Celtic Values
written by scholar Alexei Kondratiev
Honor
Loyalty
Hospitality
Honesty
Justice
Courage
Honor
The traditional Irish word that is usually translated as "honor"
is 'oineach' which (by way of 'ainech') goes back to Old
Irish 'enech' which originally means "face" (from Old
Celtic 'eniequos') -- cognates in Welsh 'wyneb', Cornish and
Breton 'enep' (same meaning). Thus the idea of honor is primarily
related to one's "face" which must be saved in the eyes of the
community. A closely related concept, often mentioned in the same
contexts, is that of 'clú' ("reputation" or "fame"), which comes
from an Indo-European root meaning "to hear" and thus refers to what
is being said about someone. To be honorable, then, is to maintain
one's "face" before the community and to be "heard of" in a good
way. Dishonor comes from losing "face" and being "heard of" in a bad
way. The term 'enech' also expresses the idea of personal power,
since as long as one has "face" in the community one is able to
influence others: thus people or things that are your responsibility
or otherwise under your protection are described as being "on"
or "under" your "face". When you lose "face", of course, you're no
longer able to extend the protection.
What emerges from this is a sense of honor and dishonor being very
much defined by the community, rather than the individually chosen
codes of honor that are more characteristic of our modern way of
thinking.
Loyalty
The Irish word that best translates "loyalty" is 'tairise' (from Old
Irish 'tairisiu'), which literally means "steadfastness". Originally
it had both passive and active meanings: i.e. it implied a state of
trust in the other as well as consistent involvement for the other's
benefit. The key notion here is consistency, sticking to one's
chosen position in relation to other people.
The other word often used for "loyal" is 'dílis' (Old
Irish 'díles'), which comes from Old Celtic 'dílestos' and also
appears as Welsh 'dilys'. This is the secondary meaning of a term
widely used in Brehon Law to mean "inalienable property": the idea
is something that is unquestionably the attribute of something else.
Thus it also comes to refer to consistency and permanence: certain
(desirable) traits and sentiments are so deeply imbedded in the
person that they are unchangeable and can be depended upon. In
modern Welsh usage 'dilys' often means "authentic".
Hospitality
The general term for "hospitality" in early Irish is 'oígidecht'
(modern 'aíocht'), derived from 'oígi' "stranger, newcomer", from a
root that may have implied "travelling, being out of one's home
territory". Thus the term means "dealing with strangers" - i.e.
people who don't belong to one's household. Needless to say, rules
for helping people who were not your kin were of paramount
importance in ancient times, and were the one thing that made travel
and trade possible.
Although the mythology suggests that unlimited hospitality was the
original ideal, by the early Middle Ages the legal system clearly
defined obligations and limited what those with little material
means (e.g. the 'fir midbotha' or men who didn't have title to their
homes) had to provide. And there were professional hospitallers
('briugu', modern 'brughaidh') who took the pressure off ordinary
people.
Honesty
The basic term for "honesty" in Old Irish is 'indracus'
(modern 'ionracas') from 'indraic' (modern 'ionraic') "honest". This
generally meant someone or something that showed integrity, that was
not flawed. There is a folk etymology (accepted by some early
linguists) that derives it from 'in+reic-' ("sellable", as of an
undamaged item -- this is actually one of the contexts in which it
was used). It's more likely that the second element is the root 'reg-
' "to put in order" (whence the English "right"). The original
meaning would thus have been "right/correct inside".
In later Irish the words 'cneasta' (from Old Irish 'cnesta' "healed,
returned to its proper form") and 'macánta' ("filial, behaving like
one's son or child") are often used to convey the meaning "honest".
The idea expressed is guilelessness, openness and friendliness in
dealing with others.
In the same vein, Welsh uses 'didwyll' ("without deceit") and Breton
uses 'reizh' ("right") to mean "honest", although both have
borrowed 'onest' from Norman French (as has English).
Justice
The oldest word for "just" and "justice" in Irish is probably 'cóir'
(oldest form 'coair'), which comes from Old Celtic 'ko-uéro-' "in
accordance with the truth" (cf. the more transparent Welsh
cognate 'cywir', which in modern usage means "correct'). As usual,
we have the basic Celtic concept of Truth ('uéron') which refers to
a cosmic, indisputable rightness which human behaviour must seek to
imitate. Other Celtic words for justice are related to the same
idea: Welsh 'cyfiawnder' from 'cyfiawn' "just" (literally "in
conformity with rightness"), Breton 'reizh' (from Old
Celtic 'rextion' "that which is [properly] ruled", and cognate with
English "right").
The later Irish word for "justice" is 'cert' (modern 'ceart'), which
appears to be a borrowing from Latin 'certus' "certain, sure".
Courage
'Meisnech' (modern 'misneach') means "courage" in the sense of being
able to keep one's head (it comes from the root 'med-' "to measure,
to reckon"). It generally implies that one can maintain control over
one's mood. 'Calmacht' (derived from the adjective 'calma') comes
from a root that means "hard" (the same as in Welsh 'caled' "hard")
and implies strength in endurance. The same is true of 'cródacht'
(modern 'crógacht'), derived from 'cródae' (modern 'cróga'), which
originally meant something like "bloodthirsty", the hardness that
prevents one from being swayed by pity in battle; eventually this
came to mean simply "bravery" in all senses. 'Uchtach' comes
from 'ucht' "breast, bosom" and originally meant a breastplate, and
then acquired an abstract meaning of moral defense; it was also
understood as "spirit, mettle".
All the Brythonic languages use 'calon' ('kalon'/'kolonn') "heart"
to mean "courage" (notice that it's also formed from the root that
means "hard"). Welsh also uses 'gwroldeb' derived from 'gwrol' which
means "male-like, typifying masculine virtues", as well as 'dewrder'
derived from 'dewr', which had similar connotations. Older Welsh
also used the word 'glew' which basically means "bold, daring" -- as
in the name of King Arthur's doorkeeper, Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr "The
Bold Grey One of the Mighty Grasp".
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