Editing Volcae (section)

==Name==
They are mentioned as ''Volcis'' and ''Volcarum'' by [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] (mid-1st c. BC),<ref>[[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]. ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', 7:7:4, 1:35:4.</ref> as ''Ou̓ólkai'' (Οὐόλκαι) by [[Strabo]] (early 1st c. AD) and [[Ptolemy]] (2nd c. AD),<ref>[[Strabo]]. ''Geōgraphiká'', 4:1:12; [[Ptolemy]]. ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', 2:10:6.</ref> and as ''Volce'' on the ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]'' (4–5th c. AD).<ref>''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]'', x:x.</ref><ref name=":02">{{Harvnb|Falileyev|2010}}, s.v. ''Volcae Arecomici'' and ''Volcae Tectosages''.</ref>

Most modern Celtologists regard the tribal name ''Uolcae'' (<small>sing.</small> ''Uolcos'') as stemming from a [[Gaulish]] noun ''uolcos'', ''uolca'' ('hawk, falcon'), which can be compared with the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''gwalch'' ('hawk, rascal' > 'fighter'). In particular, the Gaulish personal name [[Cativolcus|''Catu-uolcos'']] has an exact parallel in the Welsh ''cadwalch'' ('hero, champion, warrior'), itself from an earlier [[Old Brittonic]] *''katu-wealkos'' ('battle-hawk'). The Gaulish stem ''uolc''- can also be found in the personal names ''Uolcius'', ''Uolcenius'', ''Uolcenia'', ''Uolcinius'', ''Uolcacius'', ''Uolciani'', and ''Uolcanus''.{{sfn|Evans|1967|p=292}}{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=327}}{{sfn|de Bernardo Stempel|2008|p=103}} The [[Old English]] ''wealc''- ('hawk'), which has no known cognate in other Germanic languages, was most likely borrowed from Old Brittonic ''*wealkos''.{{Sfn|Koch|2020|p=151}} The etymology of those forms remains obscure. [[Xavier Delamarre]] has proposed to derive Gaulish ''uolcos –'' alongside Latin ''falcō'' ('falcon') and ''falx'', ''falcis'' ('hook, sickle') – from a stem *''ǵhwol-k''-, itself based on the [[Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) root *''ǵʷhel-'' ('bend, curve'). In this view, the animal may have been named after the shape of his beak, just like the Ancient Greek ''[[Harpe|harpē]]'' designates both a sickle and a bird of prey.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=327}}

Alternatively, the name ''Uolcae'' has been derived by some scholars from the PIE name of the wolf, *''wḷkʷos''.{{Sfn|Hughes|2012|p=166}}{{Sfn|Koch|2020|pp=96–98}} According to [[Ranko Matasović]], however, this is unlikely since the Gaulish form would have preserved the o-grade *''wolkʷo''-; he argues that descendants of Proto-Celtic *''ulkʷos'' ('bad, evil' < <small>PIE</small> *''wḷkʷos'' 'wolf') rather include [[Lepontic language|Lepontic]] ''Ulkos'' and Old Irish ''olc'' ('bad, evil').{{Sfn|Matasović|2009|p=400}} Delamarre finds it doubtful since *''wḷkʷos'' would have given **''flech'' (rather than ''olc'') in Old Irish and **''ulipos'' in Gaulish (after the [[P Celtic|P-Celtic]] sound shift).{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=327}} [[John T. Koch]] derives Old Irish ''olc'' from a Proto-Celtic form *''elko''- ~ *''olko''-, which may be compared with [[Old Norse]] ''illr'' (from Proto-Germanic *''elhja''- < Pre-Germanic *''elkyo''-; cf. the Finnish loanword ''elkiä'' 'mean, malicious'); he proposes that reflexes of PIE *''wḷkʷos'' ('wolf') include Old Irish ''foilc'' (from a 9th-century poem) and Old Welsh ''gueilc[h]'' (from the poem ''[[Y Gododdin]]'').{{Sfn|Koch|2020|pp=96–98, 140}}

After Volcae Tectosages settled in the [[Hercynian Forest|Hercynian forest]] (Central Europe), neighbouring Germanic tribes designated them by the name *''[[walhaz]]'', a loanword from Gaulish ''uolcos'' that came to refer more generally to Celtic and Romance speakers in medieval Germanic languages (e.g. ''[[Welsh people|Welsh]]'', ''[[Walloons|Waals]]'', ''[[Vlachs]]'').{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=327}}