Poets have always been a separate group from priests in Indo-European societies, all the way back in the Rigveda they are distinguished as separate. It is very doubtful they were ever the same in Ireland or anywhere else. They were also not strictly hereditary. They were made hereditary in the medieval period due to Christianity and the growing influence of Christian priests and the financial obligations the chiefs had to support the bishops and the church made them restrict the fili to a family office. One can assume to be of high rank one had to be of a recognized family, but it was not strictly originally hereditary.

@@FortressofLugh To quote Eleanor Hull: "The fili is to be regarded as in the earliest times as combining in his person the functions of magician, lawgiver, judge, counsellor to the chief, and poet. Later, but still at a very early time, the offices seem to have been divided, the Brehons devoting themselves to the study of law, and the giving of legal decisions, the Druids arrogating to themselves the supernatural functions, with the addition, possibly of some priestly offices, and the fili themselves being henceforth principally as poets and philosophers. The division seems to have already existed in Ireland at the time of St Patrick, whose preaching brought him into constant opposition with the druids, who were evidently, at that time, regarded as the religious leaders of the nation." Before becoming a Druid priest the applicant had twenty years of learning verses, at least. Many of the great Druids were also renowned as Bards, as well as for their spiritual knowledge and prowess, such as Amergin. They were certainly from the same class in society. Blood was also incredibly important to the Celts, it had real spiritual meaning. These roles were always hereditary, it couldn't have been any other way. The Druidic Class was on an equal footing to the Royal Class in many respects, you couldn't just walk into it from the outside. There's a reason the Bards remembered and recounted generation after generation of kings and prominent families. These hereditary societal roles continued with the Bardic class of the Christian era of the 10th century onwards, it wasn't a new thing.The fact that there's surnames such as Mac an Bhard, Son of the Bard (Ward) reinforces this intrinsic aspect of Irish society.

I would've never guessed KZfaq of all places would be the center of great minds hahaha ⭐️

I was wondering about that too. I went looking for it the other day and couldn't find it.

Yes, which comes fromPIE to see.....

I looked at wiktionary and there are two meanings for fionn. The first is white and can also mean bright or blessed and is related to Welsh gwyn which has the same meanings. The second is the seeking out meaning and also appears in Welsh as gwn (I know). Interestingly the colour white in Irish/Gaelic is geal which means to shine and geal shares the same origin as the word yellow. Moon in Gaelic is gealach. Fionn in Gaelic looked to have another meaning of truth at one time.

@@FortressofLugh Knowledge and illumination are fairly close concepts.

@@Catubrannos I also heard once that bán means white, unless there are two words for "white" in irish, according to what you said.

@@elgranlugus7267 I forgot about bán but it's another one. I just found this page which explains colours in Irish: lunavagantt.wordpress.com/tag/language/page/9/

Khazaks aren't Indo-European. They're Turkic.

Romans had their haruspex who devined the future through studying the entrails of animals like sheep and chickens. They would often be consulted before battle.

@@CuFhoirthe88 The Turkics derive significant ammounts of their culture and genetics from Indo Europeans even if their language isnt. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nd2Tm9F508e1eX0.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jph7f7SgtbLMip8.html

Are you fucking serious dude? Nobody had a smartphone back then, not even daguerre

Pretty sure he Kent photos of hyro or art...