Celtic Language as a Primary Branch of Ancient Japhetic or Turanian Language

This article reports on a study of words affinity in Irish, Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages. In spite of Irishmen’s migration from territory of ancient Azerbaijan to Asia Minor and further to the British Isles, they could preserve not only culture, but also their language in a new motherland. The present paper discloses semantic similarities and etymology of several words in Irish, Gaelic, Welsh and other Turkic languages. Celtic language was a primary branch of ancient Japhetic or Turanian language, because the meaning of several words in Celtic and Turkic languages proves a kinship between Celts and Turkic nations.


Introduction
The history of language development is closely connected with a history of people's progress.Therefore, it is impossible to study the formation and development of this or another language in separation from deep studying of history of development of state and people.
Celtic language family includes: Irish, Scottish, and Manx (Gaelic languages) and Welsh, Breton and Cornish (Brythonic languages).The Celtic language family is a branch of the larger Indo-European family, which leads some scholars to a hypothesis that the original speakers of the Celtic proto-language may have arisen in the Pontic-Caspian steppes.
One can suppose that through the Caspian Sea, from territory of ancient Azerbaijan ancestors of Scots and Picts migrated to the British Isles, because Albanians which were mentioned by J. Macpherson settled territories of the Caucasus Albania.It occupied lands from the River Aras in the south till the mountains of Greater Caucasus on the north, from Iberia on the west till the Caspian Sea on the east (History of Azerbaijan,112).

Affinity between Celts and Ancient Azerbaijanis
There are several facts indicating on affinity between Celts and ancient Azerbaijanis.Moses of Kalankatuyk, an author of "History of Albania" wrote in his work that Gomer was a second ruler of Caucasus Albania (ancient Azerbaijan) after his father Japhet (Tunchay,11).
Canon Bourke supposed that Gael, or Irish are sons of Japhet, and consequently Turanians (Bourke,7).
Hebrew, Christian and Muslim sources unanimously accepted that Turks are descendants of Japhet, son of Noah.Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote that: "Turks have 20 branches.The race of each reaches Prophet Noah's son Japhet, his son Turk".Written sources, archeological and ground monuments indicate territory of Azerbaijan as a place where Prophet Noah lived.Indisputable and basic evidence is a tomb of Prophet Noah in Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan).Ptolemy mentioned that Noah lived and died in Naxouana, i.e.Nakhchivan (36).
Pezron, an abbot of La Charmoye in France wrote: "Japhet was the eldest of Noah's three sons.This patriarch's eldest son was Gomer, the founder of a people, and who they could be but the Gomarians, from whom, according to Josephus, the Celtae or Gauls descended.And if Gomer be the true stock of the Gauls, as I have already made out by so many proofs and authorities, they must have a language quite different from other people and that was the Celtic tongue.But to carry this name no farther, which indeed properly appertained to no other than the European provinces towards the west, it was at first the language of the Gomarians in Asia, then of the Sacae, afterwards of the Titans, and also of the Cimri or Cummerians.After all which, that is a series of many ages, it became at last the language of the Celtae, who were better known by the name of Gauls" (Maclean,(27)(28).
Therefore, by Asia one can assume territory of ancient Azerbaijan, because tribes of Sacae and Gomarians or Cimmerians settled those lands in remote ages.
According to Charles Vallancey the origin of a word "Celt" is from tribes of Scytae: "… and it is not improbable that the word Celtae is likewise a corruption of Scytae, in process of time probably called Scheltae or Skeltae, Keltae or Celtae" (Vallancey.An Essay on the antiquity, 9-10).
We can propose that the word Scytae is the Scythian tribes of Sacae, which later could change its name to Gaul with omission of a letter "s" at the beginning.As it was mentioned by Pezron, the Celtic language was language of Gomarians, Sacae and Cimri or Cimmerians.If the previous name of Celts was Sacelt or Sagaul then it is obvious to find similar words in Irish, Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages because Sacae tribes settled territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Middle Asia in past.It is explained by the fact that in ancient times (VIII c.B.C.) on the territory of Azerbaijan there existed a region Sacasena named so by Sacae/Saca tribes which settled it.Name of Azerbaijani town Sheki formed from the same Saca/Shaka tribes which inhabited territory of Azerbaijan long before Christ.The Saca tribes occupied territories of modern Gandja -Gazakh region (the Azerbaijan Republic) named in antique sources as Sacasena.Byzantine author Menander in 568 year wrote that Turks in ancient times were called Saca.Among Turkic people one can find names like saka and shaka: one of Kazakh tribes' name is shaga, Uzbeks have shakay, shekey, Kyrgyz -sakha, saka, Turkmen -shaka (Azerbaijani toponyms, 568).
