Celtic languages

Introduction
Continental Celtic
Insular Celtic
Historical development
- Common Celtic
- Relationships and ancient contacts of Celtic
- Early records of Celtic
  - Continental Celtic
  - Insular Celtic
Linguistic characteristics of the Insular Celtic tongues
- Phonological characteristics
- Grammatical characteristics
Modern languages of the family
- Irish
- Scottish Gaelic
- Manx
- British languages
- Welsh
- Breton
- Cornish

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Sláinte: The influence of Irish language on English

Learn about the history of the Irish language in modern Ireland and Irish linguistic study at University College Cork, Ireland

Thematic map of Eurasia showing the approximate geographic distribution of Indo-European language families, each represented by a different color. Areas include Celtic in western Europe, Germanic in northern and central Europe, Romance in southwestern Europe, Slavic in eastern Europe and Russia, and Indo-Iranian languages in South Asia. Non-Indo-European language regions and areas of common bilingualism are also indicated.

At a Glance

Celtic languages summary

Quizzes

Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)

Word Nerd Quiz

Buddhist engravings on wall in Thailand. Hands on wall. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, science and technology, geography and travel, explore discovery

Languages & Alphabets

Related Questions

How are Celtic languages related to the Indo-European language family?
How did Celtic settlement in Ireland become associated with the La Tène culture?
How did Celtic tribes reach the Balkans and Anatolia during the 3rd century BCE?
How did English invasions affect the older British Celtic language in Britain?
How did Roman expansion affect Celtic-speaking peoples in Gaul and northern Italy?
How did Scottish Gaelic develop a future meaning from its inherited present tense?
How did Welsh develop from the British Celtic language spoken in Britain?
How did the Anatolia hypothesis explain the spread of Indo-European languages into Europe?
How did the Highland Line mark the spread of English and Scottish Gaelic in Scotland?
How did the introduction of English contribute to the decline of Manx on the Isle of Man?
How does the Celtic system of counting by twenties compare with counting systems in English and French?
What are the two leading proposed homelands for Proto-Indo-European speakers?
What did the 1901 census reveal about Manx speakers?
What unusual features are found in the Insular Celtic languages?
When did Irish writers begin using the Roman alphabet?
When did the earliest written evidence of Irish appear?
Where do scholars think the original homeland of the Celts may have been located?
Where was Cumbric spoken and when did it probably disappear?
Where was the Pontic-Caspian steppe homeland proposed for Proto-Indo-European located?
Where were Celtic languages spoken in Europe before and during Roman rule?
Which Celtic words appear to have been borrowed into Germanic languages?
Which Continental Celtic language was once dominant in Gaul?
Which French words may have come from Celtic languages?
Which modern languages belong to the Brythonic group of Celtic languages?
Which modern languages belong to the Goidelic group of Celtic languages?
Which types of Celtic words were borrowed into Latin before Roman expansion?
Who first translated the Anglican Book of Common Prayer into Manx?
Why are Brythonic languages sometimes called P-Celtic languages?
Why are Goidelic languages sometimes called Q-Celtic languages?
Why cannot linguists precisely date the divergence of Indo-European language branches from linguistic evidence alone?
Why did Scottish Gaelic become a separate written language from Irish during the 17th and 18th centuries?
Why did Scottish Gaelic remain strong in the Hebrides compared with much of mainland Scotland?
Why did some scholars once propose an especially close relationship between Celtic and Italic languages?
Why is Breton considered an Insular Celtic language rather than a Continental Celtic language?
Why is it difficult for scholars to trace the historical development of Continental Celtic languages?
What are the Baltic languages?
Which countries primarily speak Baltic languages?
Are any Baltic languages endangered or extinct?
How did the Romance languages get their name?
Why are the Romance languages gendered?

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External Websites

The Open University - Open Research Online - The Celtic Languages in the Age of Globalisation: Problems and Possibilities (PDF)
The Canadian Encyclopedia - Celtic Languages
World History Encyclopedia - A Linguistical Analysis of Ancient Celtic Languages

Celtic languages

language family

Also known as: Keltic languages

Written by

David Greene

Senior Professor, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Author of The Irish Language.

David Greene

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Celtic languages, branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken throughout much of Western Europe in Roman and pre-Roman times and currently known chiefly in the British Isles and in the Brittany peninsula of northwestern France. On both geographic and chronological grounds, the languages fall into two divisions, usually known as Continental Celtic and Insular Celtic. Continental Celtic is the generic name for the languages spoken by the people known to classical writers as Keltoi and...

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