Britain's Celtic languages explained

[@RobWords]

Hit me with your Celtic facts! And get personalized 1-on-1 language lessons with native teachers on italki Buy $10 get $5 for free for your first lesson using my code ROBWORDS5. Book your lesson now go.italki.com/robwordsapr24

[@uauausuuahshauaiausuuaususu]

You're one of my favourite youtubers!

[@cyberherbalist]

As for the so-called "useless" English "do," whether it comes from Celtic or not, it's not useless. It actually serves a function. It is a "marker" for a yes/no question. When did it start being used in this way? Heck, I don't know, I'm not a linguist (and I might be completely wrong, who knows?). When creating Esperanto, Zamenhoff recognized that such a marker was quite useful, and he coined a question word for just that purpose. It's "Ĉu," which is pronounced "chew." It signifies that the question is to be answered with a "yes" or "no". As in the question "Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?" which is "Do you speak Esperanto?" This use of "do" as a closed question marker may not be related to the verb "do," however. In "What do you do?" the "do" is probably from the same Germanic root as German "tun," which means "to do". For example, "Was tun Sie?" which is "What are you doing?" The "t" slides over to "d".

[@jukeseyable]

No a fact, but an opinion regarding the welsh language. It rejuvination is an oderious gift from the English state to enable our continued subjegation. it serves to inhibit the independence debate, that we should be greatfull that our language is so supported by London. I know of not one single independence movement that has succesfully made a native language the centerpiece of its cause. crumbs from the masters table are certainly not a table of our own. It divides wales into speakers and non speakers, with those that speak it seeing themselves no necessarily superiour to non speakers, but in that non speakers are less Welsh than they are

[@niamhomahony7794]

The Donegal dialect of Irish is very similar to Scots Gaelic in terms of pronunciation due their geographic and cultural proximity. People often confuse the accents of English speakers in Ulster and Scotland too

[@tinfoilhomer909]

@@jukeseyable If you think Welsh is divisive, look up Tasmania's palawa language. I'm older and more native than the people who designed it and I'll always be annoyed with them. It was built to divide us.

[@Niinsa62]

I had a classmate a long time ago here in Sweden, who was from Brittany in France. And she could speak Breton, as her grandparents, but her parents couldn't. But she wanted to preserve the language, so she picked it up from her grandparents. She was cool. Way to go, Brianne! Hope you are well, wherever you are!

[@alessandrorossi1294]

Nice! We are doing something similar with our daughter here in Italy. I don't know the local dialect, my wife speaks it poorly, but her parents speak it well and they speak it with our daughter (their granddaughter) often!

[@eddiel7635]

Celtic name as well

[@GmailCom-hh6yq]

In my youth, and after high school, I went to Brittany as au-pair❤ as I love French, and I learned a "lot" of "breton"...but never went to any evening class. My family was a mix...dad was Argentinian-French and mum was Italian-French and ...Well, she was the reason why I only stayed 4 months.🤨 Many signs were in both French and Breton... I only remember KER (house) and MER (sea)...I hope😂 But yes, I miss France

[@selina5598]

good for Brianne

[@Matt-jc2ml]

@@alessandrorossi1294 why not also learn it?

[@randalmayeux8880]

When I was a kid in central Louisiana I remember my great grandparents speaking in a language I couldn't understand. I knew it wasn't French because my dad and all of my relatives on his side of the family were from south Louisiana, and spoke 1720s French. I found out they were speaking Irish. They had come from County Offaly years before the Potato Famine along with several other Irish families and settled near Natchitoches. They learned English, but continued speaking Irish among themselves.

[@garethaethwy]

I gather there are still a few 'native' Welsh speakers in Pennsylvania's Welsh towns, with a resurgence due to people of Welsh descent learning the language. I also discovered recently that there was a sizable Welsh community in Louisiana, not sure how many (if any) have kept the language. But let us not forget possibly the most well-known Welsh-speaking community not in the British Isles, and that's in Patagonia, in the Chubut Valley around Trelew and Puerto Madryn where I'm told Welsh can still be heard...

[@tomjcarty]

Any idea where in Offaly they came from? I grew up in Banagher (we moved there from North Longford in the 1970's) and would love to know about this, as its was a LONG LONG time ago since Irish was spoken there.

[@kelliatlarge]

​@@garethaethwy Re: Welsh descendants in Louisiana, my dad's side of the family are some of them, but I don't know of anyone who speaks the language, unfortunately. I think all we really have left are the family names.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Dat 1720s French Is it the Patois spoken now, some?

[@randalmayeux8880]

@@YeshuaKingMessiah Yes. I first noticed this when I began studying French in college. The first year we were just studying the current Parisian French, but later when I began to get into French literature it became apparent. You see, when I tried speaking modern French to my father, he would correct me. I assumed that he was speaking a degraded French, however I later realized that he was using the "literary" verbs and conjunctions. The nouns for the most part were the same as modern French. The French that was then spoken in south Louisiana was nowhere near as far removed from real French as the Creole patois spoken in, say Haiti or other parts of the Caribbean where "French" is spoken.

[@NoahSpurrier]

There are a couple OF Welsh speaking communities in Argentina.

[@donerskine7935]

In Victorian times, communities of Welsh shepherds and miners were established in Patagonia. The Argentine Welsh speakers are their descendants.

[@mogznwaz]

@@NoahSpurrier so they emigrated and didn’t assimilate - shame on them that’s very rude

[@NoahSpurrier]

@@mogznwaz Did the Spanish assimilate when they got there?

[@galahad6001]

And Uruguay as well I think

[@Facu_Roldan]

Yes, in fact the welsh speaker in this video lived in Argentina, she's a welsh language teacher.

[@Jauntygibbon]

S'mae o Gymru! On the similarities, I'm fluent Welsh, and my friend from uni is Cornish. He showed me a kids book in Cornish and I could read it perfectly! Was really powerful realising how closely linked our histories are

[@gerardjlaw]

You're basically the same. As the Germanic invaders pushed the Celtic influence westwards, the people they called the "Wealas" (essentially the Anglo-Saxon for "dirty foreigner") were split by the Bristol Channel into the Norþ Wealas and the Cornwealas.

[@alicemilne1444]

​@@gerardjlawWealas didn't originally mean "dirty foreigner". That's a derogatory modern interpretation. The word originally meant a Romanised tribe and you can find it in the name Walachia (in Romania), Valais in Switzerland, Wallonia (in modern Belgium) and in Southwestern Britain (Wales and Cornwall).

[@LimeyRedneck]

@@alicemilne1444 etymonline could help you unpick your tangle 🙂

[@alicemilne1444]

@@LimeyRedneck I am sure that source serves your needs amply.

[@LimeyRedneck]

@@alicemilne1444 It's reputable, uses a very wide range of sources and is cited by academics amongst others. Yes, it does X

[@coolbrotherf127]

11:54 I could not say "I want to go to the Brown Willy" with a straight face. Rob's face says it all.

[@derekmills5394]

Now imagine you're a reporter from the BBC

[@coolbrotherf127]

@@derekmills5394 "Hello, I'm Dan Smith from the BBC here at the big Brown Willy."

[@urquizabr]

Never heard before, not sure if I should ask what it is.

[@LeReubzRic]

DW it's safe to look up :> ​@@urquizabr

[@LimeyRedneck]

I'm still reeling that the original meaning is The Hill of Swallows given what it has become?!?

[@Cazzy09]

Manxie here! I grew up with Manx lessons in primary school but in secondary school it wasn't really offered. I feel bad that I don't do enough to learn the language but I am keen for my children to go to the Manx speaking school.

[@mogznwaz]

@@Cazzy09 Why bother? What’s the point? When would you realistically use it except to virtue signal? Language is first and foremost a communication tool. Languages evolve to fill the available space so that people who come into contact can understand each other. What you’re basically doing is regressing to a tribal state. But I BET you’re also one of those people who both decried British colonialism and supports open borders mass immigration because ‘we’re all one human race’. It’s a cognitive dissonance

[@Cazzy09]

@@mogznwazomg that escalated quickly! No actually I want to preserve our culture here on the Isle of Man. I see what’s happening in the UK and fight fiercely to keep our culture, that includes our traditions, and our language which is dangerously close to extinction.

[@seankayll9017]

@@Cazzy09 Ny jean beaghey yn trollag. S'cosoylagh dy nee eadagh eshyn.

[@josm1481]

I know a descendent of the last fluent speaker, before the resurgence, and he always claimed his uncle wasn't too sure himself on some words etc.

[@LtGhost-tb3kq]

​@@mogznwaz I love languages, it's the most Nationalist thing you could do - preserve your national languages. British colonialism was bad, no denying that, mate, but just because you want your language to be protected and spoken again, doesn't mean you're pro open border mass immigration. You're fighting the wrong fight, mate.

[@MrFearDubh]

In Irish, go leor (from which we get galore) changes meaning depending on where it's place with respect to the noun it's modifying. "X go leor" means "enough X" whereas "go leor X" means "an abundance of X." But it came into the English language where "X galore" means "an abundance of X."