Undoubtedly, regions Bilasakan and Sisakan mentioned in sources of Albanian period were bound with ethnonym Saca.The word "Saca" in the form of toponym recorded in several Azerbaijani towns and regions like Sheki, Zagatala, Sakandara (Gakh region) (Azerbaijan History, 45).
According to I.M. Diakonov, first time the territory of Saca tribes were mentioned in 820 B.C. as Sagbit near to Hamadan.In that period the ruler of this area was Khanaziruk.The second territory probably is Zikertu and many experts make it equal to the territory Sagarti (Σαγαρτιοι) mentioned by Herodotus and Ptolemy.Region Zikertu was situated on the south-east from Tebriz, between Lake Urmia and the Caspian Sea (Agasioglu. Ancient Turkic land,17).
In Turkmenistan an ethnonym saka one can meet within the tribe of salir and bayat.Sacas through territory of Azerbaijan went to the south-east part of Anatolia and this fact is proved by several settlements mentioned in Assyrian sources.So, in XII c. B.C. from Lake Van to the south there were two Saga ( uru Saga) villages and in VIII c. B.C. on upper stream of Tigris river there was a settlement Saka ( uru Sakka) (Agasioglu. Ancient Turkic land,(16)(17)(18).
In ancient times name of Upper Garabakh was Artsak which occupied territory of Azerbaijan.Artsak is of Turkic origin and consists of two words "art" "mountainous area", "a hill" and ethnonym "saca", which means "Hill of Sacas" or "Mountainous area of Sacas".In Irish language a word "ard" means "a height", "top", "summit" and corresponds with Turkic word "art" (O'Reilly,35).
The interesting fact one can notice in toponyms of several European towns where Celts inhabited in remote ages.Actually, in names of toponyms instead of a word "celt" one can find a word "sac/seg".Thus, in Spain towns Segovia, Segeda, Segonita exemplify this fact.The next example of Celtic settlement is a town Sisak in Croatia.We came to a conclusion that Celts belonged to Saca tribes and traces of their settlement noticed in above mentioned European towns in the form of Seg/Sak.Thus, native land of Celts is reputed territories of Azerbaijan (Sacasena, Bilasakan, Sisakan, Artsak, Sheki, Zakatala, Sakandara), Iranian Azerbaijan (Sagbit, Zikertu), Turkey (Saga, Saka), also territories of Middle Asia, where lived tribes of saka/shaka.From those territories they migrated to Asia Minor, further to Western Europe and to the British Isles.
Modern Irish people call themselves Eirionnach/Erionnach but their country Erin.Their neighbours Highlanders of Scotland are called Albanach and their country Alban.
The author of "History of Albania" Moses of Kalankatuyk mentioned Aran, a ruler of Albanians, who was the descendant of Japhet from blood of Sisakan (Sunik).He reckoned words Alban and Aran synonymous and considered both nations as kindred tribes (Kazimov,(386)(387).
We propose that Alban and Aran tribes which settled territory of Azerbaijan were ancestors of Irish people or Erionach and Highlanders of Scotland or Albanachs.A region Sacasena, which was mentioned above, was included in the territory of Caucasus Albania.Both tribes Aran and Alban inhabited that territory where ruled Gomer the son of Japhet.Their language was Gomarian, which later became a language of Celtae or Sacelt/Saca.It could be explained not only by kinship between them but the language factor also plays an important role.

Research Methodology
We have used in this article historical and comparative typological methods in the investigation of the position of the words in Celtic, Azerbaijani and Turkic languages.

