Celtic Influence on the English Language

Claire Lovis
While Anglo-Saxon culture and language spread swiftly across east and central
Britain during the 6
th
and 7th centuries, corners of the isle retained the languages of
the previous dominant culture, the Celtic peoples who are elieved to have egun
arriving around 6!! BC" #oday, the people who inhait these areas ta$e a pride in
preserving these languages as a way of protecting their heritage" %owever, the Celtic
peoples who invaded Britain are elieved to have integrated with the people who
previously inhaited the island, asoring elements of the language spo$en y this
group, much in the way that the &ormans were later to adopt many 'nglish words in
order to adapt to their new homeland" #he Celts had already spread their influence
across most of central 'urope and interacted with the (ermanic tries" #heir
languages were not retained in 'urope for the most part, ut their influence can e
seen through sutle changes ) in *rance for example, the use of +atin was modified
through the local influences of Celtic languages" ,ialects spo$en in northern Spain are
heavily influenced y Celtic to this day -due to influences oth prior to the Celts
arriving in Britain, and on their return after fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions." #here
is also a noticeale correspondence etween northern /talian place names and similar
names in Cornwall, starting with tre -a Celtic word for a farm or settlement."
Celtic words in 0' come from three identifiale sources ) from the continent -usually
words associated with conflict and attle ) the Celts were often used as 1armies for
hire2., loans ta$en over after settlement -usually place names., and words from /reland
fre3uently associated with the Christianisation of Britain" #he Celtic language group
has een categorised as part of the /ndo-'uropean group of languages, yet some
studies have shown that there are features of Celtic language syntax that is not /ndo-
'uropean, and in fact shares much in common with the %amito-Semitic group of
languages" #his would indicate a fusion of native and newly imposed language on
people who used their own grammar patterns to ma$e sense of an unfamiliar
language, and reflects the extent to which the Celts spread themselves across the
continent" &ot a great deal is $nown aout those who inhaited the British /sles efore
the Celts, ut it is interesting to thin$ that their languages, lost forever, may survive in
some way through the preservation of other languages"
%owever, the Anglo-Saxons terrorised rather than integrated with the Celts, and so
their languages ecame isolated in corners of the isle, until the efficiency of the
&orman con3uest created a linguistic hierarchy with Celtic languages entrenched
firmly at the ottom" #he poc$ets of land that remained dominantly Celtic are divided
linguistically into two ranches ) (oidelic -(aelic. and Brythonic -British." #he
(oidelic languages consist of /rish, %ighland Scottish and 4anx" #he Brythonic is
made up of Welsh, Cornish and Breton" 0f these, perhaps Welsh is the one to survive
most strongly in the present day, mainly due to the efforts of the Welsh see$ing to
preserve their culture and identity part from the 'nglish"
#he social stigma attached to the worth of Celtic languages in British society
throughout the last thousand years seems responsile for the dearth of Celtic loan
words in the 'nglish language, a language renowned for its orrowing of words from
many other languages" Celtic languages were viewed as inferior, and words that have
survived are usually words with geographical significance, and place names" Adopted
words include uc$et, car, croc$ery, noggin, go, slogan and flannel, truant and gaol
-although these words entered general 'nglish usage at a later date ) certainly post-
&orman con3uest." #he survival of the Celtic languages has een a matter of pride,
and they have survived mainly where numers were large enough to enale it2s
survival through everyday usage, as well as having their importance emphasi5ed
through the estalishment of a ody of literary wor$" 6nfortunately, the various
ranches ecame geographically isolated, preventing any opportunity at
standardi5ation as an alternative to the centrali5ed 'nglish social and political
structure"
*or the most part, Celtic influence on the 'nglish language is mostly apparent through
place names" *or generations, the language of the Celts was referred to as 1British2 )
the language of the Britons, the native inhaitants of the land" Some names that
survive are the names of rivers such as the #hames and the 7are, and important
8oman towns such as +ondon, 7or$ and +incoln" A numer of names are compounds
of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon words" #wo Celtic words for 9hill9 bre and pen appear in a
numer of names" Brill in Buc$inghamshire is a comination of bre and 0' hyll"
Breedon on the %ill in +eicestershire is a comination of bre and dun, oth Celtic
words, and Brewood in Staffordshire is comined with 0' wudu" :ensax in
%erefordshire means 9hill of the Anglo-Saxons9, giving an indication of the proximity
ut isolation in which Celtic communities would have existed until they were
gradually pushed to the corners of Britain y the Anglo-Saxons" #he use of 9Come9
or 9Coome9 as part of many place names comes from the Celtic word kumb, which
meant 9valley9, and was adopted into 0'" #he word tor is used mainly in the south-
west of Britain, means 9roc$9, and is used in con;unction with the granite pea$s on
,artmoor and Bodmin moor ) %ay #or, %ound #or etc, and was incorporated into the
name of the coastal town 1#or3uay2" Bodmin itself is a compound of the Cornish
words bod 9dwelling9 -which may have come into 'nglish as 9aode9.
and monegh 1mon$s2" #he name Cornwall is an Anglici5ed form of the original name
for the people who inhaited the far south-west of Britain kern either eing a trial
name, or a word meaning 9roc$9, and 9wall9 coming from 0' weahlas meaning
-rather inappropriately. 9foreigners9" :arallel names are common in the south-west as
well ) for example St" /ves is also $nown y its Cornish name of Porthia"
#he meaning of the name Bodmin is an interesting one, as it ma$es a connection with
the fact that Celtic loanwords generally come from place names where they have
survived for centuries, eing adopted y each invading group as they arrive, ut that
also a numer of loanwords have connections with religious terms" #here is
considerale evidence to suggest that a numer of words were rought over from
/reland y the Christian missionaries, and that their survival was due to the strength of
British Christianity that for a while exceeded that of the 8oman church" #he word
9cross9 -(aelic crois., was used alongside 0' rood for several centuries efore it
eventually ecame part of the 'nglish lexicon" Another loan word is dry 9magician,
sorcerer9, which comes from 0/r" drui -pl" druid." 4any of these words were loans
from +atin ut came to Britain y way of the missionaries" 0/r" anchara 1anchorite2,
comes originally from +atin as does str 1history2"

While the contriution of Celtic languages to the 'nglish language seems
disproportionate to the importance and longevity of Celtic culture within British
society over time, it is important to rememer that the place names that have een
created are still a useful reminder of the ways in which past society viewed their
surroundings, and the names they chose feature the characteristics of the land as it was
oserved y those who lived during that time" At the same time, the lac$ of apparent
word sharing is indicative of how effective a social and political tool language can e
y creating a class system through language usage" 'ngland was ale to effectively
unite as a world influence y enforcing a standard language throughout the country"
%owever, the very social stigma that suppressed the use of Celtic language is the same
stigma that prevents us learning the full extent of the influence those languages have
had on 'nglish" #he nature of the Anglo-Saxon invasions indicates that isolated
poc$ets of Celtic peoples would have een scattered all over the country -not all of
them ran to the hills., and existed side y side in separate communities, eventually
inter-marrying and ecoming asored into Anglo-Saxon culture" #he apparent lac$ of
Celtic words in 0' may e ecause we do not yet understand how the languages of
these people merged together and developed until these groups came to share a
common language"