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

In Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic) it's gu leor and mean "enough of" something.

[@Pengalen]

Her name is Allota.

[@gcanaday1]

gu leòr and gu leir are two different things.

[@steelmagnum]

So of course English immediately gets the meaning backwards

[@Ithirahad]

The way I've heard it used in English, it's a mixture of both. It means an abundance, but usually, specifically too much or at least more than necessary.

[@saracomerford1753]

My secondary school Irish teacher once told us that the word "smashing" comes from the Irish "is maith é sin", (iss mah ay shin) which literally means "that is good". It blew my mind! Love the video, really interesting! ❤️🇮🇪

[@jimmyryan5880]

Phony comes from fáinne (ring). There was a very common ring scam in the US when it was coined. Dig (slang) comes from Tuig (the understand or appreciate)

[@shastasilverchairsg]

Smashing!

[@derekmills5394]

@@shastasilverchairsg iss may ay shin sounds like something you'd shout during a hurling match

[@philroberts7238]

A lot of London cockney comes from other languages, especially Yiddish, but 'gob' certainly comes from the west. I wonder if there are others that people know of?

[@aduantas]

this is a false etymology

[@travel734]

Scots Gaelic survived in Cape Breton Nova Scotia as well.

[@derekgartz9397]

So did Irish Gaelic

[@severianmonk7394]

I think a modest effort at revival in underway with university, as well as college and primary (primer in NS), courses now available. St Francis Xavier University and St Anne's College are both actively encouraging the programmes.

[@MenelionFR]

Dear speakers of Celtic languages! Please, please, please protect your languages, teach them, speak them, promote them, cherish them! They are so beautiful and it would be a horrible disaster if we as the Human race, lost them. Thank you so much, Rob!

[@stephend9968]

You are so right, but the problem in Ireland is that there are few opportunities to use and practice the language. I not only learnt Irish at school, but I was taught through the medium of Irish, so I would have been fairly fluent - at that time - and there's the rub, as they say. Now, at 73 years of age, I wouldn't be able to remember enough to carry on a conversation because I never got (or took) the opportunity to use it enough. I recently read a book (in English) about the plight of the Irish language and efforts to encourage its use (or 'revive' it). It has made me think about joining a conversation group to help me become more fluent again.

[@derekmills5394]

@@stephend9968 Do it! If not for yourself, for others to practise with. You'll be amazed how quickly you pick it up again.

[@mannosan]

Wales is doing fairly well I think, but it’s really hard when 99% of media is English, and (I’ve only noticed this recently) there’s a lot of pushback from non Welsh speakers cropping up

[@stephend9968]

@@derekmills5394 Thanks for the encouragement. I have to say, as well, that I'm pleasantly surprised at the number of posters on here who appear to have a 'grá' (love) for the Irish language (or one or more of the related languages).

[@derekmills5394]

@@mannosan I see a lot of parallels here with the renaisance of the Maori language in New Zealand. It started way back in the 70's and has moved through a regular news program where those interviewed would struggle to now where many Maori words are included in everyday speech, particularly words related to family, relationships and the land. Yes there has been some pushback but that is relegated now to political posturing by certain parties. It is now so mainstream so that vocal artists will re-write their songs and release them in both English and Maori. I don't have any links but there is a lot of online content that you or others may find useful towards charting a successful outcome.

[@paulhaynes8045]

As a English speaking Brit who struggles with other languages, I found this fascinating - quite a step up from your more 'usual' videos. It made me realise just how much Britain is a mixture of different cultures and histories, not just languages. And, in many ways, 'we' have been overwhelmed by the dominance of English, just like the rest of the world in more recent times. And with language dominance comes cultural and conceptual dominance as well. If there's one overriding justification for keeping 'minority' languages alive, it is not just to keep the language itself, but to keep the culture and the different understanding and view of the world. We cannot afford to become one people, with one language, and only one understanding of the world around us.

[@rubysafyre]

Great video, thank you! I've been learning Manx for around a year now. It's a beautiful language, well worth learning. Some aspects of the language are difficult to get used to, such as lenition, but it's definitely not one of the more difficult languages I've come across. I think it's really important to keep these Celtic languages alive.

[@dafyddlloyd868]

south african here....and we indeed have shebeens. in fact, hooligans galore frequently drink to smithereens in our plentiful shebeens! i may, or may not, have been one myself at a long ago time. i think its usage is fading, though....the word, not the establishments.

[@philroberts7238]

"The Back of the Moon.....Top shebeen in Jo'burg is The Back of the Moon". (King Kong)

[@rogink]

I'm not really surprised Rob didn't recognise the word. In English we put the stress on the second syllable - more like sha-been. Not exactly a common word, and I suppose it would only be used in the context of an informal Irish pub.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Never heard it I love languages too

[@markelton2345]

You also have a very large hospital in Soweto called Baragwanath, which is Cornish for wheat bread. Named after a Cornishman who used to have refereshment station on the site. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Military_Hospital,_Baragwanath

[@WYKAHYPE]

Sláinte Mo Chara!

[@KrisHughes]

I've learned a few language, including Gàidhlig, but I have never encountered a language with such consistent orthography as Welsh. It might look intimidating, but once you understand the relationship between letters and sounds, its extremely dependable.

[@saraj1955]

I'm a Welsh speaker and educated bilingualy. I've tried explaining this and a non Welsh speaker disagreed that no language was that consistent. I can only think of three exceptions and typically only one now and that is Llywellyn, the second double ll is usually pronounced as a single. So much easier to say than type!

[@rateeightx]

Welsh pronunciation is very consistent, although the spelling isn't as much, because there are sometimes multiple ways to spell the same sound, for example 'ae' and 'au' are (sometimes) pronounced the same, I'd argue Italian is somewhat more consistent, where the only words you can't tell the spelling of from the pronunciation would be ones that sound the same as other words ("O" and "Ho" are pronounced the same, for example), Or unmodified loan words, everything else if you're listening closely you should be able to tell.

[@rateeightx]

@@saraj1955 To be fair I've usually seen it spelled "Llywelyn", I thought Llywellyn was just an Anglicised spelling, Since they're often pronounced as just a single l in English (Much to my chagrin) That said, I feel like Welsh isn't quite so consistent, For example 'R' is sometimes doubled and sometimes not despite always being pronounced the same. I've seen the word for Curry spelled as both "Cyri" and "Cyrri".

[@sciangear4782]

​​@@rateeightx when te reo Māori (in New Zealand)was first written down by Europeans, it was decided that as the vowels sounded so much like Italian, that's how it would be written. The five vowel sounds (A, E, I, O, U) are pure and completely consistent (a macron shows a longer vowel, eg Ā, Ē, Ī, Ō, Ū), and there are only ten consonants: H, K, M, N, NG, P, R, T, W, WH. It is the easiest language to spell and read. Get an Italian to read a place name like Tāmaki Makaurau (where I live), and they'll get it right

[@irasemaoa7701]

Have you met Spanish? 😅

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

On the "English oppression of Welsh" I enjoy the story (who knows if true or not) about a person on a train being accosted by an Englishman for speaking "not English" with a "You're in England, speak English!" to which the person speaking replied "actually, we're in Wales at the moment, and I'm speaking Welsh."

[@AndorianBlues]

I've heard the same story in the US, except it's Navajo instead of Welsh.

[@medievalchameleon102]

The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree I suppose in the case of the u.s

[@mogznwaz]

@@AnonymousFreakYT Made up story, it’s repeated everywhere where there’s a disgruntled group who lost

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

@@mogznwaz “who lost”? You mean “who were forcibly oppressed by outsiders”?

[@_malo_mart]

even if it isn’t true, the „you’re in england speak english” is something my family has heard multiple times as a polish person, so i’m 100% certain it’s been said on many occasions to welsh speakers too, sadly

[@brianmsahin]

As an Irish man I'm not offended ! I would have been if you left Irish out !😂 I'm not living in Ireland for more than 20 years now, but I am hearing that Irish is beginning to make a significant comeback over the past number of years. I hope it continues. Go raibh maith agat for the excellent video!

[@beccabbea2511]

My husband’s first language was Irish Gaelic. He came to the UK for work over sixty years ago and didn’t really go back to live. He, now, only speaks Gaelic in his sleep! I do occasionally ask how a certain word is pronounced, gone but not forgotten.

[@ranica47]

​@@beccabbea2511How many times did he say "don't call it Gaelic," in the video?!

[@st0rmforce]

Well purely from a geographical standpoint, Éire is one of the British Isles.

[@brianmsahin]

@@st0rmforce Not really. There is no political label to geographical positioning. It's a construct outside of the science of geography and geology. In fact if you want to take that idea a step further, Ireland and Britain are all sitting on the Northern European continental shelf so we could say both islands are really an extension of France, Belgium and Netherlands and all the way up to Norway. If the sea level ever drops as it has done numerous times, it would just be a big land mass.

[@murp0121]

@@st0rmforce UK & Ireland (politically) or Britain and Ireland (geographically) are universally accepted terms for the two main Islands.

