What language was spoken in Great Britain and Ireland before Celtic culture? (ancient, European)
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I've been trying to find information about preceltic languages in Great Britain, but it seems that the irruption of the Celtic culture some 2700 years ago removed any traces.
For continental Europe, pre-Celtic languages of the European Bronze Age may be taken to include other Indo-European dialects (Illyrian, possibly Lusitanian, the hypothetical Proto-Italo-Celtic dialects, Belgian, "Old European"[1]) on one hand, and non-Indo-European and pre-Indo-European languages (variously hypothesized to include Basque,[2][3] Etruscan[4] and Rhaetic) on the other.
Recent work by Foster and Toth, Gray and Atkinson, Rexova, Frynta and Zrzavy suggests that the Proto-Celtic language branched from the Indo-European tree between 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.[5][6][7] Note, though, that Proto-Indo-European itself is usually believed to have been spoken only about 6,000 years ago, so significant differences of opinion exist; the Anatolian hypothesis is often associated with older divergence points.
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I was going to venture Basque as the guess since there has been much research lately into the origin of the Britons/Irish/Welsh as being an offshoot of the Basque peoples. That research, some of which was posted here, showed that the Celtic traditions/language essentially replaced the Basque language and culture.
Location: where the moss is taking over the villages
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I considered trying to learn Gaelic at one time. I gave up. I prefer the Latin/Greek roots that I'm accustomed too. There were too many rules & exceptions.... it reminded me of trying to learn Korean. I gave that up, too, of course.
I considered trying to learn Gaelic at one time. I gave up. I prefer the Latin/Greek roots that I'm accustomed too. There were too many rules & exceptions.... it reminded me of trying to learn Korean. I gave that up, too, of course.
When I lived in Ireland, I had a hankering too, but it quickly faded when I learned that I had absolutely no idea where to start. I learned Swedish in less than a year, but it is both similar to and much simpler than, English.
I've spent year studying Spanish, and I understand a bit, and I think it is a gorgeous, useful language, but I am too lazy to go much farther with it.
I've always suspected that the first post-Ice Age inhabitants of the British Isles were the same people who inhabited the rest of the northern edge of Europe - the Finns.
What about toponyms and transliterated texts, texts written using the alphabets of other languages?
Celtic language arrived into Great Britain and Ireland during the seventh century before Christ, the Celtic culture brought the Iron culture... What about the ancient names of places, towns?
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