Celtic languages

Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, both those spoken by the ancient Celts, and those used by their modern descendants, the Irish, Manx, Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. The Celtic languages are classified as a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. They were spoken across western Europe during the 1st millennium BC, but are now limited to a few enclaves in the British Isles, western Canada, Patagonia, scattered groups in the United States and Australia, and on the peninsula of Brittany in France.

Characteristics of Celtic languages

Although there are many differences between the individual Celtic languages, they do show many family resemblances. While none of these characteristics is necessarily unique to the Celtic languages, there are few if any other languages which possess them all. They include:

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• Initial consonant mutation (Insular Celtic only)
• Inflected prepositions (Insular Celtic only)
• VSO word order as standard (Insular Celtic only)
• Two grammatical genders (modern Insular Celtic only; Old Irish and the Continental languages had three genders)
• Definite but no indefinite article (Insular Celtic only; no evidence for a definite article in Continental languages)
• Counting by twenties.

Examples:

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Ná bac le mac an bhacaigh is ní bhacfaidh mac an bhacaigh leat. (Irish example)

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(Literal translation) Don't bother with son the beggar's and not will-bother son the beggar's with-you.

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• bhacaigh is the genitive of bacach. The i is the genitive inflection; the bh is a mutation.
• leat is the second person form of the preposition le.
• The order is VSO in the second half.

pedwar ar bymtheg a phedwar ugain (Welsh example)

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four on fifteen and four twenties

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• bymtheg is a mutated form of pymtheg, which is pump five plus deg ten. Likewise, phedwar is mutated from pedwar.
• The multiples of ten are deg, ugain, deg ar hugain, deugain, hanner cant, trigain, deg a thrigain, pedwar ugain, deg a phedwar ugain, cant.