[@teedoification]

Think we need an episode on the Breton language now! Would be great to link it to some of the common words between Cornish and Welsh too!

[@brunoliddle]

I came to make that same comment - it feels mean to leave out Breton as the only remaining Celtic language mentioned but not covered.

[@joyhancock2703]

I remember meeting a couple on a coach holiday in Europe who were from Cornwall. They belonged to a Cornish - Breton language society and often had exchange visits.

[@waleseggmundo]

There's anecdotes about Welsh speaking soldiers stationed in Brittany during both world wars who were surprised to discover they could understand the locals. And tbf when you hear old recordings of Breton, the languages sound remarkably similar despite centuries of isolation from each other. Stuff like this is definitely worth delving into.

[@philllewellyn6464]

@@waleseggmundo Yes my dad was a native Welsh speaker (the family spoke Welsh at home) who was in the British army and served in Brittany during the war and he said that at the very lease he could understand the Breton language. whether they could understand him is another matter!

[@monanardesque]

I completely agree! As a Breton speaker, I understand quite a few words of Welsh and Cornish thanks to their related roots, would love to see a video about this :)

[@braddblk]

I've been interested in the languages and history of the Celts for most of my life. My ancestry is Scot and Welsh. This was fun to listen to and learn a little. Thanks.

[@cool_guy87]

This was great! Probably one of the best videos on your channel recently, which is already a high bar!

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The traditional counting system used in the Yorkshire Dales and parts of Lincolnshire and County Durham is a base 20 system based on the Brythonic Celtic language.

[@meretes.lintrup4684]

Danish counting is based on 20 as well. The other scandinavian languages base their counting on 10. So, in Danish, eg 60 is "three times twenty". 70 is 3,5 times twenty, but said "half-four times twenty". As I understood in the video, welsh says "3 20s and 10" for 70. Would be interesting to know if this way of counting based on 20 has developed independently in Danish and the Gaelic/Celtic languages og Britain, or if one language developed it and inspired the others

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@meretes.lintrup4684 in Europe I wouldn't be surprised if the vigesimal or Base-20 counting systems all come from the same pre-Celtic Indo-European language but such systems also evolved independently in Africa (with the Yoruba), with the Mayans and Aztecs in Mesoamerica, and with New Zealand's Māoris. Even English has a Base-20 history. The Gettysburg Address starts off with "four score and seven years ago". But I'm not certain if that isn't due to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

[@alexjradcliffe]

This counting system is often called Yan tan tethera, and is traditionally used a lot by shepherds to count sheep. It's very cool! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@alexjradcliffe also the subject of a Jake Thackeray song.

[@meadow-maker]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 In Britain we still use the word 'score' to mean 20 however the word is the same as score a piece of wood, it's Germanic and probably came in with Old Norse but, since it is still the same word as to 'score' wood and 'score' in a game it's not likely to be good evidence of English being Vigesimal. English, however does have 'dozen' and our old coins were in dozens, 12 pennies made a shilling so 'score' isn't good evidence for a vigesimal system in English. You really only need to look at how we count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, then thir-teen, four-teen, fif-teen up to twenty, thirty, fourty..... No, 'score' is little more than scoring a notch on a post to count sheep which leads you back to Brythonic where in living history in England Brythonic was still used for counting sheep in the North, and South West. See Yan_tan_tethera on Wikipedia.

[@mauvegrail]

I am Welsh, although I don't speak Cymraeg, but I must take issue with Marian about the use of the prefix 'aber'. I come from Mountain Ash in the Cynon valley, 25 km from Cardiff. The Welsh name for Mountain Ash is Aberpennar, Five kilometres further up the valley is Aberdare, and even further north is Brecon, whose Welsh name is Aberhonddu. So, while it is true that the prefix 'Aber' means 'mouth of' it isn't necessary that the waterway drains into the sea.

[@patchso]

Yes, interesting! Almost ‘where a body of water meets a larger body of water’.

[@jungatheart6359]

@@patchso Yes, that is it exactly. At a confluence of rivers, the town is named after the smaller tributary: Aberdare is where the Dare meets the Cynon, Abercynon is where the Cynon meets the Taff, etc.

[@thebamfordman]

@@jungatheart6359almost like marking the death of the river; like the death of the spirit ends here.

[@redminer8684]

It’s similar to Scottish prefix Inver meaning mouth of (eg. Inverclyde;Inverness;Inveraray)

[@alunjprice]

@@redminer8684Your Invers were originally Abers, hence Aberdeen and Aberfeldy etc, even the name Edinburgh has Welsh origins, it all changed when you were invaded by the Irish, they brought the Gaelic, bagpipes and tartan with them. Originally, apart from the Picts (history knows little about them), you were part of Y Hen Ogledd.

[@ElaineWood-f2t]

Great episode! I'm originally from North Carolina, USA. My ancestry is Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh. Family legend has it that the family on my mother's side was from the island of Jura, Scotland, and that they could speak both English and Gaelic. This deep dive into the Celtic languages was quite fascinating!!! Cheers from across the pond!!!

[@jamessloanofficial]

I’m an American who has developed a great fondness for the Isle of Man. Visiting for the TT over the years and coming to know the people has been a joy. I’m trying to pick up a few words in Manx and listen almost daily to the Manx language version of the local news on Manx Radio.

[@alicequayle4625]

That's very kind. Gura mie mooar ayd (if I got that right).

[@martifingers]

They have a fine music tradition as well that is perhaps not as well known as that of the other Celtic nations.

[@alicequayle4625]

@@martifingers some excellent musicians eg Tom Callister and Isla Callister, Ruth Keggin, and Mera Royle the harpist who won the BBC young folk music award.

[@martifingers]

@@alicequayle4625 Thanks Alice - I will seek them out. To my ears the Manx tunes have a certain character that distinguishes them from other Celtic traditions as well as making them part of it.

[@alicequayle4625]

@@martifingers cool. Clash Vooar are also good imo. Manx Gaelic and English songs with a sort of triphop jazzy music atmosphere.

[@seegreyhoundrun]

I'm from western Canada and I'm currently learning Gàidhlig. This video was immensely enjoyable to watch. Thank you for making this and being so delightful!

[@cianmcguire5647]

Maith thú!

[@RichardDCook]

At 10:22 a fascinating thing in Scotland is the existence of hybrid place names, generally with the first element P-Celtic (Brythonic) and the second element Q-Celtic (Goidelic) said to be a legacy of the merging of Pictish and Gaelic peoples. At 11:20 note that Aber- also appears in Scottish place names.

[@philiptaylor7902]

Would it be true to say that Aber place names come from the Brythonic Pictish language, as opposed to Inbhir (Inver) from Goidelic Gaelic?

[@DarthSanguine]

@@philiptaylor7902 Yes.

[@alexjradcliffe]

@@philiptaylor7902 Yeah, Aber in Aberdeen, Aberfeldy, Aberfoyle are all thought to come from Pictish "aber" meaning river mouth too.

[@bradwilliams7198]

Aber- also occurs in place names in Cornish. Plymouth in Cornish is Aberplymm; Falmouth is Aberfal

[@douglasfell4199]

Regional variation of the same language.

[@rosehipowl]

I've been learning Irish and Welsh and it's been really fun! Confusing, but fun. I'm really glad you profiled these languages and shared them with more people. There needs to be fewer arguments about whether they're worth keeping or what form is the "proper" version and more importance placed on just learning and using them at any level. They will disappear in all varieties if that doesn't happen, and collectively, that's something none of us want.

[@taliesinllanfair4338]

So cool to see Cornish included.

[@apexinstinct]

Yeah I was surprised it was but very happy

[@jessicat2519]

Thank you so much for this one! The Basque , also strong fishing culture, also bases their counting on lots of 20 : 75: 3x20 &15 . Name change depending on cases - mind blown

[@RobWords]

I didn't know that about Basque!

[@jessicat2519]

@@RobWords I wrote the number wrong first 65 not 75... I am still not great at the numbers... 😆

[@dessertstorm7476]

What does fishing have to do with it though? Confused

[@jessicat2519]

@@dessertstorm7476 at 7:50 the Cornish woman mentions that the counting is based on counting fingers and toes when counting fish coming off the boats.

[@dessertstorm7476]

@@jessicat2519 yeah i heard that but I still don't get the relevance. Everyone needs to count stuff, not just fishermen. And why would fisherman use base 20 when others use 10.

[@viviendomisabatico1587]

Thank you, Rob! What a delight to listen to your interesting videos

[@StamfordBridge]

And this one is wonderful!

[@Maxyl56]

What an uplifting video! I love this subject, and hearing that Manx is making a comeback is very gratifying.

[@jamesfetherston1190]

There is a base 20 tradition of counting in the North of England, (often called Yan Tan Tethera) traditionally used in counting sheep and knitting. It is a highly rhythmic pattern, making it very useful for counting quickly and repeatedly (after 20 it starts over, but a stone is placed in a pocket to keep track). Some of the variations have similarities to Celtic numbers.

