THE SEA PEOPLES by Michel-Gérald Boutet Pulasti (Philistine) and Tsakkaras: on Pylon of Medinet Habu. Illustration from The palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries

The Philistines were of mixed Indo-European nations mainly of Proto-Celtic Danubian descent. These Danubians, the Dananoi, or Danauoi in Greek, constituted of a number of Indo-European tribes originally from the Pontic Crimean area of the Black Sea that had settled on the western Anatolian coast and eventually on the island of Cyprus. The Philistines were depicted by the Hebrews in the Bible as warlike and bellicose enemy outsiders. The Greeks called them the Pelesetes, the Assyrians, the Palastu or Pilistu, and the Hebrew the Pelištīm. The origin of the name Pelesetes probably derives from the Indo-European root *pel-, pellis “skin, hide”. A Proto-Celtic root hints at a more plausible etymology through pell-os/-a/-on “far away, remote”, thus *pelletes “those from far away”. The little we have concerning them is from classical Greek and Biblical sources. According to Bernard Sergent (in Les Indo-européens, p. 108) picks up from R.A.S. Macalister and argues that “seren, the common name for theirs rulers, is related to the Greek name Tyrannos. The names Goliath, Achish and Phicol are not Semitic and likewise Indo-European etymologies have been suggested. Therefore, Goliath could be akin to the Lydian name Alyattes or Wylattes.” Seren was most likely from the Proto-Celtic root ser-os/-a/-on for “aged, fairly old, in the prime of life ” as an official name along the lines of *serenos or “seronos for “elder”. The Book of Samuel mentions the five cities of the Philistines as such: Ashdod (coastal), Gaza (coastal), Ashkelon (coastal), Gath (inland), and Ekron (inland). And from the Bible Samuel 6; 17: "And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one." Ashdod < Azotos / Azotus < Adzotos (Greek etymon); Askelon < Asculon “little grazing area, meadow ” (Proto-Celtic etymon)