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Cumbric
Spoken in: Scotland, North West England, The Pennines
Language extinction: 11th - 12th century [1]
Language family: Indo-European
 Celtic
  Insular Celtic
   Brythonic
    Cumbric
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: –
ISO 639-3: xcb

 

Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in Northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, i. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. The Pennines are a low-rising Mountain range in Northern England and southern Scotland. According to some definitions an extinct language is a Language which no longer has any speakers, whereas a dead language is a language which is no longer spoken List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The term Insular Celtic refers to those Celtic languages which originated in the British Isles, in contrast to the Continental Celtic languages of The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Scottish Lowlands ( a' Ghalldachd, meaning roughly 'the non-Gaelic region' in Gaelic, and called Lawlands or Lallans in Scots Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. e. the area anciently referred to as the Hen Ogledd, and centred on Cumbria. Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term meaning 'The Old North' and referring to the sub-Roman Brythonic kingdoms of what is now Northern England Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy Place name evidence suggests it may also have been spoken as far south as the Yorkshire Dales. The Yorkshire Dales (also known as The Dales) is the name given to an upland area in Northern England. 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. Strathclyde ( Gaelic: Srath Chluaidh) (lit "Valley of the Clyde" originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the kingdoms The Kingdom of Scotland ( Gaelic: Rìoghachd na h-Alba, Scots: Kinrick o Scotland) was a State in northwest Europe

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, dividing the Brythonic peoples into 3 areas (Modern Wales, Cornwall and Northwest England, the latter two later accepted the King of Wessex's dominance and dissolved into England). Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic The Battle of Chester (in Old Welsh, Guaith Caer Legion and in modern Welsh, Brwydr Caer) is generally agreed to have taken place in 616 as Cheshire (or archaically the County of Chester) is a county in North West England. This is a list of monarchs of Wessex until 924. For later monarchs see the List of monarchs in the British Isles. 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. Wigan is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south of Preston, west-northwest of Manchester

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. The Battle of Deorham was fought in southwestern Britain in 577, between the Saxons of Wessex and the Britons to their west It is therefore highly probable that the final stages of Cumbric were very different from Welsh.

Contents

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 probably 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. Counting sheep is a mental exercise used in some European cultures as a means of lulling oneself to sleep A counting-out Game is a simple game intended to select a person to be "it" often for the purpose of playing another game Yan Tan Tethera was a traditional numeric Jargon used by Shepherds to count Sheep in northern England and southern Scotland 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. In Contact linguistics, a substratum ( lat sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a Language 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. The High Middle Ages was the period of European history in the 11th 12th and 13th centuries (AD 1000&ndash1299

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. Pictish is a term used for the Extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland Due to its location, it is likely that Goidelic and Scandinavian loan-words were incorporated into the language before its demise. The Goidelic languages, (also sometimes called particularly in colloquial situations the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) historically formed a Dialect

Counting Systems of Possible Cumbric Origin

* Keswick Westmorland Eskdale Millom High Furness Wasdale Teesdale Swaledale Wensleydale Ayrshire
1 yan yan yaena aina yan yan yan yahn yan yinty  
2 tyan tyan taena peina taen taen tean tayhn tean tinty  
3 tethera tetherie teddera para tedderte tudder tetherma tether tither tetheri  
4 methera peddera meddera pedera medderte anudder metherma mether mither metheri  
5 pimp gip pimp pimp pimp nimph pip mimp(h) pip bamf  
6 sethera teezie hofa ithy haata - lezar hith-her teaser leetera  
7 lethera mithy lofa mithy slaata - azar lith-her leaser seetera  
8 hovera katra seckera owera lowera - catrah anver catra over  
9 dovera hornie leckera lowera dowa - horna danver horna dover  
10 dick dick dec dig dick - dick dic dick dik  
15 bumfit bumfit bumfit bumfit mimph - bumfit mimphit bumper -  
20 giggot - - - - - - - Jiggit -  

The numbers show some similarity to one another, and commonly go into folk etymology, e. Keswick (pronounced "kez-ick" /ˈkɛzɪk/ is a Market town within the district of Allerdale, Cumbria, England. Westmorland (formerly also spelt Westmoreland, an even older spelling is Westmerland) is an area of north-west England and one of the 39 Historic counties Millom is a town on the estuary of the River Duddon in Cumbria, England, which in Victorian Times was merely a small hamlet by the name of Holborn Furness (ˈfɘˑnəs is a Peninsula in the southern part of Cumbria, in north-west England. Wasdale (pronounced as woz -dale not waz -dale is a Valley in the western Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England There is a separate article for the local government district of Teesdale. Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Northern England. Wensleydale is the Valley (dale of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England. Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir ʃir̴əxg̊ iɲiɾʲˈaːɾʲ is a Registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word a False etymology. 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. Yan Tan Tethera was a traditional numeric Jargon used by Shepherds to count Sheep in northern England and southern Scotland

English words of possible Cumbric origin

A number of words occurring in Scottish and Northern England dialects of English have been proposed as being of possible Brythonic origin[2]. Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern Northern England, The North, The North of England or (less commonly The North Country refers to the parts of England north of an ill-defined line Ascertaining the real derivation of these words is far from simple, due in part to the similarities between some cognates in the Brythonic and Goidelic languages (see Linn below) and the fact that borrowing took place in both directions between these languages. The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being The Goidelic languages, (also sometimes called particularly in colloquial situations the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) historically formed a Dialect Another difficulty lies with some words which were taken into Old English as in many cases it is impossible to tell whether the borrowing is directly from Brythonic or not (see Brogat, Crag). The following are possibilities:

Notes

  1. ^ Nicolaisen, W. Lochmaben ( Gaelic Loch Mhabain) is a small town in Scotland, and site of a once-important castle Not to be confused with Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire Derwent Water (or Derwentwater) is one of the principal bodies of water in the Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest Lakes in the Lake District of England. The gwyniad ( Coregonus pennantii) is a Species of Freshwater Fish in the Salmon family (family Salmonidae F. H Scottish Place Names pp 131
  2. ^ http://www.dsl.ac.uk/

See also

External links

References

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