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This is tied to a theory of an Iberian origin for the Celtic languages. [72] [73] [74] It is also possible that the Q-Celtic languages alone, including Goidelic, originated in western Iberia (a theory that was first put forward by Edward Lhuyd in 1707) or shared a common linguistic ancestor with Lusitanian. [75]
The history of pre-Celtic Europe and Celtic origins is debated. The traditional "Celtic from the East" theory, says the proto-Celtic language arose in the late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of central Europe, named after grave sites in southern Germany, [ 12 ] [ 13 ] which flourished from around 1200 BC. [ 14 ]
All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Brittany, France. The Continental Celtic languages, although once widely spoken in mainland Europe and in Anatolia, [1] are extinct. Six Insular Celtic languages are extant (in all cases written and spoken) in two distinct groups:
The earliest written form of the Irish language is known to linguists as Primitive Irish. [5] Primitive Irish is known only from fragments, mostly personal names, [6] inscribed on stone in the Ogham alphabet. The earliest of such inscriptions probably date from the 3rd or 4th century. [1]
Gaelic, by itself, is sometimes used to refer to Scottish Gaelic, especially in Scotland, and therefore is ambiguous.Irish and Manx are sometimes referred to as Irish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic (as they are Goidelic or Gaelic languages), but the use of the word Gaelic is unnecessary because the terms Irish and Manx, when used to denote languages, always refer to those languages.
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ⓘ), is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language placenames. [1]
The numerous inscriptions that have been discovered, some of them extensive, have enabled scholars to classify the Celtiberian language as a Celtic language, one of the Hispano-Celtic (also known as Iberian Celtic) languages that were spoken in pre-Roman and early Roman Iberia.
In older theories, the arrival of Celts, defined as speakers of Celtic languages, which derive from a Proto-Celtic language, roughly coincided with the beginning of the European Iron Age. In 1946, the Celtic scholar T. F. O'Rahilly published his influential model of the early history of Ireland , which postulated four separate waves of Celtic ...