[@daveanderson802]

You jogged an ancient memory with Yan Tan Tethera there. It took a moment but then I realized it was from Jake Thackray:- kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYummq2tfb99l8U

[@HarryFlashmanVC]

And Cumbrian was a Bythronic language like Cornish. The counting system, still used by shepherds, is a survivor

[@iwanellis-roberts1704]

@@HarryFlashmanVC And even the Name Cumbria is from the same place as the Welsh word for Wales, Cymru - Fellow brothers, Companions of the heart

[@HarryFlashmanVC]

@iwanellis-roberts1704 yep.. as Goddodin myself having been born in the land of King Lot I'm with you 😁

[@anglend]

One area that I've been to that has a strong Gaelic culture and some native speakers is Nova Scotia, Canada especially Cape Breton Island where every town sign is in both English and Gaelic

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Which Gaelic lol

[@necroseus]

​​​​@@YeshuaKingMessiahLmao, it's Scottish Gàidhlig "Nova Scotia" means "New Scotland." In Gàidhlig the place is called "Alba Nuadh" (pronounced: al-buh new-wug) where "Alba" means "Scotland" and "Nuadh" means "New." Slàinte! :)

[@mcswordfish]

I went on a school-exchange trip from Skye, Scotland to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia back in late '01 (an interesting time to be flying to North America). We met a few old folk (in their 80s and 90s) who had been brought up speaking Gàidhlig, though a lifetime of English Hegemony meant it was only a distant memory for them. It was also fascinating to see the graves of people who were born in the areas we lived, but had crossed the Atlantic in the 19th Century. A couple of years prior, the most significant and important band in Gàidhlig music had recruited their new frontman from Cape-Breton too (Bruce Guthro replaced Donnie Munro in Runrig)

[@Cailean_MacCoinnich]

@@YeshuaKingMessiah eejit. If you watched the video you'd know.

[@Nariasan]

I believe Newfoundland has its own Celtic language too (though it's dying out). Can't remember if it's a form of Gaelic though.

[@helphelpimbeingrepressed9347]

This is such a fun & lighthearted channel & linguistics really seems to push Rob's button, its infectious to watch!

[@MrFearDubh]

Historically, Irish counting was based on 20s and the word for 40 (daichead) comes from a contracted form of dhá fhichead (two twenties). In Scottish Gaelic it's more apparent with 40 being dà fhichead, still broken into the two words for two twenties. In Manx, 40 is an even more compressed version of two twenties: daeed.

[@arthur_p_dent]

Since you say "Historically" - the odd thing is that the counting in base 20 did not yet exist in Old Irish, it only started being used in middle Irish. The same is true for many non-Celtic European languages that to some extent use base 20 constructions (most notably Danish and French - neither Latin nor Gaulish nor Old Norse had a vigesimal system) - the base 20 counting seems to be a medieval invention.

[@MrFearDubh]

@@arthur_p_dent Interesting.

[@easybee5778]

Even in English, “score” was used as a base twenty counting system. I’m sure I’ve read books from even the last century still referring to ages like “four-score and one” (81)

[@alicemilne1444]

​@arthur_p_dent I don't think vigesimal can be mediaeval at all. It's found in all sorts of languages like Basque, Santali, Yoruba, Inuit, Mayan, Muisca, Ainu -- so right across Eurasia to the Far East, in Africa and in the Americas.

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@alicemilne1444 linguists have examined this at length. It is true that vigesimal number systems have existed earlier in other languages. But there is no reason to assume that it can have been developed only once, or everywhere at the same time. So the fact that vigesimal existed in Asia or even the Americas doesn't prove anything. I mean, decimal and vigesimal are both somewhat natural for humans with 10 fingers and 20 fingers+toes, so why wouldn't different languages come up with similar concepts independently from one another? At any rate, It has also been theorized that Basque somehow proves a pre Indo-European origin of vigesimal. but these theories have all been rejected by linguists. The vigesimal structures in the European languages, with the exception of Basque, clearly did not yet exist in antiquity and started later. This is true for Celtic languages, as well as French and Danish. It is what it is.

[@arwenwestrop5404]

Hi Rob, what a treat to hear more about the Celtic languages. I love them! They sound so amazing! And Scots may not be a Celtic language, but it is a separate language and I have a lovely story about it: a friend of mine came from Friesland - a province of the Netherlands - and she grew up with Friesian as her first language. Her parents had very few words of Dutch, they spoke Friesian day in, day out. Then my friend invited some friends from Scotland to visit her at her parent's house. She was just worried about how her parents would communicate with her friends. That was no problem at all. Her friends started speaking Scots and gone was the problem, parents and friends could communicate perfectly, each speaking their native language! Brilliant!

[@davereynard]

Absolutely fascinating. Another great video with excellent interviewees. Thanks for posting!

[@Arnica_Burdock]

The name James is an excellent representation of lenition in Scottish Gaelic. James - English name Seumas - Gàidhlig Sheumais - Gàidhlig, lenited Pronunciation guide: Vowels dictate the sounds of consonants as broad or slender. Usually when there are two vowels together, only one supplies its own sound, the other being there only for determining the consonant sound next to it. Slender: e i Broad: a o u The letter S has two sounds: slender /ʃ/ broad /s/ Seumas /ʃeːməs/ Se = ʃeː (slender) umas = məs (broad) Lenited, it becomes: Sheumais /heːmɪʃ/ She = heː (slender) uma = m (broad) is = ɪʃ (slender)

[@garethaethwy]

I can't say I've ever really encountered Scottish Gaelic, not knowingly at least. And possibly in part because I have spent less than 12 hours in Scotland. Ever. [That was supposed to be rectified last year but holiday had to be cancelled because family, rescheduled for this November or January...] Irish however I encounter reasonably often, on day (or longer) trips over to Dublin, mostly on the Luas which I make sure I take at least one journey through Abbey Street on, because I LOVE the Irish name of the street, and therefore the Luas stop! Sad I know, but hey...

[@belstar1128]

horrible

[@wyattstevens8574]

TL;DR: "Seamus" is (more or less) Scots-Gaelic for James!

[@JD-zt2bl]

Thank you! Vowels changing the sound of the letters around them is something I'd picked up from the basics I learned as a kid, but I couldn't put words around it and I didn't realise there were actual rules for it.

[@БогданКостюченко-ц4о]

It's cool that you like learning languages and that you know IPA. Most English speakers think that IPA symbols are just pointless squiggles, but I think the International Phonetic Alphabet can be a helpful instrument in learning foreign language's pronunciation similarly to how musical notation helps musicians learn how to play musical pieces.

[@talideon]

0:59 - Thanks for this!

[@peterroycroft]

First of all, thank you so much for this video. As an Irish person I learned a lot. I'm Irish and nearly 60 years old. While, as your Irish interviewee said (not a terribly convincing representative if I might say, given he admitted he is not a native speaker and got uber snooty about the word Gaelic!) , we learn Irish for our entire childhood in school, many people claim on their censorship forms that they speak Irish, but they really don't. They have some words and some memory of their language from school, but that's it. The Gaelscoileanna are making a difference in places like Dublin and elsewhere. Kids are taught from very young through Irish. Long may it continue. But it isn''t the norm and is fairly middle-class based. I would love if we could be like, say, most Danes and speak our historical language and English. I feel the Welsh have a more vibrant community because those who speak Welsh choose to speak it. Ireland is today an English language country with an ever-shrinking Gaeltacht area. But using education as a compulsory language tool over last the in Irish 100 years has failed completely in my opinion. I do not speak fluent Irish and have forgotten what I was taught ( and I could hold quite a decent conversation in Irish when I was 18). I am sad about that as our native language informs how Irish people speak English, let alone the loss of other cultural insights. But the language is a political issue in Ireland, as I am sure it is in the other countries mentioned (especially in Northern Ireland for obvious reasons). Thank you so much again for the video. It was really educational.

[@The_Old_Wolf]

"Vel ny partanyn snaue, Joe?" - After having studied Gaeilge for years, I came across some recordings of Manx, and was astonished at how much I could understand, even without the translation available. I love the Celtic languages. Thanks for a great video!

[@seankayll9017]

From what I can gather, Manx is very similar indeed to Ulster Irish.

[@bobnelsonfr]

Fifty years ago, my wife - a French-nationality physics teacher born in Brittany but not a Breton-speaker - had a colleague exchange teacher from Cornwall. This woman said she could understand the Bretons of Finisterre (way out at the tip of the Breton peninsula).

[@draoi99]

I read in a newspaper once that Breton farmers used to travel to Wales and cycle around the country selling onions, and they could understand Welsh quite well.

[@paulhaynes8045]

​@@draoi99I've never really believed the 'French onion seller'thing. It just doesn't make sense. Firstly, onions grow easily all over Britain, and can easily be dried to last all year. And secondly, it doesn't make sense financially - how many (relatively cheap) onions would you have to carry on your bike to make any sort of decent income?!

[@paulhaynes8045]

I once heard a radio programme about Cornish boules players (it was radio 4!), who played in a Breton league. And, when they went to away games in France, they said the older players could understand much of the local language.

[@marclozachmeur3629]

@@paulhaynes8045 For a century, the johnnies criss-crossed the roads of Great Britain, lugging their braids of Roscoff onions. A unique commercial epic.

