| Indo-European was spoken about 6000 years ago | | | | it appeared almost entirely in Greek and |
| (4000 BC) by a seminomadic people who lived | | | | Latin. Early Celtic evidence consists of |
| in the steppe region of Southern Russia. | | | | inscriptions, coin legends and the names of |
| Speakers of the languages migrated eastwards | | | | people and places contained within classical |
| and westwards; they had reached the Danube | | | | documents. |
| valley by 3500 BC and India by 2000 BC. The | | | | |
| dialects of Indo-European became much | | | | Now 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 great | | | | over the territory of Britain. Because of our |
| was the variety among them that it was not | | | | knowledge of the Celts is slight, we do not |
| until 1786 that the idea was put forward that | | | | even know for certain how Britain became |
| a Family of Indo-European languages actually | | | | Celtic. Some scholars think that the Celts |
| exists. In the twentieth century | | | | invaded Britain, another - that they came |
| Indo-European languages are spoken in a wide | | | | peacefully, as a result of the lively trade |
| arc from Bengal to Portugal, as well as in | | | | with Europe about 750 BC on wards. But we |
| countries as distant as New Zealand and | | | | know for certain that the language introduced |
| Canada, to which they have been carried by | | | | into Britain was similar to that spoken in |
| more recent emigrants. The Indo-European | | | | Gaul (the territory of Celts in Central |
| Family is generally considered to consist of | | | | Europe); indeed, the Celtic speech of Gaul |
| nine different brunches, which in turn gave | | | | and Britain at the dawn of the historic era |
| rise to daughter languages. Welsh evolved | | | | can be considered as one language, |
| from the Celtic brunch, as did its sister | | | | frequently, 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 in | | | | Сornish in south-west Britain. The |
| Britain in the Cornwall inlet and died out | | | | speakers 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, is | | | | Welsh. The word is usually considered to mean |
| usually considered to be the last native | | | | foreigner, but it can also mean people who |
| speaker of Cornish. Manx was spread on the | | | | have been Romanized. To describe themselves, |
| Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, survived until | | | | the Welsh and the Cumbric speakers adopted |
| well into the second half of the present | | | | the name Cymry and called their language |
| century and the last native speaker died at | | | | Cymraeg. Cymry comes from the Brittonic |
| the age of 97 in 1974. Other languages are | | | | combrogi (fellow countryman) and its adoption |
| still alive and a lot of people talks on | | | | marks a deepening sense of identity. |
| them. But nevertheless all this languages | | | | |
| developed from the Celtic language and the | | | | You 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 who | | | | The Welsh language has survived everythingl. |
| belonged to a separate cultural (and | | | | Since the act of union in 1536 when it was |
| literate) tradition. Celtic area is | | | | virtually banned, it has been subjected to |
| considered to be the north of Alps and beyond | | | | direct and indirect bombardment which should |
| the Mediterranean. It was observers from | | | | have demolished it once and for all. It has |
| mediterranean lands of Greece and Rome who | | | | been neglected and discouraged for over four |
| called their neighbours Celts. But today | | | | hundred years yet it is still very much |
| scientists ask the question who the Celts | | | | alive. Today it is tolerated by many, |
| really are. The problem of defining what is | | | | rejected 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, documentary | | | | Now the scholars discussed the problem of the |
| sources and linguistic material the | | | | position of the Wales language. It could be |
| scientists came to the conclusion that by the | | | | claimed that its position is precisely in the |
| last few centuries BC, Celtic territory | | | | centre, a point emphasised by Tom Nail in his |
| stretched from Ireland to eastern Europe and | | | | analysis of the non-state nationalities of |
| beyond, to Galatia (see map). The Celts were | | | | Europe. Although the Welsh-speakers are by no |
| technically advanced. They knew how to work | | | | means among the larger groups, Welsh has a |
| with iron, and could make better weapons than | | | | far 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 is | | | | a country, the other inhabitants of which |
| extremely rare because northern Europe was | | | | recognise their kinship with the language, a |
| non-literate during most of the first | | | | bonus of immerse importance. The centrality |
| millennium BC. When writing was adopted in | | | | of Welsh is interesting in itself. |
| the Celtic world in the late first millennium | | | | |