Druida (Lat. Druidm or Dnddesj Gr. ^tftdai or ApovUai), Various etymologies have been given of this word, all indicative of some characteristic of Dru- idism, viz. (1.) the Greek word dpvg, an oak; (2.) the Celtic words deru or derw, an oak, and udd, lord or master, or httd, an incantation f (8.) the Celtic com- pound derouyd or derawydd, from de, God, and ronyd or rawydd, speaker, I e. God's speaker or theologian; (4.) the old British word deruidhou, very wise men ; and (6.) the Hebrew derttssim, contemplators. Compare also the Anglo-Saxon dry, the Irish drui, the Bomance dntdo, and the Germfn drude, «
The Druids were an order of ecclesiastical nobility among the ancient Celts in Gaul and Britain, eiyoy- ing high prerogatives, and living in a sort of monastic way in communities, under the presidency of an arch- druid appointed for life, who exercised the chief au- thority among them, and whose successor was desig- nated by virtue of superior dignity, or chosen by suf- frage when there were several of equal rank. Some- times, however, this choice was decided by an appeal to arms. Like other ancient hierarchies, they were divided into several classes ; but there is some differ- ence of opinion as to the exact number of such, as well as the character and offices of each. Strabo and Am- mianus Marcellinus mention three, viz. Bards, Yates, and Druids; Diodorus Siculus only two — ^Bards and Druids, which latter class embraced apparentiy the Vates. To the Druids proper was assigned the high- est rank, and they exercised in some sense govern- ment and superintendence over the others ; were the depositaries of the will of the gods, the judges and re- ligious teachers, who, as Strabo says, irpbc rj <pv<no- \oyig, Kai r^ i^^iKt^v 0cXo(ro0(av doKovot. The vates were, according to the same authority, priests and phys- iologists ; according to Marcellinus, only the latter, seeking to discover the order and secrets of nature. Strabo says the bards were minstrels and poets. Mar- cellinus states that they " sang the brave deeds of il- lustrious men in heroic verses, with sweet modulations s of the lyre ;" and Diodorus, that ** they sang songs of praise or invectives to the accompaniment of a sort of lyre."
Very littie is known with certainty of their origin or history. If in their secret archives the ancient
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Drnids kept any written or other records of their or- der, none survived the overthrow of their power and influence by the Romans, while the few extant notices of them by Greek and Roman aathors are very brief and unsatisfactory, especially in this respect The views of modern writers can claim no higher author- ity than speculations based on grounds more or less probable, yet not certain. Some fragmentary Welsh poems, known from the peculiar form of composi- tion as the Triadsy are supposed to preserve some of the traditions current among the Webh bards in regard to the history, doctrines, and customs of the Druids ; and, according to these triads, they came into Gaul from the East, during the first invasion or mi- gration of the Kymry under Hu-Cadam, or Hu the Mighty. The opinion that they were of Eastern or- igin, and made their appearance in Britain and Gaul at a very early period, is supported by the similarity of their doctrines, rites, and architectural monuments to those of certain eariy Oriental nations. The Dru- idical order has been by various authors connected with the Persian, the Hindoo, the Egyptian, and the Phoenician priestly caste, and the Pythagorean fira- temity; while their choice of groves, especially of oak, as places of residence and worship, and their pil- lars and altars of rough stone, are deemed, by some, striking coincidences with the usages of patriarchal times as described in the Pentateuch. Caesar speaks of 3ritain as the parent seat of Druidism, affirming that those in Gaul who sought a fuller knowledge of it went thither to learn. This statement accords well with the theory of their Phoenician origin, since op- portunity and motive for their early appearance in Britain may be found in that early and extensive commercial intercourse between the British Isles and Phcenician merchants in search of tin, to which we probably owe the name of Britain, i. e. the land of tin — according to some, from the Celtic bruit, tin, and ton, land; according to others, from a Phoenician word, whose modem representative is found in the Arabic beret-amCy or barat-^mic. It is stated that the Druids held to the belief in one supreme God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, in the fall of man, and a future state of tewards and punishment^. To these esoteric doctrines was added the public worship of the sun and moon, and of fire, as well as of divinities correspond- ing in functions with those of Greece and Rome, e. g. Mercury as Teutates, Mars as Hesns, Jupiter as Ta- ranis, Apollo as Belin, probably the Baal of the East, Minerva as Belisama, and Hercules as Ogmius. We are told that ** another remarkable principle of primi- tive Dniidism appears to have been the worship of the serpent, a superstition so widely extended as to evince its derivation from the most ancient traditions of the human race ;" and Pliny has left us a curious account of the anguinum, or serpent's egg, worn by the Druids as a distinguishing badge, its marvellous origin fhlly agreeing with the wondrous virtues ascribed to it. The same author testifies to their veneration for the mistletoe and its parent oak, and thus describes the ceremony of gathering (on the sixth day of the moon) of the sacred parasite, which was called by them the all-healer: '^When preparations fbr the sacrifice and feast under the tree luive been duly made, they bring up to it two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time bound. The priest, clothed in white, as- cends the tree, and with a golden sickle cuts off the mistletoe, which, as it falls, is caught in a robe, also white. The victims are then immolated, with the prayer that God would make his gift propitious to its recipients." In another place Pliny also makes men- • tion that a sacrament of bread and wine formed part of the ceremonies observed in gathering the plant se- lago. We have also the rite of baptism reckoned among their ceremonies.