| The Celtic languages are the languages | | | | the archaeological Urnfield culture, the |
| descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common | | | | Hallstatt culture, and the La Tene culture. |
| Celtic", a branch of the greater | | | | |
| Indo-European language family. During the 1st | | | | There are two competing schemata of |
| millennium BC, they were spoken across | | | | categorization. One scheme, argued for by |
| Europe, from the Bay of Biscay and the North | | | | Schmidt (1988) among others, links Gaulish |
| Sea, up the Rhine and down the Danube to the | | | | with Brythonic in a P-Celtic node, leaving |
| Black Sea and the Upper Balkan Peninsula, and | | | | Goidelic as Q-Celtic. The difference between |
| into Asia Minor (Galatia). Today, Celtic | | | | P and Q languages is the treatment of |
| languages are now limited to a few areas in | | | | Proto-Celtic *kw, which became *p in the |
| the British Isles, eastern Canada, Patagonia, | | | | P-Celtic languages but *k in Goidelic. An |
| scattered groups in the United States and | | | | example is the Proto-Celtic verb root *kwrin- |
| Australia, and on the peninsula of Brittany | | | | "to buy", which became pryn- in Welsh but |
| in France. | | | | cren- in Old Irish. |
| | | | |
| Proto-Celtic apparently divided into four | | | | The other scheme, defended for example by |
| sub-families: | | | | McCone (1996), links Goidelic and Brythonic |
| | | | together as an Insular Celtic branch, while |
| Gaulish and its close relatives, Lepontic, | | | | Gaulish and Celtiberian are referred to as |
| Noric and Galatian. These languages were once | | | | Continental Celtic. According to this theory, |
| spoken in a wide arc from France to Turkey | | | | the "P-Celtic" sound change of [k?] to [p] |
| and from Belgium to northern Italy. | | | | occurred independently or areally. The |
| | | | proponents of the Insular Celtic hypothesis |
| Celtiberian, anciently spoken in the Iberian | | | | point to other shared innovations among |
| peninsula, namely in the areas of modern | | | | Insular Celtic languages, including inflected |
| Portugal, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, | | | | prepositions, VSO word order, and the |
| Arag'n and Le'n. | | | | lenition of intervocalic [m] to [z], a |
| | | | nasalized voiced bilabial fricative (an |
| Goidelic, including Irish, Scots Gaelic, and | | | | extremely rare sound). There is, however, no |
| Manx. | | | | assumption that the Continental Celtic |
| | | | languages descend from a common |
| Brythonic (also called Brittonic), including | | | | "Proto-Continental Celtic" ancestor. Rather, |
| Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, the | | | | the Insular/Continental schemata usually |
| hypothetical Ivernic, and possibly also | | | | considers Celtiberian the first branch to |
| Pictish. | | | | split from Proto-Celtic, and the remaining |
| | | | group would later have split into Gaulish and |
| Scholarly handling of the Celtic languages | | | | Insular Celtic. |
| has been rather argumentative owing to lack | | | | |
| of primary source data. Some scholars | | | | There are legitimate scholarly arguments in |
| distinguish Continental and Insular Celtic, | | | | favour of both the Insular Celtic hypothesis |
| arguing that the differences between the | | | | and the P-Celtic/Q-Celtic hypothesis. |
| Goidelic and Brythonic languages arose after | | | | Proponents of each schema dispute the |
| these split off from the Continental Celtic | | | | accuracy and usefulness of the other's |
| languages. Other scholars distinguish | | | | categories. Since the realization that |
| P-Celtic from Q-Celtic, putting most of the | | | | Celtiberian was Q-Celtic in the 1970s, the |
| Continental Celtic languages in the former | | | | division into Insular and Continental Celtic |
| group (except for Celtiberian, which is | | | | is the more widespread opinion. |
| Q-Celtic). | | | | |
| | | | When referring only to the modern Celtic |
| The Breton language is Brythonic, not | | | | languages, since no Continental Celtic |
| Gaulish. When the Anglo-Saxons moved into | | | | language has living descendents, "Q-Celtic" |
| Great Britain, some of the native Brythons or | | | | is equivalent to "Goidelic" and "P-Celtic" is |
| "Welsh" (from a Germanic word for | | | | equivalent to "Brythonic". |
| "foreigners") fled across the English Channel | | | | |
| and landed in Brittany. They brought their | | | | Within the Indo-European family, the Celtic |
| Brythonic language with them, which evolved | | | | languages have sometimes been placed with the |
| into Breton - which is still partially | | | | Italic languages in a common Italo-Celtic |
| intelligible with Modern Welsh and Cornish. | | | | subfamily, a hypothesis that is now largely |
| | | | discarded, in favour of the assumption of |
| The distinction of Celtic into these four | | | | language contact between pre-Celtic and |
| sub-families probably occurred about 1000 BC. | | | | pre-Italic communities. |
| The early Celts are commonly associated with | | | | |