Why is the "C" in the Boston Celtics pronounced with a soft sound instead of a hard sound?

Kel-tic, unless you are talking about the basketball team, the Boston Celtics, which for reasons unknown to me, is pronounced Sel-tic.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=celtic

Always Keltic.

From the Greek word for us: keltoi.
The "c" is never soft - it is always hard in Irish.

The Glasgow Celtic football (soccer) team is also pronounced "sel-tic".
http://www.faqfarm.com/Q/Is_Celtic_pronounced_seltic_or_keltic

This is the definition of Keltic:
A subfamily of the Indo-European language family comprising the Insular and the Continental branches.

And this it the definition of Celtic (not very helpful):
Of or relating to the Celtic people and languages.

"The soft S was definitely an introduction from France. The term had possible origins in the Norman Invasion of 1066 as well as a later reinforcement after the French Revolution (1789-1799)...
No matter what the rest of us say, they always use the "Seltic" pronunciation at the Paradise Football ground in Parkhead in the east end of Glasgow when they cheer their Celtic Football Club. Similarly, the Belfast football fans call their team the Celtic, pronounced "Seltic". The term Celtic is an adjective in both cases. Never fear ... the Irish basketball fans in Boston call their team the Celtics, pronounced "Seltics", to declare their independence from the English language by creating an ungrammatically plural adjective...
It is noteworthy that British dictionaries give preference to the "K" pronunciation, and American dictionaries usually place the "S" pronunciation first."
http://www.greatclanross.org/htext8~Q8.html

"It is derived from a Greek word for the peoples above the danube the word for those people was Keltoi. The S sound was started by the English priests with vulgate Latin... however there was also phonetic changes in spoken latin in the centuries proceeding the gothic sack of rome in 476. During this change the modern formulation of the soft 'C' came into being in most instances where the 'C' is followed by an I or an E. This is evident in all modern latin languages. Hence in fact the Romans at one point were saying 'seltic' also." http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Celtic_pronounced_seltic_or_keltic

In addition, the scottish soccer team Celtic (Glasgow Celtic) do the same, perhaps again to diffrentiate from English culture. At the same time however, Celtic Manor golf course is pronounced with a hard sound. Strange indeed.

I have to disagree with these answers.

Several years ago old fuddy-duddy me was involved in a discussion with the younger set on how to pronounce "Celtic." The team was named back when everybody pronounced it with the soft /s/ sound. The current trend is to pronounce it with the hard /k/ sound, but nobody's changing the long-established way of referring to the Boston Celtics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_Celtic#Pronunciation

A little more information:

...while the pronunciation remains in use mainly for certain sports teams (eg. the NBA team, Boston Celtics , and the SPL side, Celtic F.C. , in Glasgow ). (The pronunciation with /s/ reflects historical Palatalization of the letter 'C' when it occurs before 'I' or 'E' in words of Latin origin; in the Classical era Latin 'C' was always pronounced as /k/. The modern pronunciation with /k/ is a reversion to the original, whereas the pronunciation with /s/ has not been reverted.) The word spelt as "Celtic" is (arguably) English, as the Latin was "Celticus" or "Celticum", the Welsh is "Celtaidd", and the Irish/Scottish Gaelic is "Ceilteach". By this argument, a pronunciation with /s/ should therefore be acceptable.

http://angusmacinnes.yuku.com/topic/3554#.WD2T7bJ95aQ


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