It is widely accepted that the origin of the Celts (in the sense of
Celtic-speakers) is probably to be found on the European continent and
that they covered a large area in Europe and Asia Minor. Since they
lived during the period of Greek and Roman supremacy, many records of
the Celts and the places where they dwelled, have been transmitted owing
to Greek and Roman authors. Place-names provide a good basis for tracing
the 'Celticity' of places and peoples, and as archaeology alone fails to
divulge the early history and distribution of Celtic speakers,
linguistic research is very relevant. Place-names should be considered
as the most widespread linguistic legacy of the earliest Celts, since
they occur beyond areas of what belongs to the field of typically
so-called 'Celtic' archaeology.