Semantic Similarities between Celtic and Turkic Words
In Celtic and Turkic languages there are several similar notions which are expressed in: a) Terms of kinship; b) Words connected with human feelings, state; age; c) Words connected with "fire", "light"; d) Somatic vocabulary; e) Words with notion of "death", "attack", "seizing" f) Words which express titles; g) Words with notion of "clothes"; h) Words which express "plow", "agriculture" Terms of kinship in Celtic language are the following: Scottish Gaelic (Sc.Gael.),Irish athair 'father', tad in Welsh.In ancient Turkic (anc.Turk.),Azerbaijani (Azer.),Kazakh (Kaz.),Kyrgyz (Kyrg.),Tatar(Tat.),Turkmen (Turkm.) a word ata means 'father', in Uzbek (Uzb.) it is ada 'dad, father' (Sevortian,words with vowels,(200)(201).One can suppose that in Sc.Gael.and Irish a word athair morphologically consists of two words atha and ir.The first component of the word atha is similar to Turkic ata 'father'.The second component ir has an explanation in Turkic languages.The word "ir/er/ar" in Turkic languages has a meaning of 'a man', 'warrior', 'husband'.So, the whole word athair means 'a father-man' or 'a father-husband'.In Welsh tad 'father' has its equivalent in Azer.dialect dada 'father'.The word "dada" is spread in regions of Azerbaijan like Gandja, Gazakh and in Republic of Georgia (Borchali or Kvemo-Kartli region), mostly where ethnic Azeris live.From history of Azerbaijan it is known about famous names like Ata and Dada among Turkic tribes, who settled territories around Lake Urmia (Iranian Azerbaijan) in remote ages (History of Azerbaijan, 43).Sc.Gael., Irish mathair 'mother', mam in Welsh.In dialects of Turkm., Azer., Turk., Kyrg., Kaz., Uzb. a word mama means 'mother' and is similar to Welsh mam.Actually mama in Turkic languages is similar to notion of 'a nursing mother' from general Turkic word mama 'a breast' (Etymological dictionary of Turkic languages: with letters "L", "M", "N", "P", "S", 189).
Ch. Vallancey supposes that Irish word mathar 'mother' is formed by attaching particle em to the word athar 'father' and as a result a word becomes emathar, i.e. a woman of the athar.The author gives more ancient forms of Irish words am 'mother' and athar 'father' which are not presented in modern Gaelic or Irish dictionaries (Vallancey.Prospectus of a dictionary, 156, 161).Z. Hasanov making reference to Mahmud al-Kashgari states that a word uma in ancient Turkic language means 'mother', um is 'stomach', 'womb'.Umay was a name of Turkic Goddess of fertility and was venerated by ancient Turks (Hasanov,313).Sc.Gael., Irish balach 'a boy', bala 'budding' in Welsh (37) have semantic similarity in Azer., Turkm., Tat., Kaz.where a word bala means 'a baby', 'a child', while in Uzb. and Kaz.dialects a word bala is 'a boy' (Sevortian,with letter "B",(47)(48).
Irish carad, in Sc.Gael.caraid 'a friend', Irish caradas 'friendship', 'alliance', Old Irish cara, Welsh car 'a friend', 'a relation' (37).Irish caradas 'friendship', 'alliance' coincides with Azer., gardash, Turk.kardesh 'brother', 'ally' (O'Reilly, 103).G. Geybullayev mentions that Scythians of the Black Sea region had a king by name of Kharasin.This name consists of anc.Turk.word karu 'dear', 'nice', 'darling' and sin, chin, shin,which means 'alike'.There are several examples connected with word karu and sin, chin in historical names of Turkic rulers.For example, name of a ruler of Eastern Hunn's principality was Kunhchin and a real name of Genghis Khan was Timuchin (Geybullayev, History of formation, 110).So, Sc.Gael.caraid, Irish carad and Welsh car 'a friend' and ancient Turkic word karu 'nice' has semantic similarity and are used in the meaning of 'a person who is close and dear to somebody'.
