Belgae

The Belgae (/ˈbɛldʒiː/ or /ˈbɛlɡaɪ/) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel and the west bank of the Rhine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by Julius Caesar in his account of his wars in Gaul. Some peoples in Britain were also called Belgae and O'Rahilly equated them with the Fir Bolg in Ireland. The Belgae gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica and, very much later, to the modern country of Belgium.

Etymology

The consensus among linguists is that the ethnic name Belgae comes from the Proto-Celtic root *belg- or *bolg- meaning "to swell (particularly with anger/battle fury/etc.)", cognate with the Dutch adjective gebelgd, "to be very angry" and verbolgen, "being angry", and the Old English verb belgan, "to be angry" (from Proto-Germanic *balgiz), derived ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhelgh- ("to swell, bulge, billow"). Thus, a Proto-Celtic ethnic name *Bolgī could be interpreted as "The People who Swell (particularly with anger/battle fury)".