Sunday, September 4, 2016

R: Earliest Written Records of the Druids



Best Root Source I have for earliest recorded reference to the existence  of Druids and or the term.

Will this is not the earliest physical reference, it references the oldest known (lost) reference to the Druids.

We of course have General  Julius Caesar's words ( 58 BC to 50 BC ) in his 'Gallic Wars' (sixth book).


>>The Celts first get a mention by name in the sixth century BCE when a Greek, Hecateus, states that the Celts were neighbours of the Ligurians, and that a remarkable feature of their society is the social structure, which was a hallmark of that society. However, it is not until 200 BCE that the Druids get a mention, by another Greek called Sotion. His work 'Succession of Philosophers' was lost, but a reference was preserved by another writer Diogenes Laertius: There are among the Keltae and Galatae those called Druids and Semnotheoi...' (Semnotheoi were presumably Galatian priests).<<

>>''Diogenēs Laertios''; fl. c. 3rd century ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece|Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of Ancient Greek <<


https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9-YFAAAAQAAJ

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
by Diogenes Laertius Published 1853
Publisher H. G. Bohn


>>
 Druid (n.) Look up Druid at Dictionary.com
1560s, from French druide, from Latin druidae (plural), from Gaulish Druides, from Celtic compound *dru-wid-, probably representing Old Celtic *derwos "true"/PIE *dru- "tree" (especially oak; see tree (n.)) + *wid- "to know" (see vision). Hence, literally, perhaps, "they who know the oak" (perhaps in allusion to divination from mistletoe). Anglo-Saxon, too, used identical words to mean "tree" and "truth" (treow).

The English form comes via Latin, not immediately from Celtic. The Old Irish form was drui (dative and accusative druid; plural druad); Modern Irish and Gaelic draoi, genitive druadh "magician, sorcerer." Not to be confused with United Ancient Order of Druids, secret benefit society founded in London 1781.
Druidess (n.) Look up Druidess at Dictionary.com
1755, from Druid + -ess. Formerly, Druid had been used indifferently of both sexes.
Druidic (adj.) Look up Druidic at Dictionary.com
1773, from Druid + -ic. Related: Druidical.
Drusilla Look up Drusilla at Dictionary.com
fem. proper name, Latin fem. diminutive of Drusus, frequent surname in Livian gens, earlier Drausus, perhaps a Celtic word meaning literally "strong" (compare Old Celtic *dru- "oak," also "strong;" see Druid).
larch (n.) Look up larch at Dictionary.com
1540s, from German Lärche, from Middle High German larche, from Old High German *larihha, from Latin larix (genitive laricis), probably a loan-word from an Alpine Gaulish language, corresponding phonetically to Old Celtic *darik- "oak" (see Druid and tree).
magic (n.) Look up magic at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "art of influencing events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces," from Old French magique "magic, magical," from Late Latin magice "sorcery, magic," from Greek magike (presumably with tekhne "art"), fem. of magikos "magical," from magos "one of the members of the learned and priestly class," from Old Persian magush, possibly from PIE *magh- (1) "to be able, to have power" (see machine). Transferred sense of "legerdemain, optical illusion, etc." is from 1811. Displaced Old English wiccecræft (see witch); also drycræft, from dry "magician," from Irish drui "priest, magician" (see druid).

Ref. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0...