Azer. word tokhtag'silent', 'quiet' has affinity with Irish tochd, tochdach 'silent'(O'Reilly, 523).G. Geybullayev comparing name of Cimmerian king Tugdamme with a leader or khan of the Golden Horde, writes that "Tugdamme was a king of Cimmerians and Saca tribes.Strabo gives a name of Tugdamme as Ligdamis.If in a name Tugdamis, a suffix 'is' is not of Greek origin, then this name is identical with a name of khan of the Golden Horde in XIV c. Tokhtamish.The name Tokhtamish in Turkic languages consists of a word tokhta 'tolerate', 'calm down' and an ending 'mish'.This name was characteristic among Turks (Geybullayev. Ancient Turks,(63)(64).Names of Cimmerian and Saca king Tugdamme and a leader of the Golden Horde Tokhtamish have a meaning of 'a tolerate', which semantically close to Irish word tochd, tochdach 'silent'.
Charles Vallancey derives name Aidan from Irish aodh "fire".He wrote: "Why may not Odin be derived from Aodhan or Aodhon, another name in Irish for fire and the sun, from Aod, fire?" (Vallancey.Prospectus of a dictionary, 157).Azerbaijani and Turkish male name Aydin "pure", "clear" has a semantic affinity with Irish Aidan.
So, if Odin and Aidan are synonymous names, then ancestors of Scandinavians and Celts were the same.In Sweden, there is a town Sigtuna, which bare a component "sig" in its name and possibly means "a town of Sig or Saca tribes".Then, Odin was a leader of Saca tribes, who led his nation through the Caspian Sea, Volga River, and at last they reached the Scandinavian lands.
In accordance with opinion of Ch.Vallancey English word glass is of Celtic origin, from a word glaoine.He states: "The very word glaoine or gloine, the Celtic name for glass, being a Celtic and not of foreign extract, seems to prove the art to have been their own.The etymology of the word seems to be geala or glao-theine, i.e. glued or brightened in the fire" (Vallancey.A grammar of the Iberno-Celtic, 109).
It is known, that the main component which takes part in making a glass is quartz sand.In order to get a transparent monolith from nontransparent and flowing product it is heated to a very high temperatures, sometimes it is 1600° С (41).
We suppose that the process of making a glass includes a heating of quartz sand and it is called gala 'fire up' or 'heat up'.
Consequently, a word glass derives from Celtic geala 'glued' or 'brightened in the fire' and have a semantic similarity with Azer.word gala 'fire up'.
Ch. Vallancey mentioned that ancient Irish had a special palce ceill, cill "a place of devotion, where the sacred fire always burned", another meaning of a word ceill is "a round tower", "a fire tower".A word cuilteach "a steeple, i.e. a fire house", where cuil and derivative words cuil, cal, cail, ceil means from Irish 'to burn', and teach is 'a house' (Vallancey.Prospectus of a dictionary, 169-170).These words have semantic similarities with Azer.gala 'fire up'.
Words which express titles in Irish are the following: ceann, seanathair, bag, righ, tigherna.
It is known that the word "senator" is of Latin origin which means "member of the senate," from senex "old", "old man" (40).We suppose that the word "senator" is of Celtic origin borrowed by Romans from Celts or Galls.In Irish language a word seanathair 'a grandfather', 'an elder' consists of two words: sean 'an ancestor', 'old ','ancient','prosperity','happiness' and athair 'a father'(O'Reilly,449).So, the word seanathair besides its basic notion 'a grandfather' also was used in the meaning of "a wise man" or "a man of knowledge".Celtic society mostly considered seanathairs' opinion and advices.This system of ruling borrowed from Celts or Gauls transferred to Romans together with a word seanathair later changed to senator.In Azerbaijani and Turkish languages a word san means 'glory', 'fame', 'honour' and a word ata is 'a father' in most Turkic languages.The full meaning of a word in Azerbaijani language will be 'an honourable father' or 'glorious man', which has a semantic similarity with Irish word seanathair.
An interesting ethymology of a word bag is given by F. Agasioglu.He supposes that a word bag is a theonym and he connects it with shamanism.The traces of shamanism is seen in the following words bagchi, which means 'augur', 'a teacher'; bagichi 'a wizard'; bagi 'witchcraft'.He states that terms which are used in science like magism, magic are connected with a word bag/mag (Agasioglu.Azer people, 290).
One of felicities of a shaman is his talent of a poet and a singer (storyteller).According to E.V. Revuninkova in many cultures shamans were poets, and also performers of legends and eposes (38).
