Eluveitie is a nine-member Swiss folk metal band from Winterthur, whose members originally come from all parts of Switzerland. The band combines Celtic music with a metal sound (mostly influenced by Melodic Death Metal), which is why they can be classified as Celtic Metal. The lyrics of the band are based on the history, daily life and spirituality of the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii and are partly written in a reconstructed form of Helvetian Gaulish. The band name itself goes back to an inscription on a pottery shard from Mantua. On this is written in an Etruscan alphabet eluveitie, the Etruscan form of the Celtic word Helvetios (‹the Helvetians›). It is assumed that the Eluveitie belonged to an Etruscan family descended from Helvetians.
