What is the proper way to pronounce Celtic?

For Celtic, Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, Oxford, Random House, Collins, and Dictionary.com all give both pronunciations, /k/ first. Macmillan, Cambridge, and the OED do likewise for both UK and U.S. English. It’s as strong a consensus as you’ll find. People speak like the people around them.

Why is Celtic pronounced two ways?

Celtic refers to Irish culture and heritage, along with the historical people who migrated from the British Isles throughout much of Europe. While the early pronunciation was with an /s/ sound, reflecting its nearest origin in French, the modern standard is a hard “c” sound like /k/.

What does the Celtic Infinity Knot mean?

These knots are complete loops that have no start or finish and could be said to represent eternity whether this means loyalty, faith, friendship or love. Only one thread is used in each design which symbolizes how life and eternity are interconnected.

Which is the correct pronunciation of the word Celtic?

Think cell, cereal, ceiling, and dance. Nevertheless, English speakers, especially those who wanted to sound knowledgeable about things Celtic, grew to prefer the hard ‘c’ pronunciation, which harkened back to the words’ ancient roots. From the 18th century onward, more and more people began sounding the words with an initial \\k\\.

What’s the soft sound in the word Celtic?

The soft “c” sound is usually reserved for sports teams now, like the Boston Celtics. Be it in the pub or in the halls of academia, whenever the topic of Irish culture, language, music, literature—basically, anything Irish—is brought up, the words Celt and Celtic are bound to be heard.

Why are there two ways to say Celtics?

While the early pronunciation was with an /s/ sound, reflecting its nearest origin in French, the modern standard is a hard “c” sound like /k/. This is because language historians desired the word to better reflect its Greek and Classical Latin origins. The soft “c” sound is usually reserved for sports teams now, like the Boston Celtics.

How did the Celtic language get its name?

English borrowed Celtic in the 17th century from French celtique, soft- c, and from Latin Celtae, also soft- c in Britain at the time (unlike Classical Latin, which used a hard c ). Centuries later the pronunciation changed, because language, but it didn’t switch from “Seltic” to “Keltic”—it just added the variant, which then spread.