Cumbric_language

Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in Northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, i.e. the area anciently referred to as the Hen Ogledd, and centred on Cumbria. Place name evidence suggests it may also have been spoken further south, in the Yorkshire Dales. Most linguists believe that it became extinct in the 11th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent kingdom of Strathclyde into the kingdom of Scotland.

One of the main questions regarding the status of Cumbric, is whether it should be considered a separate language at all. The North-Welsh speaking area was probably isolated from the Welsh speaking kingdoms of Wales after the Battle of Chester in 616, which appears to have sealed the Northumbrian conquest of Cheshire and Lancashire. It is impossible for us to know how long Brittonic speech persisted in these conquered areas (although the Celtic place-name cluster around Wigan suggests there may have been pockets in which the language survived for a considerable time) or whether language innovations were transmitted between the North-Welsh and the Welsh of Wales.

The scarcity of linguistic evidence means that Cumbric\'s distinctness from Welsh is more deduced than proven. However, Cornish and Welsh evolved into separate languages with low mutual intelligibility in the period between 597-1000, after being geographically separated by the fall of the Cotswold region at the Battle of Deorham. It is therefore highly probable that the final stages of Cumbric were very different from Welsh.

Equivalence with Old Welsh

Some linguists argue that the differences between Cumbric and Old Welsh are not enough to classify it as a language. Since, at some stages in its development and usage, it was likely mutually intelligible with Welsh, it is not certain whether and when exactly it should be classified as having existed as a separate language.

Linguistic evidence

Although the language is long extinct it is arguable that traces of its vocabulary persisted into the modern era. In the 19th and 20th centuries sheep counts and children\'s counting rhymes which are possibly derived from Cumbric were collected throughout northern England and southern Scotland: eg Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera, Pimp compared to Old Welsh Un, Dou, Tri, Petwar, Pimp. Whether these counting systems bear any relation to the Brittonic dialects spoken in the region is a matter of some debate. It has been argued that these numerals were introduced to England by Welsh shepherds or monks during the medieval period. The fact that some have also been collected outside of the region in which Cumbric was spoken may indicate that they were a later introduction from Wales, or, less probably that they are part of a wider celtic sub-stratum. It is also possible that the counting systems were preserved in the Cumbric speaking region then exported into neighbouring areas.

More concrete evidence of Cumbric exists in the place-names of the extreme northwest of England and the South of Scotland, the personal names of Strathclyde Britons in Scottish, Irish and Anglo-Saxon sources, and a few Cumbric words surviving into the High Middle Ages in South West Scotland as legal terms.

From this scanty evidence, little can be deduced about the singular characteristics of Cumbric, not even the name its speakers used to refer to it. What is known is that the language was Brythonic Insular Celtic, descended from Old North Welsh, related to the presumed Brythonic Pictish language, and to Cornish and Breton. Due to its location, it is likely that Goidelic and Scandinavian loan-words were incorporated into the language before its demise.

Counting Systems of Possible Cumbric Origin

The numbers show some similarity to one another, and commonly go into folk etymology, e.g. bumper or into rhyming patterns, e.g. yan, tan or leetera, seetera. In some cases, there is also some shift, e.g. in Ayrshire, "seetera" means seven, but in Keswick, "sethera" is six.

The Cumbric origin of these counting systems is debatable, but there is a clear Celtic component in their origin, e.g pethera/methera Welsh pedwar. Similar Yan Tan Tethera counts have been collected throughout upland England.

Scottish words of possible Cumbric origin

It is not always easy to distinguish possible Pictish loanwords from those of Cumbric. They have been borrowed into both Lowland Scots and Scottish Gaelic, but because Gaelic is also a Celtic language, it would have shared much vocabulary with Cumbric anyway. However, the presence of such words is one factor that differentiates Scottish and Irish Gaelic.

• Bach - cowpat (cf Welsh bawch, Gaelic buadhar)
• Baivenjar - mean fellow (Welsh bawyn)
• Brat - an apron in Welsh, and the same in Gaelic. Found in Yorkshire
• Brogat - a type of mead (Welsh bragod - also found in Chaucer)
• Coble - small flat bottomed boat (also North East England), akin to Welsh ceubal and Latin caupulus
• Crag - rocks (either from Brythonic craig or Goidelic creag)
• Croude - type of small harp, as opposed to clarsach (Gaelic Cruit, Welsh Crwth)
• Croot - a small boy (Welsh crwt, Gaelic cruit, "someone small and humpbacked")
• Galnes - weregeld, or fine for homicide (Welsh galanas)
• Linn - pool in river; waterfall (either from Brythonic llyn or Goidelic linne)
• Lum - Well known Scottish word for chimney, Welsh llumon
• Peat - probably from Brythonic for "piece" (Welsh peth "thing" vs. Gaelic cuid "part")
• Pen - pointed conical hill (Gaelic beinn probably of Pictish origin^{[citation needed]})
• Poll - a pool (Brythonic pwll, Goidelic poll)
• Vendace - fish of Lochmaben, Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake, probably cognate with Gwyniad

Notes

See also

• Cumbrian dialect
• Etymology of Cumbrian place names

External links

• A website devoted to the Cumbric language Revival
• A PDF of known Cumbric place names in England and Scotland, with explanations for their meanings.

References

• Jackson, Kenneth H. (1953). Language and History in Early Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
• Russell, Paul (1995). An Introduction to the Celtic Languages. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-10082-8. 
• Schmidt, Karl Horst (1993). "Insular Celtic: P and Q Celtic", in M. J. Ball and J. Fife (ed.): The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge, 64-98. ISBN 0-415-01035-7. 

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