Celts also had their shamans represented by filids.Filids told different legends and eposes and considered as honourable people in Celtic society.So, Irish words bag 'a prince'and bagh 'strength', 'power' trace back to witchcraft, shamanism.We suppose that the title bag 'a prince' was given to druids-shamans, i.e. those who had a power bagh in foretelling the future.Irish kings usually were sons of druids and possibly were called bags 'princes'.
At first sight Irish word righ 'king', Sc.Gael.righ, Welsh rhi (37) is needless to say that of Latin origin from rex 'a king'.
Thomas Stratton claims the opposite.He states that the name Adiatorix, a governor of Galatia is of Celtic origin.Thus, according to his opinion, the last syllable -rix is a common termination of the names of Celtic kings and chiefs, and is the Gaelic righ, from which is derived the Latin rex (Stratton,53).
In actual fact, a word rex or righ is of Turkic origin.Thus, Yu.Drozdov considers that all names of Gothic kings like Alarig, Ardarig, Atalarig, Gadarig, Germanarig, Gunerig, Teodorig and etc. are formed by a single grammar scheme: a nickname plus a word arig or erig, which is corrupted form of ancient Turkic word ariy (arig).In this context the word is translated as 'a noble'.It was not a title, but an honorific title, which was characteristic to the upper family class.He states that a word 'rex' is corrupted ancient Turkic word arig/ariy -'noble', 'pure' (Drozdov,115).F. Agasioglu mentions a name of Saca tribes' leader Khanaziruk (Agasioglu,Ancient Turkic land,16).One can say that this name consists of three words: 'khan', 'az', and 'iruk', where a word khan/ceann in Irish and Turkic languages means 'a leader', a word az is a name of this leader and iruk is a word 'rig', i.e. 'a king'.So, the name of Saca tribes' leader Khanaziruk could be translated as 'a King Az/Aza'.If we take into consideration a Turkic ethymology of the name, then it could be translated as "a noble ruler Az/Aza".So, the name of Khanaziruk both in Irish and Turkic languages has a similar meaning.Sc.Gael.tighearn, tighearna 'lord', 'master', Irish tighearna, Old Irish tigerne, Welsh teyrn, Old Welsh tigern (37) have affinity with Turkic name of god Tanri.According to F. Agasioglu, if Etrurians considered their ancestor Tarkan, then in Scythian mythology their ancestor was Targitay or Tanritay 'godlike', 'demigod' (Agasioglu. Azer people,298).So, Sc.Gael., Irish tighearna/tigern and Welsh teyrn 'lord', 'master' semantically close to Turkic Tanri 'God'.
It is possible to assume the version that once in the past Azer.word koynak 'a shirt' , 'a blouse', 'a clothes', 'a garment' was similar to Irish conach and Altai kunek, because a word gon in Azer.means 'a skin'.Semantics of words in Irish conach, Altai kunek and Azer.koynak 'a shirt' is similar, in which suffixes-ach/ek/ak form an adjective from a noun gon 'a skin'.Therefore, words conach, kunek and koynak were used in the meaning of 'skin covering'.
In formation of Irish words arach 'ploughshare', 'utensils for ploughing', arathar 'ploughing', 'cultivating', aran 'bread' participates the formant 'ar', which is homogeneous with anc.Turk.word or "reap", "mow".Z. Hasanov states, that existence of component ar in Turkic languages attaches significance to words connected with plants and agriculture.Various sciences, in particular, linguistics testify that ancient Turkic peoples were familiar with various agrarian cultures (grain-growing, winegrowing, agriculture).Ancient words with the first syllable of ar: orakh (sickle), aral (plow), arpa (barley) don't raise any doubts.In mythology of Turkic peoples, protectors of trees and herbs were spirits Ar/Ereke and Ereni.In Sakha mythology Ar/Ereke were spirits, which protected trees and herbs.Ereni in Turkic mythology are spirits -protectors, presented in the form of spirits of dead ancestors, in image of plants and trees (Hasanov,213).
All the above mentioned words are connected with Turkic word yer 'earth', because from earth grow all plants and trees.People tilled the earth 'yer' by utensils arach 'ploughshare', where -ach is an ending used in word formation, so 'ar' is closely connected with Turkic word yer 'earth'.
