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Caesar and the rest of the British Isles could simply have been a random geographical association, it is reflected in reverse by the near-total absence of celtic language to be found in stone inscriptions in the same areas of England set up either during or after the Roman occupation ( Figures 2.2 and 7.4 ). In contrast, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, and to a lesser extent Scotland, have a rich record of inscribed stones attesting to their celtic-language heritage from soon after the Romans left. 30
The main positive evidence for celtic-language use in Roman England comes from linguistic research into place-names of Roman Britain and personal and tribal names cited in contemporary documents and on tablets and coins. 31 Although there is clear evidence for some celtic-derived names in Roman England from all these different sources, their relative frequency compared with equivalent parts of the rest of the Roman Empire (only 34% in England according to one study – see Figure 7.2 32 ) does not give the sort of overwhelming endorsement required for confidence in a 100% celtic-speaking England. (This concern is acknowledged in recent critical studies 33 ; I shall discuss this evidence in more detail in Chapter 7 .)
So to summarize, the West Country, Wales and northern England were home in large part to tribes for which there is some evidence for a celtic-language link: the Brigantes and Cornovii through their names, and the Welsh tribes, the Cornish Dumnonii and the Carvetii through surviving celtic-linguistic substrata and a presumed connection with the Brigantes during Roman times. For the tribes of the south coast of England, of whom the Roman historians had most to say, there is less evidence for Celtic culture or name, or for celtic-language use.
I have mentioned living evidence for Brythonic celtic being spoken in Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, northern England and southern Scotland, but there are claims that Brythonic was previously spoken throughout Scotland (by the Picts), and even in Ireland.
Picts …
The Picts, supposedly painted, aboriginal tribes of northern Scotland, have always been a problem to place, since whatever language or languages they originally spoke have apparently disappeared except for a few scraps of evidence. They seem to have been linguistically replaced at least in western Scotland by Scottish Gaelic and ultimately by English during the first millennium AD . Scottish Gaelic was spoken by people of the Irish Dalriadic kingdom, thought to have invaded from Ireland in the fifth century AD – although, as we shall see below, there is more than one opinion on their time of arrival.
A number of theories have been put forward as to what language or languages the Picts spoke, and argument still continues, but a careful article written as long ago as 1955 by Kenneth Jackson still covers most and rejects quite a few. 34 The main problem is the lack of direct evidence of almost all kinds used in language reconstruction, such as texts or surviving linguistic remnants, which could be used to compare with place-names. Even celtic inscriptions, which are so useful in attesting to celtic language in other non-English parts of the British Isles, are absent in a large part of the areas supposedly occupied by the Picts.
The Medieval author Adamnan wrote in his
Life of St Columba
(completed around AD 692–7) 35 that Columba used an interpreter to converse with the Picts. Presumably this meant that they spoke a different tongue from Columba’s, which was Irish Gaelic. Since Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish Gaelic, that would tend to exclude Gaelic, unless Pictish was a particularly archaic form.
Bede refers to Pictish in his
Ecclesiastical History
( AD 731). Bede lived in Jarrow in the north of England at a time when Pictish was still being spoken in Scotland. His first-hand observation should, hopefully, be more useful than his historical compilations of Gildas, who was much more concerned about religion
The main positive evidence for celtic-language use in Roman England comes from linguistic research into place-names of Roman Britain and personal and tribal names cited in contemporary documents and on tablets and coins. 31 Although there is clear evidence for some celtic-derived names in Roman England from all these different sources, their relative frequency compared with equivalent parts of the rest of the Roman Empire (only 34% in England according to one study – see Figure 7.2 32 ) does not give the sort of overwhelming endorsement required for confidence in a 100% celtic-speaking England. (This concern is acknowledged in recent critical studies 33 ; I shall discuss this evidence in more detail in Chapter 7 .)
So to summarize, the West Country, Wales and northern England were home in large part to tribes for which there is some evidence for a celtic-language link: the Brigantes and Cornovii through their names, and the Welsh tribes, the Cornish Dumnonii and the Carvetii through surviving celtic-linguistic substrata and a presumed connection with the Brigantes during Roman times. For the tribes of the south coast of England, of whom the Roman historians had most to say, there is less evidence for Celtic culture or name, or for celtic-language use.
I have mentioned living evidence for Brythonic celtic being spoken in Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, northern England and southern Scotland, but there are claims that Brythonic was previously spoken throughout Scotland (by the Picts), and even in Ireland.
Picts …
The Picts, supposedly painted, aboriginal tribes of northern Scotland, have always been a problem to place, since whatever language or languages they originally spoke have apparently disappeared except for a few scraps of evidence. They seem to have been linguistically replaced at least in western Scotland by Scottish Gaelic and ultimately by English during the first millennium AD . Scottish Gaelic was spoken by people of the Irish Dalriadic kingdom, thought to have invaded from Ireland in the fifth century AD – although, as we shall see below, there is more than one opinion on their time of arrival.
A number of theories have been put forward as to what language or languages the Picts spoke, and argument still continues, but a careful article written as long ago as 1955 by Kenneth Jackson still covers most and rejects quite a few. 34 The main problem is the lack of direct evidence of almost all kinds used in language reconstruction, such as texts or surviving linguistic remnants, which could be used to compare with place-names. Even celtic inscriptions, which are so useful in attesting to celtic language in other non-English parts of the British Isles, are absent in a large part of the areas supposedly occupied by the Picts.
The Medieval author Adamnan wrote in his
Life of St Columba
(completed around AD 692–7) 35 that Columba used an interpreter to converse with the Picts. Presumably this meant that they spoke a different tongue from Columba’s, which was Irish Gaelic. Since Scottish Gaelic is similar to Irish Gaelic, that would tend to exclude Gaelic, unless Pictish was a particularly archaic form.
Bede refers to Pictish in his
Ecclesiastical History
( AD 731). Bede lived in Jarrow in the north of England at a time when Pictish was still being spoken in Scotland. His first-hand observation should, hopefully, be more useful than his historical compilations of Gildas, who was much more concerned about religion
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