The Eastern Border of Celtic Settlement: A Toponymic Perspective

Abstract

The present study confirms the traditionally proposed Celtic origin of proper names from the Danubian delta (Νουϊόδουνον, Ἀλιόβριξ, Βριτολάγαι = *Βριγολάται) and the upper Dniester (Καῤῥόδουνον). New candidates for Celtic toponyms are added from the area between the lower Dniester and Dnieper, namely Axiaces / Ἀξιάκης, Βάρσακον (better than Σάρβακον), Ἤρακτον, Λήινον πόλις, Μαιτώνιον, Νίοσσον. The last three place-names were already included by Holder (1904) in his Celtic corpus but without any concrete etymological support of such identification. These new etymological and geographical identifications shift the eastern border of the European Celts to the South Bug, according to Ptolemy a tributary of the Dnieper, although its name was unknown to him.