses the example of Glasgow Celtic, the football club. Which is always pronounced with the “soft” version in Scotland, regardless of allegiance - as indicated in the OP. > > Which in turn has made the pronunciation of the term for the people/language/culture/made-up-historical-construct often a bit delicate in Scotland. Bit like that across the water in N Ireland I think. See also the pronunciation of the name of the Mater hospital in Belfast. The influence of the latin mass allegedly shows up Catholics who pronounce it correctly.