[@meadow-maker]

@@paulhaynes8045 no, they did, there's lots of photos of them. It did happen.

[@emmavose6528]

I have to say that this is one of the best videos on linguistics and specifically the Celtic languages that I have ever seen. Well researched, including key facts as well as reaching out to real speakers of the languages and hearing their expertise and personal experience. Well done and thank you!

[@lidiaadobato7822]

I'm not even a native speaker of Englias and I really enjoyed it. Thanks a lot, from Argentina, with Italian ancestors.

[@philroberts7238]

Lots of Welsh ancestry in Patagonia, as I'm sure you know!

[@lidiaadobato7822]

@@philroberts7238 I do know. And the Welsh villages are just beautiful, they have those names like Dolavon, Gaiman, Trelew... which are so musical. My next door neighbour was of Welsh ancentry and she even wrote a book about their arrival in Patagonia.

[@bluesrocker91]

​@@lidiaadobato7822 In Welsh "dol" means a meadow, and "afon" is a river.

[@lidiaadobato7822]

@@bluesrocker91 Thanks!! I love to know these things.

[@TAP7a]

​@@bluesrocker91ah, the good ol' River River naming phenomenon

[@thomassharmer7127]

The Welsh word "llan" meaning a church enclosure or churchyard was adopted into English as "lawn", a domestic enclosure of neatly tended grass.

[@aldalab]

lawn comes from the French Lande, which probably has the same origin as Llan

[@thomassharmer7127]

@@aldalab Thanks for the correction 🙂

[@soupdragon151]

In cornwall/cornish you find the equivalent Lan- as a placename element i.e. Lanhydrock "the church of st. hydrock"" Welsh "Llan" also occurs in placenames in england proper along the welsh borders where bilingualism was common for centuries

[@jennie_dunceol]

Lòn in Gàidhlig also means a field/meadow or also can mean a pond

[@Dave102693]

Is it related to Iglesia? That’s the Spanish work for church.

[@homousios]

Thanks!

[@RobWords]

Wow, Joseph, that is extraordinarily generous. Thank you very much!

[@Arnica_Burdock]

Glè mhath! (Very good!) I'm an American who's been studying Scottish Gaelic via Duolingo for more than a year. I love your videos. So glad to see these endangered languages getting some attention.

[@uingaeoc3905]

yes, I am sure you will get a lot of use out of it in Glasgow and Edinburgh..... NOT!

[@Wee_Langside]

​@@uingaeoc3905he doesn't have to cross the Atlantic. There are a few thousand speakers in Nova Scotia descended from the displaced of the Highland Clearances.

[@uingaeoc3905]

@@Wee_Langside Is this like the alleged 'Welsh in Patagonia ? ie - true 150 years ago but NOT NOW.

[@gcanaday1]

​@@uingaeoc3905Useless comment.

[@charliethomas7782]

​@@uingaeoc3905you can very much still hear Welsh in Patagonia

[@blizzmcwaggs2091]

I recently started learning Gàidhlig and Celtic language history 3 months ago, so I’m enthralled that you decided to give these language groups the attention they desperately need to stay revived. Glè mhath!

[@necroseus]

Tha mi cuideachd! Slàinte mhath, mo chàiraid :)!

[@evanssm1]

Aber is a confluence of a river with another body of water, which could be an estuary but could also be the confluence of two rivers, which is why there are many placenames beginning with Aber that aren't anywhere near the sea. Llan, as it appears in a place name, refers to an area of land occupied by a religious community (religious settlement), or the area around a church rather than a church building.

[@davidpyle9895]

Exactly, Aberhonddu would be very surprised to hear that it's by the sea...

[@Ana_crusis]

They don't say it means a church building they say Llan means exactly what you just said

[@Ana_crusis]

Aber means River

[@davidpyle9895]

@@Ana_crusis geiriadur.uwtsd.ac.uk/index.php?page=ateb&term=Aber&direction=we&type=all&whichpart=exact&search=#ateb_top

[@evanssm1]

@@Ana_crusis Felly, pam na ddefnyddir y gair I ddisgrifio llefydd wrth ymyl afonydd yn gyffredinol? Sut fasech yn esbonio llefydd fel "Aberafan" ? Mae "River River" (so good they named it twice!) yn anhebyg. Y mae'n well feddwl am aber I olygyu "Where a river flows" ac fel arfer mae afonydd yn llifio I mewn i gorff arall o ddŵr - naill ai afon, llyn, neu fôr, a dyna lle yr ydych yn tueddu dod o hyd I ddefnydd y gair "Aber" mewn enw lle. e.e. Abertridwr - yn debyg I olygu "confluence of three waters", a hefyd, pham mae cymaint o lefydd gydag aber yn yr enw ar yr afordir (lle mae afon yn cwrdd a'r môr)? Or, to put it another way: "No"

[@iammacnathan]

Another great video! I am a history buff and learning about the language is just important as learning about the history of culture. Looking forward to the next installment.

[@niamhomahony7794]

I plan on studying Irish and French in uni next year, so this video was really interesting to watch. Lovely to see the similarities and differences within the Celtic language family

[@Vegplot]

I've lived in North Wales for 29 years and am a (slow) Welsh learner. My German wife and a German neighbour are both fluent Welsh speakers (their professional working daily life involves speaking Welsh as part of their work). It's often said, here at least, that when a language dies a culture dies with it. I now consider myself to be Welsh in mind at least.

[@admiralbenbow5083]

Welsh with a German accent. Id like to hear that. Best one so far is French with a Finnish accent !

[@henna6410]

As a Finn learning French I'm curious as to why a Finnish accent is so special. I hope it's not incomprehensible!

[@admiralbenbow5083]

@@henna6410 Im very familiar with both which helps on the entertainment bit. I know a Finn who married a French woman. He speaks very well but with a strong accent. Its a sort of `staccato` French !

[@anthonyanth8368]

Another surprisingly satisfying accent is a Russian accent in french

[@ceriandavies9218]

Dal ati! 😁

[@PLuMUK54]

Dydd da Rob, I must say that I was impressed by your saying LlanfairPG (as it is often written). The Welsh part of my family lived in a very isolated part of Wales. Some of the older members, when I was a child, spoke little or no English. What they had learned at school was forgotten as they never went anywhere that they needed it. When the next generations did not want to take over the farm, it was sold, and the family moved to LlanfairPG, closer to facilities that become more important with age, but still an area with a strong tradition of using the language. My Welsh was good enough to follow Pobol y Cwm, but now it has virtually disappeared. Until I retired, I was a history teacher. As part of their GCSE, my classes studied castles, and without meaning to, I used to cause confusion. I would say the names of castles in Wales automatically the Welsh way, and my classes could never find them on the maps or identify photographs. Eventually, they got used to asking, "What's that in English?" Recently, on an Uber journey, the driver was telling me about his holiday in Wales. He commented that he was surprised by how many foreigners he met. 😁 He hadn't realised that there was a Welsh language. I managed to gather enough from my memory to say something to him in Welsh, which pleased me.

[@garethaethwy]

Wasn't it Farage who kicked off a few years back hearing people on the bus not speaking English, because they were in Wales and speaking Welsh?

[@uingaeoc3905]

@@garethaethwy No - another myth-lie about Farage.

[@garethaethwy]

@@uingaeoc3905 That's as may be, but I have definitely had people think I was foreign when talking in Welsh in England. Best was family holiday, on the transfer bus from airport, (English) reps sat in front of us were playing a game of guess the nationality on us, their final guess was Bulgarian. I have also seen first hand people from England move to Wales and kick off that signs, publications, etc are bilingual: we all understand English so why bother is the general assertion.

[@uingaeoc3905]

@@garethaethwy I am from Liverpool and used to hearing Welsh. But I g have known some people in England think that Glaswegians are speaking a foreign language too. Your point is?

[@garethaethwy]

@@uingaeoc3905 obviously lost on you... Love to the family x

[@ferncat1397]

My favourite part of the video was your expressions of absolute linguistic joy at how the words mutate and how word order is different, very wholesome

[@andrewjohnfillery5954]

Steven is my Gaelic teacher! I've been using Italki for the last year or so, making good progress and having fun learning. If you're thinking about it - do it!

[@campbell1446]

I've studied with him, too! He's fantastic. Highly recommended!

[@Kodron_Pendragon]

Interesting video! I'd like to add a note about English vowels. In written form, English uses just five vowels (A, E, I, O, U), and sometimes Y is considered a vowel too. However, when it comes to spoken English, it's a bit more complex. There are around 18 distinct vowel sounds, known as phonemes. These sounds vary not just from one word to another but also change across different regional dialects.

[@lowri.williams]

It always makes me giggle whenever a Welsh place name goes viral online and commenters are like "Why are there no vowels in Wales? 😂😂😂" Guys.... You started that sentence with "why"!

[@Kodron_Pendragon]

@@lowri.williams ?

