The CeltsThe “original” inhabitants of Britain

Who were the Celts?The Celts were the inhabitants of

Britain long, long ago. They were there when Julius

Caesar brought Roman troops to England in 55B.C.

Why do scholars think that the Welsh language survived the Anglo-Saxon invasion?

1. Wales (where a group of Celts fled) is separated from England by mountains, so the geographical separation helped.

2. The Bible was translated into Welsh in 1588 and we know that when a language is written down, it is more likely to survive.

What is Breton? How are Breton and Welsh related? Breton is a language spoken in Brittany

in France. Welsh is the language of Wales. The languges are so similar that

speakers of one can communicate with speakers of the other.

Let’s look at a map…

Map of Celtic EuropeDistribution of Celtic peoples:

Yellow--core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC

Dark mint--maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC

Grass green--the six Celtic nations which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period

Forest green-- areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today

Don’t worry! If you don’t know European geography very well, we’ll go over some of the basics now.

Germany Denmark Friesland France Brittany Normandy

Wales England Ireland (The

Republic of Ireland)

Northern Ireland Scotland

What is interesting about the Frisian language? It is probably what English would sound

like today if there had not been any more invasions after the Anglo-Saxons.

Here are some examples: cow=ko dung=donglamb=lam rain=reingoose=goes boat=boat