[Llywarch Hen]

Originally Posted by Lutiferre

their legacy is documented by the significant quantity of Celtic art found in Denmark, specifically Jutland and Funen, and even mixtures of Norse and Celtic art.

Importation must be considered, as well as plunder. The fact that they wandered at large for so long and were so successful for that brief time would probably explain these treasures, given the amount of tribute that must have flowed to them, probably ending up as temple dedications or the like.

It seems the Germanophiles of the scientific world have simply censured anyone to suggest that Jutland, or Cimbria, which is considered the very coreland of Germanic peoples, might be originally Celtic or have a strong Celtic component. That very fact might be a potential linkage between Germanic and Celtic populations.

The way is open for you to look at such other sources of evidence like toponymy, hydronymy. Otherwise you're going to sound like some Celtophile crank, I'm afraid. There is something to what you're saying, don't get me wrong, but I fear you're exaggerating the significance of it.

Originally Posted by Lutiferre

I am not sure. One thing I know for a fact, is that all of Jutland was Cimbrian, and that the pure Jutes are ancestors of the Celtic Cimbri. All though a lot of people from Himmerland have a history of considering themselves more Cimbrian than in other regions (and Himmer may very well be from the same etymological root as Cimbri or Cimmerian), in reality the Cimbrians lived in all of Jutland, and they shouldnt be forgotten.

How can we be sure that there weren't also other tribes living on the Peninsula in those days?
As for the Cimbri, you should avoid any connection with the Kimmeroi. That would be quite indefensible.
I have read interesting speculations that link the name of the Cimbri with an Old Irish word, supposing that the name of the tribe meant something like the 'Slavers' or 'Slave-takers'. The scenario is comparable with European trading stations around the coastal regions of Guinea in the Seventeehtn Century, as Celtic adventurers and 'Seekers of Fortune' established a colony up there on Jutland to control the movement of natural resources from the regions - mostlly amber and slaves. That wouldn't make the area an intrinsically Celtic region but would be one way to rationalise your suspicions about Celtic involvement in the area.
Do you know of any different attempts to analyse the names Cimbri and Himmerland?
Regarding the Jutes and Danes themselves, isn't it widely thought that these moved into the peninsula from the islands to the east? The fact that 'Himmerland' refers to only a limited area of Jutland might seem to indicate that the remaining Cimbri were shoved aside by incomers?

But there still is a cultural and genetic legacy and ancestry of the Danes (or at least the Jutes) which is Celtic and not Germanic. The current linguistics of a population is indeed not an absolute cultural or ancestral determinant.

You should look for traces of this in folklore, if it exists at all.

Originally Posted by Delbáeth

Irish monks have been recorded on Iceland before the arrival of the Norse.

They can't have been very good monks, if they left any genetic imprint!
As I understand it, the Norsemen named some small islands of the southeast coast of Iceland after these Irish hermits. Vestmanrey or something similar.

Originally Posted by Lutiferre

A lot of the mtDNA lineage of Iceland is supposed to be Western (like Seekers mentioned). Which increases the likeliness of the Norse taking Irish wives-thesis.

It's guaranteed. Take a big strong man with an axe, give him the opportuntiy to tame an unspoilt wilderness in the far north away from any tyrants to interfere with his freedom, and give him access to the pick of the crop of Irish women of the day... What do you think he would do? :p