Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in England in Cumbria, Lancashire, some parts of Northumbria and Yorkshire and in southern Lowland Scotland, i.e. the area anciently referred to as the Hen Ogledd. 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. Brythonic is one of two major divisions of Insular Celtic languages (the other being Goidelic). ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Cumbria (IPA: ), is a shire county in the extreme North West of England. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Section from Shepherds map of the British Isles about 802 AD showing the kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria is primarily the name of a petty kingdom of Angles which was formed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, from two smaller kingdoms of Bernicia and Diera, and... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Lowland-Highland divide The Scottish Lowlands (a Ghalldachd, meaning roughly the non-Gaelic region, in Gaelic), although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Highlands (or Gàidhealtachd), that is, everywhere due... This article is about the country. ... Yr Hen Ogledd or The Old North. Part of northern Britain before the Anglo-Gaelic conquest The Hen Ogledd, or Yr Hen Ogledd, is an Old Welsh term meaning The Old North which refers to the sub-Roman Brythonic kingdoms of what is now northern England and southern Scotland. ... The Yorkshire Dales (also known as the Dales) is the name given to an upland area, mostly in Yorkshire, in Northern England. ... Strathclyde (Srath Chluaidh in Gaelic) was one of the regional council areas of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. ...

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 Lancashire and Cheshire. 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. Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Combatants Northumbria Powys Commanders Æthelfrith The Battle of Chester was fought in 616 between Northumbria and the Welsh Kingdom of Powys. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... For other uses, see Cheshire (disambiguation). ... , Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. ... This article is about the country. ...

Reconstructions of the Cumbric language are currently being attempted, and a small online beginners guide to Cumbric has been written, named 'Camow Cyntaf yn Gwmbraic - First steps in Cumbric'.

The scarcity of linguistic evidence means that Cumbric's distinctness from Welsh is more deduced than proven. However, Cornish and Welsh evolved into separate, mutually unintelligible languages 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. The Cotswolds are a range of hills in central England, sometimes called the heart of England, a hilly area reaching nearly 300 m or 1000 feet. ... The Battle of Deorham occurred in 577 between the West Saxons and the Britons. ...

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. 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. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

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 cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a significant architectural contribution of the High Middle Ages. ...

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. The Pictish language is the extinct language of the Picts, in what is now Scotland. ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ...

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 Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick. ... 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 of England. ... The following places have the name Eskdale: Eskdale, the valley in Cumbria, England Eskdale in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Eskdale in North Yorkshire, England Eskdale in Victoria, Australia This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... , 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 Hill. ... Furness (IPA: ) is a peninsula in the southern part of Cumbria, in north-west England. ... Wasdale (pronounced as in was-dale, not waz-dale) is a valley in the western Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. ... Teesdale is a dale, or valley, of the east side of the Pennines in England. ... Swaledale is a dale, or valley, of the east side of the Pennines in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in 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 in Scottish Gaelic) is a region of south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. ... Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways: A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word, a false etymology. ...

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. ...

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. Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

• 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, probably cognate with Gwyniad

Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mead Mead is a fermented alcoholic beverage made of honey, water, and yeast. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Chanticleer the rooster from an outdoor production of Chanticleer and the Fox at Ashby_de_la_Zouch castle Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. ... A clàrsach, now in the Museum of Scotland. ... Weregild (Alternative spellings: wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc. ... Peat in Lewis, Scotland Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. ... Lochmaben is a small town in Scotland, United Kingdom. ... Binomial name Coregonus pennantii Valenciennes, 1848 The gwyniad (Coregonus pennantii) is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae) native to Bala Lake in Wales. ...

Notes

1. ^ Nicolaisen, W.F.H Scottish Place Names pp 131

See also

• Cumbrian dialect

This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

External links

• A website devoted to the Cumbric language Revival

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.