The modern English word druid derives from the Latin druidēs (plural), which was considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Celtic Gaulish word for these figures. Other Roman texts also employ the form druidae, while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης (druidēs). Although no extant Romano-Celtic inscription is known to contain the form,[8] the word is cognate with the later insular Celtic words, Old Irish dru? ?druid, sorcerer?, Old Cornish druw, Middle Welsh dryw ?seer; wren?. Based on all available forms,
the hypothetical proto-Celtic word may then be reconstructed as dru-wid-s (pl. druwides) meaning "oak-knower". The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots deru-[13] and weid- "to see".[14] The sense of
"oak-knower" or "
oak-seer" is supported by Pliny the Elder, who in his Natural History considered the word to contain
the Greek noun dr?s (δρύς), "oak-tree" and the Greek suffix -idēs (-ιδης).
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