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Celtic Origins: Early History of the Welsh Language

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Proud speakers of Welsh often refer to it as the Language of Heaven, but this ancient Celtic language has very earthly beginnings. Welsh is one of the few languages in the Celtic branch that is still spoken today, and it boasts a long and intriguing history. However, the history of the language is intimately connected with the history of the peoples who settled the British Isles long ago.

The Celts. The story of the Celts begins not in Britain, but further east in central Europe. Contrary to popular myth, the Celts were not a unified culture with a singular identity, but a collection of tribes which were related linguistically and shared a territory that encompassed much of Europe. The word "Celt" comes from the ancient Greek name for the tribe, Keltoi, a term which was first recorded around the 5th century B.C. By this time, the Celts had already expanded through the Iberian peninsula in the west to Anatolia in the east. The Greek name reflected their status as outsiders or invaders; by various accounts it means "secret people," "foreign," or "other." Similarly, the English names "Welsh" and "Wales"were derived from a Latin name for the Celts, Volcae.

The Celtic languages arose as an independent branch of the Indo-European languages, a group which includes Germanic, Romance, and Indo-Iranian languages. As the Celts expanded into disparate geographic locations throughout Europe, a linguistic and cultural separation also arose. In the region of the Iberian Peninsula the Celts became known as Celtiberians, for example, and the Celts originating from Gaul, or France, were known as Galtae.

The Influence of the Romans. These separations were heightened by the Romans' ever-increasing expansion throughout Europe, driving the Celtic peoples further west into the British Isles. This began to occur during the Hallstatt period around 700 B.C., and continued into the first few centuries A.D., when Roman and Germanic expansion were at their height. The Roman invasions, along with geographic separation, split the Celts apart into distinct communities, and allowed the various dialects to evolve into separate languages.

One major division between the Celtic languages at this time was between Continental Celtic--spoken in mainland Europe--and Insular Celtic, spoken in Brittany and the British Isles. Many of the Insular Celts at the height of the Roman Empire spoke p-Celtic, or Brythonic, languages, to which Welsh is most closely related. These also include Cornish, Breton, and possibly Cumbrian, and are linguistically distinct from the q-Celtic or Goidelic languages. These include Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic, which appeared in the British Isles quite early on. There is even evidence that an early form of Irish was once spoken in Wales. But by the height of the Roman Empire, the Brythonic language group encompassed much of the main island of Britain.

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