British Language
British was an ancient Celtic language spoken in much of southern and central Britain, up to the central lowlands of Scotland.
History
Very little is known about British, as there are no written texts in Britain about the language . An important discussion about the language was given by Kenneth Jackson in his book, Language and History in Early Britain, published in 1953. The British language changed in structure after the Roman period and evolved into Common Brittonic, spoken over the whole of Britain. However, with the Anglo-Saxon invasions and progressive occupation of what became England, the Celtic languages were mainly restricted to the west and south-west. However, languages derived from British have continued to be spoken in Britain to the present day. Surprisingly few British words have been adopted into modern English.
One source of information about the language in Britain is the names of British chieftains on coins in the pre-Roman period. Apparently-British names continued to be used in the early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.
Place-names are another type of evidence. The place names of Roman Britain were discussed by Rivet and Smith in their book of that name published in 1979. They show that the majority of names used were derived from British. English place names still contain elements derived from British in a few cases.
Rare inscriptions in British survive - there is an inscription on a metal pendant discovered in 1979 in Bath (Lambert 2003, Tomlin 1987):
Adixovi Devina Devada Andagin Vindiorix Cvam Vnai
In the post-Roman period, inscriptions in Ogham, some of which are in British, demonstrate the evolution of the British language towards Old Welsh (Sims-Williams).
Continental European knowledge of the tongue is found in Latin or Ancient Greek texts; even then, it is limited to a few names of people and places. Comparison with Continental Celtic languages, specifically Gaulish, shows that it was very similar to other Celtic languages of the time.
British had always competed with Latin since the Roman invasion of AD 43, at least, in major settlements. A number of Latin words were borrowed by British speakers. The Anglo-Saxon invasions several centuries later marked the beginning of a decline in the language, as the language known as English spread through much of Britain. By AD 700, British was mainly spoken in Cumbria, Cornwall and Wales possibly together with parts of Scotland. Its descendants today are Cornish, Welsh and Breton.
Place names
British survives today in English place names and river names. The best example is perhaps that of the River(s) Avon, which comes from the British abona "river" (compare Welsh afon, Cornish avon, Cumbric, avan Irish abhainn, Manx awin).
List of Place names derived from British
- Avon from abonā = "river"
- Britain from britani = "painted (people)"
- Cumbria from cumbā = "valleys" (possibly from Cumbric)
- Dover from dubrīs = "waters"
- Kent from cantus = "border"
- Severn from sabrīna
- Thanet from tan-arth = "fire-height"
- Thames from tamesis
- York from ebor-acon = "place of yew trees"
Glossary of some known British words (with Welsh decendents)
- -ā: feminine ending. As in abonā
- aber: mouth of river
- abonā: river (Welsh afon)
- Adixovi: ?
- Andagin: ?
- arth: height
- bardos: poet (Welsh bardd)
- bodīnā: army (Welsh byddin)
- bouda: victory (Welsh buddug)
- briga: hill
- caer: temple
- car: fort
- cantus: border
- cnoc: high place
- coli: useful
- crag: hill
- Cvam: ?
- cumba: valley (Welsh cwm)
- cun: hound (Welsh ci)
- Devada: ?
- Devina: ?
- dubo: black (Welsh du)
- dubrīs: waters
- dun: hill or fort
- dunum: fort
- dwr: water (Welsh dŵr)
- duno: fort
- dyr: oak tree (Welsh derw)
- eburos: yew tree
- epos: horse
- gall: foreigner
- glas: blue/green/grey (Welsh glas)
- isara: strong river
- keito: woods(?) (Welsh coediog?)
- lan: church (Welsh llan)
- leito: grey(?)
- lemanio: elm tree
- maglo(s?): prince
- mai: big, great
- nidd: brilliant
- nor: great
- -os: masculine ending. As in bardos
- oinā: one(f)
- oinos: one(m) (Welsh un)
- penn: ridge
- pol: lake/pool
- pont: bridge
- rhos: moor
- rhyd: fort
- teine: fire (Welsh tân)
- tir: land (Welsh tir)
- torc: wild boar (Welsh twrch)
- ure: strong
- uxello: high (Welsh uchel)
- verno: swamp (Welsh gwern)
- Vindiorix: ?
- vindo: white (Welsh gwynn)
- Vnai: ?
- wharfe: winding
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