Celtic Word of the Day: Alba/Alps

Celtic Word of the Day: Alps
Focal Ceilteach an lae: -Albiyu-Alba

Alps-Alpine (The Alps, a Mountain Region, Mountains) The word Alps, Alpen, Alpine are derived partly from Latin but Latin borrowed it from Proto Celtic Albiyu. Albiyu in Proto Celtic means Luminous world, upper world, mountains or in later use Britain as a whole. Scotland once called Alba meaning “White” likely after its snowy white mountains. In German languages “Alb” became just a term for high mountains specifically The Alps. Example “Swabian Alb”. Albiyu is derived from Proto Indo European *h₂elbʰós meaning “White”. We also get the word Albino from this etymology. The dominant pre Britain homeland of the Celts existed in The Alps of France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. The Austrian Alps is arguably the homeland of the first Celtic People who arose from the Hallstatt Culture. The municipality of Alba in Spain is likely derived from Celtiberian speakers who populated Iberia before Latin speakers expanded from The Italic peninsula. This is a very well distributed Celtic loan word.

Brythonic: *ėlβɨð
Old Welsh: elbid
Middle Welsh: eluit, eluyd
Welsh: elfydd
Goidelic:
Old Irish: Albu (“Scotland”)
→ Middle Welsh: Albbu
Irish: Albain, Alba
→ Welsh: Alban
→ Cornish: Alban
→ Latin: Albania
→ Middle English: Albany
English: Albany
Manx: Nalbin, Albin, Albey
Scottish Gaelic: Alba
Hispano-Celtic:
→ Latin: Albiones (ethnonym)
→ Ancient Greek: Ἀλβίων (Albíōn), Ἀλουΐων (Alouḯōn)
→ Latin: Albiōn
→ English: Albion
→ West Germanic: *albijā
Old Saxon: elbon
Old High German: alba, Albūn
Middle High German: albe, Alben
German: Alpe, Alp, Alm, Alpen
→ Latin: alpis, Alpēs
→ English: Alps

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