Why do people pronounce “Celtics” (as in Boston Celtics) with a soft s of some kind, so “seltiks” instead of “Keltiks”?

Question

Why do people pronounce “Celtics” (as in Boston Celtics) with a soft s of some kind, so “seltiks” instead of “Keltiks”?

In: 6706

Answer 1

The C that is pronounced S is the French C when followed by a E or I.

You find it everywhere in English (certain, celebrate, celebrity, citizen, center, etc…)

So people pronounce celts following the same rule as words they already know