Celtic languages

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