The Celtic Languages
An overview and directory of Europe’s oldest living tongues, and the work of bringing them back.
The Celtic languages are a living family, spoken today along the north-western edge of Europe. Rosmerta Publishing’s language work begins here: restoring the words, grammar, and literature of each, one language at a time. Explore the family on the map below, then open a language to begin.
Hover over a nation, or tab to it, for a short description. Irish and Manx are open now; select either to explore it.Irish and Manx are open now. Tap either on the map to explore it. Descriptions of all six languages are in the directory below.
A Family in Two Branches
The Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European family, once spoken across much of Europe and now confined to its north-western edge. The living Celtic languages fall into two groups. The Goidelic (or Gaelic) group contains Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. The Brythonic group contains Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.
All six descend from a common ancestor, Proto-Celtic, and share features that set them apart from their neighbours, including initial consonant mutations and, in most, verb-first word order. Centuries of political and economic pressure, above all the spread of English and French, drove each of them into decline. Manx and Cornish both lost their last traditional native speakers, and every one of the six has been classified as endangered.
The story now is one of revival. Welsh has the largest community and official status in Wales; Irish is an official language of Ireland and of the European Union; and Scottish Gaelic, Breton, Cornish, and Manx are each the focus of active revitalisation through schools, media, and new speakers. This is the family Rosmerta’s language project begins with.
The Celtic Language Family
All six languages descend from a single ancestor, Proto-Celtic, which split into the Goidelic and Brythonic branches.
Irish and Manx are live now. Tap either to open it; the others are in preparation.
The Six Languages
Irish and Manx are open now. The other four are in preparation, and each will get the same treatment: a sourced dictionary, its grammar, and its restored literature.
Irish
Gaeilge · Goidelic branch
Irish is the first official language of Ireland and an official language of the European Union. Around 1.8 million people report some ability in it, though the number who speak it daily is far smaller. It carries the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe.
Manx
Gaelg · Goidelic branch
Manx is the Gaelic language of the Isle of Man. Its last traditional native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974, and UNESCO listed the language as extinct in 2009. A revival built from old dictionaries and recordings has since produced a Manx medium school and a new generation of speakers.
Scottish Gaelic
Gàidhlig · Goidelic branch
Scottish Gaelic was carried from Ireland to Scotland in the early medieval period and is still spoken in the Highlands and the Western Isles. Recent censuses record roughly 60,000 speakers, most of them now living outside the traditional heartlands. It has official recognition in Scotland, its own schools, and its own broadcaster.
In preparation
Welsh
Cymraeg · Brythonic branch
Welsh is the strongest of the Celtic languages, with around half a million speakers recorded in Wales at the last census. It has official status there, a full Welsh medium education system, and its own broadcaster. It belongs to the Brythonic branch, so it is a distant cousin of Irish rather than a close relative.
In preparation
Cornish
Kernewek · Brythonic branch
Cornish is the Brythonic language of Cornwall, closely related to Welsh and Breton. Its traditional speakers died out around the end of the eighteenth century, and the language was revived from written records beginning in 1904. A few hundred people speak it today, and it is taught to a growing number of children.
In preparation
Breton
Brezhoneg · Brythonic branch
Breton is spoken in Brittany, in north western France, and was carried there from Britain in the early medieval period. It is the only living Celtic language on the European mainland. Speaker numbers have fallen from over a million a century ago to a few hundred thousand today, most of them elderly.
In preparation