[@lowri.williams]

@@Kodron_Pendragon Just illustrating your point: we've several common words in English that could be considered "vowel-less" because, when written, they consist entirely of letters we would normally categorise as consonants, e.g. why, fly, by. People manage to use these every day without issue but at least once a year something will go viral about an "unpronounceable Welsh place name" or "why don't the Welsh use vowels?". It baffles me because if they can use words like "why", surely - even without going into the phonetics of it - their imagination can stretch far enough to consider that maybe it's that simple in Welsh (and many other languages) too.

[@frankhooper7871]

I was taught that the English vowels were: A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y and W

[@Kodron_Pendragon]

@frankhooper7871 Yes, but those are the only written vowels. When it comes to actual vowel sounds, English has 18.

[@sally6811]

What a fascinating film, well done. I'm English and am currently learning Irish, Manx and Cornish and thoroughly enjoying all of them.

[@johncarroll6075]

I learned Irish in school. Never used it as a teen. Re-learned it during covid and I’m proudly conversationally fluent again. Irish has had a huge renaissance in recent years. You’d be surprised how many people are using it in 2024. Go raibh maith agat leis an físeán seo agus d’iarracht a cur spreagadh ar ár dteanga dhúchais, a chara :)

[@cianmcguire5647]

Maith thú. Bheadh bród ar do shinsear!

[@fiftytwentythree]

I've always loved the sound of the town "Aberystwyth." It sounds like the setting of a fairy tale or something like that. It sounds very mystical.

[@nestoreleuteriopaivabendo5415]

Also that one is in a Map Men video as well!

[@pierreabbat6157]

How about "Ysbyty Ystwyth"?

[@richardsmith5249]

I had my appendix removed in Aberystwyth.

[@klaxoncow]

Ah, the place where the river Ystwyth meets the sea. Like, quite literally. That's what the name "Aberystwyth" actually means.

[@jonesnori]

It's also the name of a popular hymn tune.

[@americanexcursions3542]

I usually skip the endings on videos. This time I exited as you said “podcast”. Loaded the video again, forwarded to the end to hear the name of your podcast. Subscribed of course. Since I spend 30 hours a week listening to podcasts at work, I’ll hear every minute of your staring from the very first one.

[@hans-peterstiegler4576]

This is by far the best language channel I know, enjoining it very much 👍👍👍

[@Paulinkwell]

Thank for exploring the these languages. I've been learning Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) for a couple of years now. Thank you for promoting language learning. Tapadh Leibh, 's mìle taing

[@JamieSaunders-yn9nu]

Your videos about language are very educational. Learnt French and Latin for three years in high school. I found that learning the grammar of these languages helped me write and speak better English. I believe as many people as possible should learn to speak, read and write another language if for no other reason than to enrich your use of your native language.

[@BruceFox-Lefriche]

Thanks for another enjoyable and instructive video. I could be wrong on this, but I believe that the example given by Kensa of the French counting in 20s after 60 (70 = soixante-dix, 80 = quatre-vingts, 90 = quatre-vingt-dix) is one of the rare remnants in modern French of pre-Roman, Gaulish language characteristics.

[@i.b.640]

Yes, and I think the Belgium and Swiss French speakers dropped it and say septant and huitant.

[@BruceFox-Lefriche]

@@i.b.640 That's right. The Belgians say septante and also nonante (for 90) but not, I believe, huitante, which is used in some parts of Switzerland (and has largely replaced octante).

[@PedrSion]

@@BruceFox-Lefriche I believe that septante and nonante are also used by French Canadians

[@BruceFox-Lefriche]

@@PedrSion I'm not too sure of that. I have a feeling it could be a regional thing. From memory, I've only heard "soixante-dix" and "quatre-vingts", but it's not every day I bump into Canadians who say 70 and 80 in French... and even then, they could change their habits when speaking to Europeans.

[@i.b.640]

@@BruceFox-Lefriche ha, yes of course, huitante! thank you for putting me right :)

[@jcortese3300]

I will never stop finding Welsh to be the most beautiful, musical language in the world. I fell in love with it in 2003 and got extremely good at it; I can still get a lot out of it even though it's extremely difficult to maintain fluency in the US. One of the worst days I ever had not involving death was when S4C implemented geoblocking. Llond ceg o ryddemau, yn wir.

[@bensmith6554]

Couldn't you use a VPN?

[@jcortese3300]

@@bensmith6554 I'm a little wary of them from a security point of view, otherwise I'd definitely use one.

[@cbuzz2371]

Yeah use a vpn, Rob sometimes promotes one on this channel

[@belstar1128]

S4C implemented geo-blocking typical welsh mindset

[@klaxoncow]

@@belstar1128 You are aware that pretty much every single country on Earth has broadcasters that implement geo-blocking? It's usually to do with licensing rights, in fact. Money and contracts. (Which is why Rob can get regular sponsorships from those selling VPNs, which are great for by-passing the geo-blocking that MOST CHANNELS ON PLANET EARTH do, and which isn't remotely peculiar to S4C alone and, therefore, supposedly typical of a "Welsh mindset", whatever the feck that means.) But, please, don't let facts or logic get in the way of a unhealthy dose of irrational racism, by all means.

[@canaanarinda]

How have I only just today discovered this channel!!! OMG, I'm binge watching Rob all weekend 💯🥳

[@vincentsheldrake2834]

Many thanks from a Cornishman for including our story! Ten years ago when I first tried to learn Cornish it was difficult, many dry grammar books with little literature. Now having learnt Welsh too, Cornish has come leaps and bounds, I look forward to another attempt!

[@wolfpacksix]

I'm not Celtic, but this is fascinating. Great to see some attention given to these languages!

[@lorrainehirsch]

Thanks! I enjoy your posts v. much! I'm a curmudgeonly word nerd (I 've been known to respond to people I've heard say "dampen (one's) enthusiasm by saying, "That's only true if it rained on your parade." Grrr! It should be "damped" unless one is speaking of water. 😊) Of course, that only emphasizes my age and stuffiness. My son (who, BTW, taught mathematics at the Stowe School in England briefly after graduating from college, until his stint was curtailed when it shut down for COVID), once ostentatiously used the word "literally" instead of "figuratively," and both H and I jumped on him. He bet us $10 that he was correct. We took the bet, and he showed us the new Webster's, in which "literally" was listed as a synonym for "figuratively." We paid up. 😊 I also want to thank you for introducing me to *Blink*. I subscribed and am enjoying it immensely. PS When he came home from England, I told everyone that he'd been sent back to the US because he was cutting into Prince William's relationship with Catherine.

[@RobWords]

Lorraine, thank you so much for your generous support. But combined with your lost "literally" bet, you're now down $20! I hope you can win the next wordy wager. I think as long as we curmudgeons are around, the literally battle will never truly be lost. Thank you for your work to instil it in the next generation, too. Rob

[@jamesbmadden]

Tapadh leibh airson a' bhideo seo! I've been learning Scottish Gaelic for a while now but it's always fun to hear about the other Celtic languages and what they have in common! My favourite Gaelic feature, and as far as I know this is distinct from Irish and other Celtic languages, is the two different constructions for possessive pronouns: "mo ____" vs "an ___ agam," my ___ vs the ____ at me. Mo is used for "inalienable" things like family or body parts, and an ... agam is used for other stuff. It can also be used to indicate closeness, like "mo charaid" would be a better friend than "an caraid agam"

[@jamesdecross1035]

Surely, there are remnants of counting in base-20 in English, too, perhaps derived from these Celtic languages. Think of the lyric "Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie." where you add four to twenty get to 24, or "fourscore and ten", where "score" means twenty, so the total is 90.

[@jamesinorlando3454]

I think "four and twenty blackbirds. . ." is an example of English poetically showing its Germanic roots. Twenty-four in Dutch is "vierentwintig" (vier en twintig), and in German it's "vierundzwanzig" (vier und zwanzig).

[@meadow-maker]

a score is literally a score on and object. If it were evidence of vigessimal system it would have its roots much deeper than Old Norse for score on wood when you're counting. I get you've counted to twenty before putting the score but it's not really evidence. Not in the way a separate word for eleven and twelve is more evidence of base 12. I don't know it's just doesn't add up to me. No pun intended.

There are in fact many vestigial remnants of Celtic in English, particularly in place names and the names of rivers. Avon for example.

[@stewartmcardle8149]

When I was a lad in Yorkshire, we used to tell the time in this style....."it's five and twenty to.....etc....."

[@stephencrompton4352]

English would have been base 12 I reckon. Hence the separate words for "eleven" and "twelve" as opposed to "oneteen" or "twoteen".

[@debbaxley]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I think I asked you for it! Surprising how little of these languages made it into English.

[@draoi99]

This is great Rob, so glad you took an interest in Celtic languages. I live in London but I listen to Irish language radio every day, to keep my skills sharp. I don't understand why other Irish people get irrationally weird when Americans or English call it Gaelic, it seems perfectly correct to me. One notable feature of Irish is that linguists classify it as a Verb-Subject-Object language (VSO) whereas most other Indo-European languages are SVO... so in English where you would say "John kicked the ball", in Irish you would say "kicked John the ball." Some other Goidelic words in common usage in English: whisky/whiskey, trousers and of course, whenever anyone orders a Big Mac they are using the Goidelic word for "son."