Well-known Danish paleoethnobotanist Hans Helbaek has discredited the myth that the agriculture originates from fertile flat territories of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and that Anatolian agriculture developed much later.H. Helbaek has proved that along with peas, lentils, many kind of fruit and bean plants, the native land of wild wheat and rye was on territories of Taurus and Zagros mountains.These plants were not imports to Anatolia or Transcaucasia; on the contrary, they were local products that have extended thence worldwide (Feigl,11).
Therefore, agriculture originated first on the territories of Transcaucasia and Anatolia.Our opinion is that from those regions ancestors of Irish people carried this culture to the British Isles and improved it.
Today modern DNA tests also prove the origin of Irishmen from Asia Minor.Thus, Leicester University scientists Patricia Balaresque, Mark Jobling, Turi King and their colleagues examined the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome -a package of DNA, which is passed down more or less unchanged from father to son.
The male lineage in question, known as R1b1b2, is most common in Western Europe, reaching frequencies of 90% or more in Ireland, Wales and Spain.However, while this lineage reaches its highest frequencies on the Atlantic fringe, the researchers found that the genetic diversity within it increases one moves east -reaching a peak in Anatolia (modern Turkey).While R1b1b2 is most common in Western Europe, some other lineages thought to have been brought into Europe by Neolithic farmers tend to be most frequent in the Near East, where the farmers started their journey.Their frequency in populations drops as one moves from the south-east to the north-west of the continent, the route taken by the agriculturalists (39).So, Irish words arach 'ploughshare', 'utensils for ploughing', arbhar 'corn', arathar "ploughing", "cultivating", aran "bread" testify migration of Irish people from territories of Azerbaijan and Anatolia.
In accordance with A. Korolev, vocabulary of Irish language underwent different changes by scribes of ancient texts.He states that scribes tried to modernize or "correct" an old text.A scribe replaced every old letter 'e' to 'ea', 'i' to 'io', intervocal and auslaut b, d, g into bh, dh, gh and etc. (Gadjiyeva, N. Z., Juravlev, V. K. Comparative Historical study of different language families, 121).
If we take into consideration facts given by A. Korolev about distortion Irish words by scribes, then we will try to reconstruct a primary look of Irish words.For example, instead of words athair, arbha, gealadh, tighearna, gabhaim, ceann we can see more ancient forms of words atair/atar, arba, gelad, tigerna,gabaim, cenn and so on.
Thus, all the above mentioned words in Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Welsh are semantically similar to Turkic ones.It testifies the fact that Celtic language was a primary branch of Japhetic or Turanian language, because it could preserve more primitive form of words.Modern DNA tests also prove the early migration of Celtic race from Anatolia (modern Turkey).
Austrian scientist Erich Feigl in his work wrote that Greek culture is indebted to Anatolian: "Turks and proto-Turks have lived for centuries in Anatolia, Caucasus and, of course, Central Asia.The Greek culture made such impressive progress due to the cultural advancements of the Turkic peoples from Anatolia in time immemorial.The incontrovertible material evidence supporting this fact is Chatal Hoyuk, Gobekli Tepe and Gobustan.The Pantheon as well as Greek gods like Aphrodite and Zeus can be considered a striking example of the influence Anatolia beliefs had on Greek culture.The Gobustan rock paintings on the coast of the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, and also rock paintings in the Van region, in Hakkari and Zagros mountains unequivocally prove settlement in this region of the Proto-Turks throughout the past 10,000 years" (Feigl, 55).

Conclusion
Thus, we don't know exactly when the migration process of Irish, Scots and Welsh began.Separately Irish or Erin belonged to Aran tribes, Scots and Galls to Albanians and Welsh to Cimmerians.So, Aran, Albanian and Cimmerian tribes were of Turkic origin.All these tribes entered to Saca-Cimmerian union.There is no a big difference between Irish, Gaelic and Welsh, because Saca and Cimmerian language belonged to a single proto-language.We suppose that this proto-language is Japhetic or Turanian language.In ancient times Celts settled the territories of modern Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Middle Asia and Eurasian Steppes.Similarities of words and their meaning in Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh as well as in Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages indicate on common origin of these nations.