fandomhigh | CELT 100 Lesson One

Feasgar math.

I see you have made it. This is CELT 100, Celtic Languages. In this class you will learn rudimentary Scottish Gaelic, its roots, idioms, derivation, and relationship to other Celtic languages. Hopefully language tapes will be made available to you before long. If you still wish to join the class, simply indicate your desire to do so and complete today's homework. I will be in my office if any one has any questions or needs help.

Today we will be learning the origins of the Celtic languages. To begin with, there are a class of languages known as the Indo-European languages, because they are spoken in Europe and the Indian subcontinent. Several original languages emerged at the same time, and are thus considered cognate. Included in this group is Latin, from whence sprung the Romance languages, such as French, Italian, and Spanish; the Germanic languages, whose offspring include Anglo-Saxon and thence English; the Baltic-Slavic languages; Greek; and Sanskrit. The one we will be focusing on is the Celtic language group.

Within the Celtic language group there are two further divisions. The first category is the Brythonic (or Brithonic) languages, which are Cornish, Welsh, and Breton, spoken in Cornwall, Wales, and the Brittany region of western France. Of these, Welsh is the strongest living language; Breton is still alive despite being ignored and undermined by the French government; Cornish is dead. The second category, that which will be the focus of this course, is the Goidelic languages, which consist of Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic (sometimes referred to simply as Irish), and Manx. Manx is also a mostly dead language, having been spoken on the Isle of Man. However, because of the existence of recordings of this man, Manx is undergoing a revival. Cornish scholars are attempting the same by reconstructing how the language might have sounded by its relationship to the other Brythonic languages.

It might be interesting to note that there is one language in Europe and the Indian subcontinent that bears absolutely no resemblance to any other language in the Indo-European family at all, at all. This language is Basque, and it has been proposed that this, or a relative of this, was the language of the native Picts, who lived in the British Isles before the influx of continental Celts.

Now, on to today's short language lesson. I greeted you with a short phrase, "feasgar math." This means "good afternoon". Actually it means "afternoon good", as in Gaelic the noun always comes before the adjective. The companion phrase to "feasgar math" is "madainn mhath," which means "good morning". I expect you all to learn these phrases and use them to greet myself and your fellow students.

You will notice that the adjective "math" acquired an 'h' when attached to "madainn". This is because Gaelic, like French, has grammatical gender. "Madainn" is female, causing lenition of the adjective. We will talk about the letter 'h', lenition, and grammatical gender in future lessons.

Your homework for tonight comes in two parts. The first is to find out the year in which the last native speakers of both Cornish and Manx died; note that these are two separate years. The second is to introduce yourself. However, you must do this in Gaelic. I will give an example. "'S mise Camulus. Co thusa?" The first part "'s mise" simply means "I am", and the question "co thusa" means, "and you?" If you are feeling especially brave, find out how your name translates into Gaelic and introduce yourself that way. One final note; the word Gaelic is actually a anglicised version of the word; it would correctly be spelt Gaidhlig.

'S mise Camulus. Co thusa?

[[OOC: I'm a Celtic studies major, so this is really for my benefit. Feel free to mime handing in homework without actually writing anything.]]

CELT 100 Lesson One

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