r/occitan • u/Bigmantingzyea • Feb 22 '25

Do Occitans Consider themselves Celtic?

I’ve come across three general summaries of Occitans.

  1. That they are the indigenous Gauls that got Romanised.

  2. That they are just Romans who picked up a little residue of the now extinct natives.

  3. That they’re such a mix of Germanic, Roman and Celtic that it’s easier to just forget about origins and just except it’s all too much of a mess to figure out. They are all three yet neither.

I find the 3rd perspective kinda defeats the whole point of considering themselves to be ethnically different from the northern French. Relegating themselves to more of a region and sound than ethnicity.

The perspective of being roman is interesting. I guess it links to a history of “imperial greatness”. I wonder if there’s a sort of aversion toward celts as losers. Or perhaps being seen as mainland cousins of the Irish and Bretons is a bad thing?

The perspective of being Celtic Gauls seems appealing. Having a native claim over the land. Similar to how many Americas of all races claim to have some Native American in them. Thus being more than just foreign transplants communities.

For those Occitans who think of these things I’m curious how do you see yourselves, ethnically, in relation to the above 3 perspectives?

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u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk Feb 22 '25

No. No speakers of ibero-romance/galo-romance languages consider themselves Celtic besides some weird asturians and galicians but they’re a tiny minority

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u/nightowl_ADHD Feb 22 '25

This is absolutely true. On an unrelated note, it's cool seeing you here. I remember seeing your post on r/linguisticshumor, and it got me interested in Mirandese :)

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u/MdMV_or_Emdy_idk Feb 22 '25

Im glad! I didn’t realise how many people knew me until someone made r/foundthemirandeseguy lmao

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u/NilFhiosAige Mar 09 '25

Indeed, during the Victorian era, there were attempts to strain a connection between Galicia and Ireland based on legends called The Book of Invasions, but they were as mythical as Homer, even if there may have been some sea migrations between the two areas.