[@romanr.301]

VSO languages are quite uncommon! As far as I know, it’s mainly Semitic languages like Arabic, and Austronesian languages like Tagalog. Most of the most common languages are either SOV or SVO.

[@number6photo]

@draoi99, I agree with not understanding why Irish people "get weird" if someone refers to the Irish language as Gaelic. My parents were born, raised, and educated in Ireland (80-100 years ago), they both spoke Irish, and they both referred to it as Gaelic when speaking English. I suspect it's a recent cultural thing now that Irish is apparently "cool" to speak, and the people trying to resurrect it are pointing out it shouldn't be called Gaelic (anymore).

[@ftumschk]

Welsh is VSO, too, for example "Eisteddodd y dyn ar y gadair" = "Sat the man on the chair" :)

[@gawkthimm6030]

​@@number6photo wasn't "gaelic" more scottish, while Irish celtic was different from it, and since northern Ireland was colonized by loyalist from scotland it might be connected to that?

[@number6photo]

@@gawkthimm6030my point was simply that the current crop of Irish speakers apparently prefer to make it clear that Gaelic is not the correct name for the Irish language, whereas 80-100 years ago, it was tolerated and even used by Irish people referring to their native language.

[@dpcnreactions7062]

If you go to the island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, you will find people who Gaelic. Back in the 90's there was also a movement there to revive Gaelic.

[@garethaethwy]

Gaelic in a place named after Brittany?

[@Fetherko]

& 🎼🎻🎶The Rankins

[@philroberts7238]

@@garethaethwy Not at all surprising. Lots of French and Scottish influences all over the Maritimes.

[@cacamilis8477]

@@philroberts7238 And Irish in Eastern Newfoundland, too. I remember visiting and I was incredibly surprised to find many older fishermen speaking English with what seemed to me like a very strong West Cork accent!

[@juliansmith4295]

@@garethaethwy To be fair, the place named after Brittany of which you speak is in a province named after Scotland.

[@SpiritmanProductions]

Great video, but how did you miss "shenanigans" in the Irish portion? 😉

[@RobWords]

Good spot!

[@anenglishmanplusamerican7107]

As a fellow Englishman, I will say this: Though I love my language and am proud of what we have achieved as peoples, I do acknowledge and am working towards learning Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, and other endangered languages. Mind you, I speak Indian languages since my parents were born in India, thus speaking Hindi, Gujarati, and Spanish besides my own. Though the last century saw an acceleration of the degradation of other languages of Great Britain, let us make this century an acceleration of increasing and making other languages besides English more prominent and widely spoken, while also preserving them.

[@xtramail4909]

❤

[@leod-sigefast]

I wholeheartedly agree. A worthy venture to keep ALL languages alive. I gave Welsh a try and learnt a bit...the soft mutation thing was too tricky though! I also try to learn Old English as I think our original Germanic Anglo-Saxon tongue has been diluted so much now by French and Latin words that it bears very little resemblance to its roots. I almost consider English to not exist anymore and is now what the great Victorian writer and Anglo-Saxonist William Barnes said: modern English is in fact a language called Englandish - English having begun its slow death from 1066 onwards. The "hobby language" Anglish is the nearest effort akin to language revival for English.

[@anenglishmanplusamerican7107]

@@leod-sigefast I completely agree, even our own tung is in danger. It has indeed degraded and the current generation is ruining it.

[@Matt09pearce]

What a treat to have Manx mentioned on this channel! 🇮🇲

[@ludicrousfunone5705]

Tolkein based Sindarin on Welsh, and the "dh" being similar to th is used in alot of Elvish names for places and people such as: "Caradhras" and "Maedhros". I do enjoy the Celtic language family they are beautiful to listen to.

[@annecarter5181]

So interesting; fun & informative. Thanks to all….

[@erisculpepper8867]

Chwarae teg i chdi! Well done! I speak north Walean. Irish is one that I would love to learn. Some say that Welsh doesn't have enough vowels. For me, Irish has too many consonants. lol But it makes learning the languages all the more fun :) Also, I find that the "mutations" in Welsh makes for easier pronunciation. Using the word "brawd" (brother) for example: it's easier to say "fy mrawd" than "fy brawd" (my brother).

[@tzveeble1679]

It's a bit like Yiddish and even Hebrew, which have been considered out of use, but both are spoken widely in modern Jewish society. I have an Irish friend in Australia who is very determined, and successful in teaching all his children Irish. A language is a soul. We speak, or at least, understand a language, and we gain a soul, an identity, an additional dimension of perception.

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

Love the tartan on his shirt! Slàinte mhath mo charaidean!

[@peteymax]

In Irish Séamus is James, but Shéamus is dear James (in Irish it is pronounced Hamish). Place names are SO IMPORTANT. They record history. Do is really important as Gaeilge, I do be doing whatever is about habitual behaviour. Manx is a beautiful language. It sounds like Dubliners speaking Irish. Wonder if it is related to Leinster Irish???

[@stephend9968]

With respect, there are a couple of things about your comment that, in my view, are incorrect. When addressing someone called Séamus in Irish, one should use the vocative case, which I'm fairly confident changes the name in two ways. Firstly, the initial letter becomes aspirated, which in modern Irish is represented by a 'h' after it, but used to be in the form of a dot over the letter. Either way, the pronunciation of the aspirated letter is as an English 'H'. Secondly, the last letter has an 'i' placed before it, which has the effect of changing the 's' sound to an English 'sh' sound. Hence, we get what sounds like Hamish. On top of that, I know of no valid use of the vocative case without it being preceded with the word 'A', so we get 'A Shéamuis'. I can't translate the word 'A', but it doesn’t mean 'dear', although I will accept that 'A Shéamuis' is the equivalent of 'Dear James', as the normal form of address, say, in a written communication. I contend that the two words together simply mean that the writer is addressing Séamus/James and it would be the same as starting the communication in English by just writing the person's name. It is no different for a verbal communication, such as for example, when a teacher wants to ask a pupil called Séamus to answer a question, in Irish he would address the said Séamus by saying 'A Shéamuis'. However, that is definitely not the same as saying 'Dear James'! I do not recognise 'I do be doing' as a valid grammatical construction, either in Irish or English. Yes, it is said by some, but I would maintain that it is not proper English and that, contrary to your statement, does not exist in Irish either. Perhaps you might give me examples of what you consider to be where it is validly used in Irish. P.S. I have never heard of a dialect of Irish that could be called 'Leinster Irish', only Munster, Connaught or Ulster.

[@noelleggett3727]

@@stephend9968 In standard Modern Irish (although is hardly matters), Séamas, and its vocative form, 'a Shéamais', are the preferred spellings of the name. In Irish, the letter A is more commonly used to indicate that a following consonant is broad. In Scottish Gaelic (Gàighlig), the letter U is preferred for the same purpose. So, Sèamus and 'a Shèamuis' are the more common spelling in Scotland.

[@stephend9968]

@@noelleggett3727 Firstly, I have never come across anyone who spelt their name as Séamas, but a few who spelt theirs as Seamus or Séamus (the latter being somewhat more difficult, when using a standard keyboard), so I would be very interested to know what source you have for the claim that spelling the name with an ‘a’ is the “preferred spelling”. In an effort to conduct some research, I consulted the website of the oireachtas (the Irish Parliament), where the names of current and former members can be searched. I found 20 matches for the name Seamus, which included 11 where the spelling was Séamus. However, I found no matches for the spelling Seamas, which (on the basis of the previous search) would have included any, where the spelling was Séamas. I think that this is reasonably good evidence to suggest that you are mistaken in your claim about the “preferred spelling”. Secondly, both letters ‘a’ and ‘u’ are considered to be broad (as is ‘o’), but I’m not really sure why this would determine which letter would be preferred, in this context. Finally, it seems to me to be a personal (or parental) choice as to how one spells one’s own name, though I do accept that there is a particular rule with regard to spelling, in general, that if applied to proper nouns, would mean that the ‘a’ in Séamus would have to be matched with another broad vowel, but either ‘a’, ‘u’ or ‘o’ would meet that requirement. I wonder if anyone ever suggested to Éamon de Valera (former President of Ireland) that he should change the spelling of his surname, as it breaks that rule not once, but twice!

[@rollinwithunclepete824]

Very interesting, Rob. Thank you to all your guests - all are rightly proud of their linguistic heritage.

[@LessAiredvanU]

A Celtic Cornish word that has crossed into English is "parc" meaning field - but specifically a field that belongs to something or someone. Parc Eglos means church field, literally 'field of the church'. Therefore a Royal Park, which became the word park in its current use, was Parc Kynng - the Kings Field.

[@philiptaylor7902]

Parc may be a word that passed into Cornish directly from Latin “parcum”, similar to words like eglwys and pont/bont into Welsh.

[@MixerRenegade95]

@@philiptaylor7902 Or from Celticos senos/Celthic sen: ''Parricos/Parrich'' meaning ''meadow and park''?

