Discover the secrets of the Celts


The Welsh Language

Indo-European was spoken about 6000 years agoit appeared almost entirely in Greek and
(4000 BC) by a seminomadic people who livedLatin. Early Celtic evidence consists of
in the steppe region of Southern Russia.inscriptions, coin legends and the names of
Speakers of the languages migrated eastwardspeople and places contained within classical
and westwards; they had reached the Danubedocuments.
valley by 3500 BC and India by 2000 BC. The
dialects of Indo-European became muchNow I would like to tell about the Brittonic
differentiated, chiefly because of migration,brunch of Celtic languages, which was spread
and evolved into separate languages. So greatover the territory of Britain. Because of our
was the variety among them that it was notknowledge of the Celts is slight, we do not
until 1786 that the idea was put forward thateven know for certain how Britain became
a Family of Indo-European languages actuallyCeltic. Some scholars think that the Celts
exists. In the twentieth centuryinvaded Britain, another - that they came
Indo-European languages are spoken in a widepeacefully, as a result of the lively trade
arc from Bengal to Portugal, as well as inwith Europe about 750 BC on wards. But we
countries as distant as New Zealand andknow for certain that the language introduced
Canada, to which they have been carried byinto Britain was similar to that spoken in
more recent emigrants. The Indo-EuropeanGaul (the territory of Celts in Central
Family is generally considered to consist ofEurope); indeed, the Celtic speech of Gaul
nine different brunches, which in turn gaveand Britain at the dawn of the historic era
rise to daughter languages. Welsh evolvedcan be considered as one language,
from the Celtic brunch, as did its sisterfrequently, referred to as Gallo-Britonic.
languages - Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, Irish,Three successor languages of Brittonic
Scots  Gaelic  and  Manx.evolved: Cumbric in southern Scotland and
north-west England, Welsh in Wales and
Cornish was a language of people who lived inСornish in south-west Britain. The
Britain in the Cornwall inlet and died outspeakers of all three of them were known by
towards the end of the eighteenth century.their Anglo-Saxon neighbours as Wealas, or
Dorothy Pentreath, who died in 1777, isWelsh. The word is usually considered to mean
usually considered to be the last nativeforeigner, but it can also mean people who
speaker of Cornish. Manx was spread on thehave been Romanized. To describe themselves,
Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, survived untilthe Welsh and the Cumbric speakers adopted
well into the second half of the presentthe name Cymry and called their language
century and the last native speaker died atCymraeg. Cymry comes from the Brittonic
the age of 97 in 1974. Other languages arecombrogi (fellow countryman) and its adoption
still alive and a lot of people talks onmarks  a  deepening  sense  of  identity.
them. But nevertheless all this languages
developed from the Celtic language and theYou see that almost all words are similar to
people who used this language were the Celts.each other, that''s why they were united in
one  brunch.
The Celts is a group of people who were
classified as such by communities whoThe Welsh language has survived everythingl.
belonged to a separate cultural (andSince the act of union in 1536 when it was
literate) tradition. Celtic area isvirtually banned, it has been subjected to
considered to be the north of Alps and beyonddirect and indirect bombardment which should
the Mediterranean. It was observers fromhave demolished it once and for all. It has
mediterranean lands of Greece and Rome whobeen neglected and discouraged for over four
called their neighbours Celts. But todayhundred years yet it is still very much
scientists ask the question who the Celtsalive. Today it is tolerated by many,
really are. The problem of defining what isrejected by many. It is used by a large
meant by the terms "Celt" and "Celtic"number of people as a natural means of
centres around the relationship, if any,communication.
between material culture, ethnicity and
language. Judging by archaeology, documentaryNow the scholars discussed the problem of the
sources and linguistic material theposition of the Wales language. It could be
scientists came to the conclusion that by theclaimed that its position is precisely in the
last few centuries BC, Celtic territorycentre, a point emphasised by Tom Nail in his
stretched from Ireland to eastern Europe andanalysis of the non-state nationalities of
beyond, to Galatia (see map). The Celts wereEurope. Although the Welsh-speakers are by no
technically advanced. They knew how to workmeans among the larger groups, Welsh has a
with iron, and could make better weapons thanfar higher status than several of the more
the  people  who  used  bronze.widely spoken languages. Although the density
factor if fairly low, Welsh-speakers live in
Early linguistic evidence for the Celts isa country, the other inhabitants of which
extremely rare because northern Europe wasrecognise their kinship with the language, a
non-literate during most of the firstbonus of immerse importance. The centrality
millennium BC. When writing was adopted inof Welsh is interesting in itself.
the Celtic world in the late first millennium



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