#celtic languages

Their founder Aran Jones says they've been in talks with the Irish government for 'copromotion', and while I'm not fully sure what that entails, it must be a road to having more and more widely available, quality learning resources for Gaeilge.

We finally get onto a wholly linguistic conversation that I find oddly fascinating. Truly, learning about language and how we believe it developed is such an interesting concept.

There are two main theories in Celtic language distribution and the ways it branched off.

The first is the Insular/Continental theory. Scholars suggest that the main distinction between the different Celtic languages derives from a massive difference between Continental Celtic language and Insular Celtic. To them, the Goidelic and Brittonic languages only developed once the Insular Celts had split off from the Continent and arrived in Great Britain. This forms a very rigid, structured tree that has a set linguistic evolution

PIE < Common Celtic < Continental Celtic < Insular Celtic < Brittonic and Goidelic

It's pretty straight forward. I don't think there is much I can add to that conversation as it favours a direct evolution of language that you can follow like a family tree.

But it is the second theory that we'll be talking about in detail today.

The P/Q Celtic Hypotheses

At some point in the study of Celtic linguistics and etymology, the theory was put forward of a new way of examining how and why the Celtic language branches off the way it does.

Scholars noted that the main, core difference revolved around the use of the specific sound in the languages.

In Proto-Celtic, the *kw is a hard sound found in a lot of their words. It is typically put down in written form as /C/ or /Q/.

Q-Celtic languages are the languages that kept this *kw format in their language. P-Celtic, on the other hand, moved away from *kw and developed a /P/ sound in their language.

Whilst not the only major difference in Celtic etymological evolution, it is the one we have used most to differentiate between the languages and where they might have evolved from.

P-Celtic Languages are:

Welsh

Cornish

Breton

Lepontic

Noric (?)

Gaulish

Q-Celtic Languages are:

Irish

Scottish Gaelic

Manx

Celtiberian

Gallaecian

It's insane how languages so far apart can remain so similar. In the P/Q Celtic theory, the first language to split off from Proto-Celtic was actually Gaelic. The idea has its upsides, but also its downsides.

There is of course, the question in hand. Why did the Gaelic languages have such a strong similarity to Hispano-Celtic? How did they evolve to be similar?

This is where some interesting information from Irish Mythology comes in handy. Because its genuinly astounding that we can find links so early in time.

According to Irish Mythos, the island itself was invaded by six different races over time. The mythos is largely Christianised now, but it is the second, third and final race that invade Ireland that interests me.

The races of the Parthalon, Nemed and Milesians invade Ireland centuries apart, but all have one thing in common. They were said to have arrived from the Iberian Peninsula. The Milesians specifically are representations of the Irish people, and are the Gaels that became the ancestors of all Irish living on earth.

This is attested to in two main texts. The 9th Century AD text Historia Brittonum is a seemingly anonymous work of texts that discuss the three Iberian settlers' groups. The Parthalon all die of plague in Ireland, the Nemed are driven from the island by the Fomorians and return to Iberia. But the Milesians overcome the Tuatha De Danann and maintain sovereignty over Ireland.

Fun Fact: Historia Brittonum is considered the earliest attestedd mention of King Arthur! Though some believe Aneirin's Y Gododdin, estimated at potentially the 9th Century AD, may actually be the real first mention.

The second text that mentions Iberians settling Ireland is Lebor Gabála Érenn. It is allegedly an ancient history of the founding of Ireland and was compiled in the 11th Century. This one is heavily rooted in Christian texts, as it stems from Adam and states a Scythian king is the forebearer of all Gaels. It includes the languages forming from the Tower of Babel, and that a man named Goidel Glas crafted the Goidelic language. The Goidels spend 440 years wandering the earth after leaving Egypt during the Exodus.

An exile called Mil and his followers reach Iberia and conquer it, building the city of Brigantia. He has a large tower built, from which his son Ith stands atop and glimpses Ireland in the distance. Ith sails to Ireland with his men and meets the three Kings of Ireland. At some point Ith is killed and his men return to Iberia and plot their revenge. They fight the Tuatha De Danann and eventually come to terms, with the Milesians taking the world above (Ireland) and the Tuatha De Danann taking the world below (Irish Otherworld).

I'm aware I've just went on a mythological rant there, but the fact that 9th and 11th Century writers believe the Irish stemmed from the Iberians is very fascinating when you look at P/Q Celtic theory. The Celtic languages in Iberia were Q-Celtic alongside Goidelic. Makes you wonder just how much our ancestors were able to understand about these similarities? Is it indeed possible that Iberians settled Ireland and gave rise to the Goidelic languages we see spoken today?

One of the best examples I can give you is the word used to denote 'son of' in Gaelic vs Brittonic.

In Scotland and Ireland, we know *mac means 'son'. Surnames like McCarthy or MacLeod are prevalent and denote a patronymic society.

In Welsh and Cornish, we have *map or *mab. It was often contracted to *ap, but carried the same meaning of 'son of'. So we get Owain ap Gruffydd and Dafydd ap Gwilym.

The P/Q difference is clear here. And it pops up the more you research into the etymology of Celtic words.

This was a fun, if slightly shorter article to write. And its always a bit of a thrill for me when Celtic mythos and Celtic linguistics combine to form plausible theories, even if some of them are a bit of a stretch.

‘is fheàrr gàidhlig bhriste na gàidhlig anns a’ chiste!’