[@meadow-maker]

@@philiptaylor7902 and ffenestr, llyvr, (not sure about llyvr, could be a cognate, cf English leaf, but ffenestr for sure came from the Romans.)

[@meadow-maker]

English 'Park' is from Old French parc "enclosed wood or heath land used as a game preserve" (12c.), probably ultimately from West Germanic *parruk "enclosed tract of land" (source also of Old English pearruc, root of paddock (n.2), Old High German pfarrih "fencing about, enclosure," German pferch "fold for sheep," Dutch park). etymonline. You have to be sure a word isn't a cognate rather than a borrowing. It's not as easy when all the languages are Indo-European.

[@DavidB5501]

Highly unlikely. 'Parc' is the standard word in French, and 'Park' in German. The OED gives French as the immediate source of the English word, and 'Germanic' as the ultimate source.

[@SiusaidhMac]

Scottish Gaidhlig isn't just spoken in Scotland. It's spoken in Canada as well. In Atlantic Canada, Gaidlig is spoken by at least 1,500 people. The Nova Scotia Gaelic College was founded in 1939, and St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish is the only such university department outside Scotland to offer four full years of Scottish Gaelic instruction.

[@medievalchameleon102]

I don’t think I’d want to go to Francis Xavier university, I’m worried I would be antagonized by the local residents.

[@mogznwaz]

@@SiusaidhMac so Scots emigrated and didn’t assimilate even after hundreds of years, clinging on to their old identity. Why are you so proud of this?

[@ventdelamer]

They have bilingual English/Gaelic road signs on Cape Breton (Aspy Bay/Bàgh Asbaidh), but few people can speak the language today. In Linden MacIntyre’s Cape Breton Trilogy (The Long Stretch, The Bishop’s Man, and Why Men Lie) the older generation, in 1960s, speaks Gaelic at home, but their children speak English among themselves, and the next generation can only speak English 😢

[@jdenmark1287]

Ironically the most beautiful speakers of English are native speakers of Gaelic .

[@dantherrien341]

Thank you. There is so much information in every episode, i have to watch them twice. You break my brain, and I like it.

[@richardsmith5249]

When there were a lot of guys interned in Long Kesh during the Troubles, one of the things they did to pass the time was to learn Irish. As they were from all over the country, they had a lot of variants of the language, and so rather than a pure dialect, they evolved their own hybrid. This was known as "the jailtalk".

[@noelleggett3727]

... and the Irish-speaking community in Long Kesh was known as "the Jailtacht". ('Gaeltacht' being the Irish word for for the Irish-speaking districts.)

[@JDR134]

Great video. I wish it lasted longer i wanted more and more ...🎉

[@deanpapadopoulos3314]

One of the smartest men out there regarding this subject. Fun and entertaining, humble and informative.

[@caseyhamm4292]

so glad you put in the bit about irish people not using the term gaelic. stuff like that is such an easy thing to avoid and i wondered about it immediately once you called it a gaelic language

[@peteymax]

I actually don’t mind Gaelic as it connects us with other Gaelic languages

[@marcasdebarun6879]

It's not even true though. Some actual native speakers will prefer calling it Gaelic because the word is so similar to the native name(s) for the Irish. Monolingual English-speaking Irish people don't really know that and will insist that calling it Gaelic is incorrect, but that's not really the case.

[@caseyhamm4292]

@@marcasdebarun6879 yeah as an english-descended american though i have learned when someone tells me about their culture, i tend to believe them and honor their wishes. call me crazy for literally just wanting to make people comfortable

[@marcasdebarun6879]

@@caseyhamm4292 Well as an Irish person I'm telling you you have free reign to call it Gaelic because native speakers do, and they're the ones that are the authority on the language, not English speakers.

[@caseyhamm4292]

@@marcasdebarun6879 the phrase is ‘free rein’ and i will continue to probably just meet individuals where they were at instead of saying ‘oh i can say it mark from youtube told me i could’

[@poledra73]

Can we acknowledge that the main reason why Gaelic and Celtic languages were endangered is because the English historically tried to eradicate the native languages that they considered inferior. Best way to eradicate a culture is to remove or discourage their language. My mother was born in Kilkenny in 1935. She was never taught her own language. When I visited Ireland in 2008 and told her that young people were speaking Irish Gaelic she cried.

[@malcolmbrooks9527]

My maternal grandparents spoke Welsh, but wouldn't let any of their children (20's and 30s) learn it because of the attitude of the school teachers, all English. They lived in Connah's Quay. However, my cousins in the 60s had to learn it at school.

[@bunnyrblxx]

and breton in france

[@musiqtee]

Happened (and happens, but not by state force) in Norway & Sweden vs Samii language and culture. There are numerous sad stories, old and new. No excuses, and same narrative of sovereign power…

[@flora20]

It was absolutely awful the way children would be punished for speaking their native languages; I’ve read about children being made to wear signs saying no Welsh and then being beaten at the end of the week. It is absolutely disgraceful and the impact is still felt today.

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

It is acknowledged in the video. I think it's not that helpful though as none of the English people around today were involved in that and it just makes people get defensive which derails discussions from the real subject.

[@Adlerjunges83]

Every new video and mail newsletter I see in my inbox are a source of joy and happiness, and this way of learning new things about language(/s) is huge fun! Love this account and your content more and more the more videos I watch. Just amazing! ❤ The other language related account with you and another person is also great.

[@allanlank]

Other places Celtic languages are spoken. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada (Scottish Gaelic) Tamworth, Ontario, Canada (Irish) Patagonia, Argentina (Welsh)

[@peglor]

One of the most interesting phrases that looks likely to have come from Irish is 'an dtuigeann tú?' which means, 'do you understand?', which became 'you dig?' when Irish emigrants and blues musicians started collaborating in the US.

[@Zelmel]

While an interesting theory, doing some quick looking it seems like this is highly debated and (to me at least) feels less likely than the other main theories that it derived directly from English "dig" but in a metaphorical sense or was from a West African Wolof language word that meant "to understand or appreciate"

[@Fledhyris]

@@Zelmel It wouldn't surprise me at all if, given the ethnic/cultural makeup of the time and place, BOTH languages came into play here. The similarity of the word would surely have helped it to spread among both Irish and West African communities. Whoever first came up with it, the others could still 'dig' the word. It makes so much more sense for it to have come from a word with its literal meaning, than to have any link to the English 'excavate a hole'.

[@Zelmel]

@@Fledhyris Definitely a reasonable hypothesis. Apparently the "excavate a hole" idea is the metaphorical meaning of it like to "dig for knowledge" or similarly "dig into" a subject or whatever.

[@CCc-sb9oj]

@@Zelmel There are a lot of fake Irish etymologies thanks to an Irish American quack 'linguist' (he never actually graduated university) named Daniel Cassidy, who did not know any Irish but figured he could make up Irish origins for hundreds of words in English based on what he felt they sounded like or looked like. So while there are words that did (galore, smithereens) come from Irish, and plenty of words that could potentially have, the water is very muddied among non-linguists because of the sheer volume of etymologies without any real basis being shared on the internet.

[@Zelmel]

@@CCc-sb9oj Yeah, I try to check etym online on these things for just those sorts of reasons.

[@ashwilliams11]

I did not know that about Penzance. I live in a town in North wales called Caergybi which in English is Holyhead. So interesting how all these place names are linked.

[@ruspj]

i thought you might have mentioned the language that counts 1 2 3 as Yan tan tethera - was this an old language or just a counting system? i heard it was used in the north of england in places like yorkshire, but i think it was base 20 so might be related to cornish which is in the far south of england. first i ever heard of it was from the terry pratchet Tiffany Aching books, then i learned that it was real old english counting system.

[@Lichfeldian--Suttonian]

I like the topographical and toponymic names found on our maps. Loads of the names can be found in there.

[@MacMichael267]

Another terrific video of yours again, Rob! I simply love them, so full of new insights of the beautiful language(s) spoken on the British Isles. ❤

[@hedydd2]

I spent a weekend at Portmeirion resort village, famous for the Prisoner series in the late 1960’s, the other week and it was heartening to observe that about 90% of the hundreds of staff were first language Welsh speakers. Welsh is very well used as a first language over large swathes of Wales and is even fashionable in the south east, especially Cardiff these days. I would say that 90% of farmers, for instance, as well as their service providers, are Welsh first language over three quarters of the Welsh principality with pockets that are very English, such as the ‘down below’s’ of Pembrokeshire below the Landsker Line [look it up] who are looked down upon by proper Welsh folk but who themselves used to think themselves superior to Welsh speakers.

[@soupdragon151]

I spent holidays as a child in north wales and welsh was spoken as an everyday language by almost everyone only the tourists spoke english its the only language of those mentioned here I've actually heard spoken IRL Pembroke was known as "the little england beyond wales" as it was settled historically by english speakers when the Normans conquered the area the native welsh were forever revolting so they brought in settlers who weren't hostile. Even as late as the mid 20thC you could have only english speakers on one end of a lane and at the other end over the border were almost entirely welsh speakers who didn't learn english until they were practically in high school