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A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland. They were suppressed by the Roman government and disappeared from the written record by the second century AD. Druids combined the duties of priest, judge, scholar, and teacher.[1] Little contemporary evidence for them exists, and thus little can be said of them with assurance, but they continued to feature prominently in later Irish myth, literature and law.[2]

The earliest record of the name druidae (Δρυΐδαι) is reported from a lost work of the Greek doxographer Sotion of Alexandria (early second century BC), who was cited by Diogenes Laertius in the third century AD.[3]

The Celtic communities that Druids served were polytheistic. They also show signs of animism, in their reverence for various aspects of the natural world, such as the land, sea and sky,[4] and their veneration of other aspects of nature, such as sacred trees and groves (the oak and hazel were particularly revered), tops of hills, streams, lakes and plants such as the mistletoe.[5] Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with cleansing. Purported ritual killing and human sacrifice were aspects of druidic culture that shocked classical writers.[6]

Modern attempts at reconstructing, reinventing or reimagining the practices of the druids are called Neo-druidism.

Etymology

The English word druid derives from Latin druides (pronounced [druˈides]), which is the same as the term used by Greek ethnographers, δρυίδης (druidēs).[7] The Latin and Greek terms are loans from a Proto-Celtic stem *druwid-, which combines the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid-.

The word was etymologized (as per Aristides) as containing δρύς "oak tree"), and the Greek suffix -ιδης. *deru- is indeed the Indo-European "oak" word (cognate to English tree), but the root has a wider array of meanings related to "to be firm, solid, steadfast" (whence e.g. English true),[8] and it isn't clear whether the term was originally derived from a meaning involving "oak", or the wider meaning of "true, solid".

*weid- is the Indo-European root for "to see"[9] and, by extension and figurative use, also referred to knowledge, as in English wit, wisdom, Latin vision or Sanskrit veda.

The Old Celtic (Gaulish) term from which the Greek and Latin druides was derived has survived in its Insular Celtic form, in Old Irish druídecht (pronounced [ˈ'driː.ðʲext]/), which yields Modern Irish draoiocht (pronounced [ˈ'driː.oxt]/), "magic." The Welsh dryw (/drɨu/), "seer", may be cognate. The Modern Irish for druid is drúa (/'druːə/),[citation needed] from Old Irish druí (/druiː/); which also produced Irish draoi (/'driː/), "magician" and Modern Gaelic druidh (/drij/), meaning "enchanter" and draoidh (/drɯːj/), "magician."

History

The scholar Ronald Hutton points out "we can know virtually nothing of certainty about the ancient Druids, so that—although they certainly existed—they function more or less as legendary figures."[2] There is no historic evidence during the period when Druidism was flourishing to suggest that Druids were other than male. Ronald Hutton points out that all the early Classical authors say they were male.[10] Phillip Freeman, a classics professor, discusses a later reference to Dryades, which he translates as Druidesses, writing that "The fourth century A.D. collection of imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta contains three short passages involving Gaulish women called "Dryades" ("Druidesses")." He points out that "In all of these, the women may not be direct heirs of the Druids who were supposedly extinguished by the Romans—but in any case they do show that the druidic function of prophesy continued among the natives in Roman Gaul."[11] Additionally, Druidesses are mentioned in later Irish mythology, including the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill, who, according to the 12th century The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, is raised by the druidess Bodhmall and a wise-woman.[12][13]

Greek and Roman writers on the Celts commonly made at least passing reference to Druids, though before Caesar's report merely as "barbarian philosophers";[14] They were not concerned with ethnology or comparative religion[15] and consequently our historical knowledge of druids is very limited. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. What was taught to Druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. Surviving folklore of the medieval and modern Celtic nations embodies some "druidic" themes and practices; however there is no way to trace the origins of these practices or customs conclusively to the druids.