Celtic blue
Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh, or gorm ceilteach in Scottish Gaelic. Julius Caesar reported (in Bellum Gallicum) that the Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum, a word that roughly translates to "glass", but has also been translated as "woad" (Isatis tinctoria). Carr suggests the translation of: "dye themselves with glazes" or "'infect themselves (or 'work into themselves') with glass'".
The latter could refer to using glass in the tattooing process or to scarification. It has also been claimed that Caesar was referring to some form of copper- or iron-based pigment. [1][2]
Literature[edit]
- Borges, N. V. (2008). Tattooing in copper: an honors thesis (HONRS 499).
- Veen, M., A. R. Hall, and J. May. "Woad and the Britons painted blue." Oxford Journal of Archaeology 12, no. 3 (1993): 367-371.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Van Der Veen, M.; Hall, A.r.; May, J. (1993-11-01). "WOAD and the BRITONS PAINTED BLUE". Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 12 (3): 367–371. ISSN 1468-0092. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0092.1993.tb00340.x.
- ↑ Fish, Pat, quoted in: Woad and its mis-association with Pictish BodyArt: "...(woad) is also an amazing astringent. The tattoo I did with it literally burned itself to the surface, causing me to drag the poor experimented-upon fellow to my doctor who gave me a stern chastizing for using innappropriate [sic] ink. It produced quite a bit of scar tissue, but healed very quickly, and no blue was left behind. This leads me to think it may have been used for closing battle wounds. I believe the Celts used copper for blue tattoos, they had plenty of it, and soot ash cardon for black."
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