<<

The English form comes via Latin, not immediately from Celtic. The Old Irish form was drui (dative and accusative druid; plural druad); Modern Irish and Gaelic draoi, genitive druadh "magician, sorcerer." Not to be confused with United Ancient Order of Druids, secret benefit society founded in London 1781.
Druidess (n.) Look up Druidess at Dictionary.com
1755, from Druid + -ess. Formerly, Druid had been used indifferently of both sexes.
Druidic (adj.) Look up Druidic at Dictionary.com
1773, from Druid + -ic. Related: Druidical.
Drusilla Look up Drusilla at Dictionary.com
fem. proper name, Latin fem. diminutive of Drusus, frequent surname in Livian gens, earlier Drausus, perhaps a Celtic word meaning literally "strong" (compare Old Celtic *dru- "oak," also "strong;" see Druid).
larch (n.) Look up larch at Dictionary.com
1540s, from German Lärche, from Middle High German larche, from Old High German *larihha, from Latin larix (genitive laricis), probably a loan-word from an Alpine Gaulish language, corresponding phonetically to Old Celtic *darik- "oak" (see Druid and tree).
magic (n.) Look up magic at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "art of influencing events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces," from Old French magique "magic, magical," from Late Latin magice "sorcery, magic," from Greek magike (presumably with tekhne "art"), fem. of magikos "magical," from magos "one of the members of the learned and priestly class," from Old Persian magush, possibly from PIE *magh- (1) "to be able, to have power" (see machine). Transferred sense of "legerdemain, optical illusion, etc." is from 1811. Displaced Old English wiccecræft (see witch); also drycræft, from dry "magician," from Irish drui "priest, magician" (see druid).
Ref. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0...
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>>
Vt in fronte huíus opuîculi Ngmen Tuum po
nerem, id .­cupidítate grati erga TE animi palam
oftendendi,' fum in primis monus. Numquam
‘enim oblivifcar dulcis illius (строп-15, quo fo
dalis philologici,_ qilodßoret fub Tuis aufpi-_ f
Liis jiny Friderico-Alexandrina, feminarii а Tuo
ore pe-(ndebam, et quò abs TE ad `amorem et
' cognitionem Graeciae phiìofophorum interiorem
fum adduéìzus, quorum quidam immortalia од репа adhuê fumma peruoluo cum,Y voluptate’
horis fubfeciuis.’ YAlique usqué ad cineres Ше
mor ero`patríi, quo me fouiftí, quumErlangae
degerem, amoris acque innumerqrum, quaedn me contulifìì,fbeneñciorum. Si quid анкет '
boni in hoc libello a me praeüicum eeft,` id А Tuurn exiítimes , indulgeasque velim beneuo
le'naeuis. Vale, faueque
<<

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FYI
Some old Dictionary lookups of the Term Drui / Druid, serves well to show how hard finding good roots can be.


1)
1) FOCALOlR GAOIDHELGE-SAX-BHEARLA
or an IRISH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY (1768)
(Druichdin, dew.
Druichdin, a kind of reptile.
Druid, a stare, in the Welsh it
is Dridu , & in the Armoric Dret
Druidim , to draw ; also to shut.
do dhruid led, he drew nigh to
them.
Druichean, pronounced Druiean
or Drl-en in two syllables,
signifies the black- thorn bush ; its
pronunciation as well as its cons
truction is like the accusative case
of the Greek word Drys , accus.
Dryn , the oak-tree.) 

I guess they did not like us.


2)


Results of the Welsh one (1805)



3)
DICTIONARY, OF THE NORMAN OR OLD FRENCH LANGUAGE;
COLLECTED ГНОИ SUCH ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, PARLIAMENT ROLLS, JOURNALS,
ACTS OF STATE, RECORDS, LAW BOOKS, ANTIENT HISTORIANS, AND MANUSCRIPTS,
AS RELATE TO THIS NATION, CALCULATED
To illustrate the Rights and Customs of former Ages, the Forms of Lewa
and Jurisprudence, the Names of Dignities and Offices, of Persons
arid Places ; and to render the Reading of those Records,
Books and Manuscripts, which are written in that
Language, more easy ; as well as to restore
the true Sense and Meaning of many
Words, hitherto deemed quite
obscure or mistranslated,
By ROBERT KELHAM,
OP LINCOLNS-INN.
Multa ignoramus quoe non laterent, si vetcrum Leotio nobis esset familiar».
Wacrobius,
PHILADELPHIA:
T. &• J. W. JOHNSON, LAW BOOKSELLERS,
SUCCESSORS TO NJOKLIN AND JOHNSON,
No. 5 MINOR STBEET,
1843.

(Guess they did not like us anymore).





4)

O'Rellay's Irish -English Dictionary

At Last we get a better reference !



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