archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

, a celt is a long, thin, prehistoric, stone or bronze tool similar to an

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

, hoe, or

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

. A

shoe-last celt A shoe-last celt (German: ''Schuhleistenkeil'') is a long thin polished stone tool for felling trees and woodworking, characteristic of the early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik and Hinkelstein cultures, also called Danubian I in the older literatur ...

was a polished stone tool used during the early European

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

for felling trees and woodworking.

Etymology

The term "celt" seems to have come about from a copyist's error in many medieval manuscript copies of

Job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...

19:24 in the Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

Bible, which became enshrined in the authoritative Sixto-Clementine printed edition of 1592. Where all earlier versions (the

Codex Amiatinus The Codex Amiatinus (also known as the Jarrow Codex) is considered the best-preserved manuscript of the Latin Vulgate versionBruce M. Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament'' (Oxford University Press 2005), p. 106. of the Christian Bible. It w ...

, for example) have ''vel certe'' (the Latin for 'but surely'), the Sixto-Clementine has ''vel celte''. The Hebrew has לעד (''lā‘aḏ'') at this point, which means 'forever'. The editors of the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

" nclineto the belief that ''celtis'' was a phantom word," simply a misspelling of ''certe''. However, some scholars over the years have treated ''celtis'' as a real Latin word. From the context of Job 19:24 ("Oh, that my words were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!"), the Latin word ''celte'' was assumed to be some kind of ancient chisel. Eighteenth-century antiquarians, such as , adopted the word for the

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and bronze tools they were finding at prehistoric sites; the ''OED'' suggests that a "fancied etymological connexion" with the prehistoric Celts assisted its passage into common use.

References

entry for "CELT (2)," quoted in

External links

* {{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded Lithics Archaeological artefact types

Etymology

See also

References

External links