Brithenig

Brithenig
Created by	Andrew Smith
Date	1996
Setting and usage	A thought experiment in alternate history, Ill Bethisad, if Latin had replaced the Brittonic languages
Purpose	Indo-European Italic Romance British Latin Brithenig
Sources	a posteriori Romance language constructed from Celtic languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzt
Linguist List	bzt
Glottolog	None

Brithenig is an invented language, or constructed language ("conlang"). It was created as a hobby in 1996 by Andrew Smith from New Zealand, who also invented the alternate history of Ill Bethisad to "explain" it.

Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, like Esperanto or Interlingua, nor to provide detail to a work of fiction, like Klingon from the Star Trek scenarios. Rather, Brithenig started as a thought experiment to create a Romance language that might have evolved if Latin had displaced the native Celtic language as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain.

The result is an artificial sister language to French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Occitan and Italian which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from the Brittonic languages and from English throughout its pseudo-history. One important distinction between Brithenig and Welsh is that while Welsh is P-Celtic, Latin was a Q-Italic language (as opposed to P-Italic, like Oscan), and this trait was passed onto Brithenig.

Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages are Breathanach (influenced by the other branch of Celtic), Judajca (influenced by Hebrew), Þrjótrunn (a non-Ill Bethisad language influenced by Icelandic), Wenedyk (influenced by Polish), and Xliponian (which experienced a Grimm's law-like sound shift). It has also inspired Wessisc, a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic.

Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part of ISO 639-3.

Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at the Cleveland Public Library from May through August 2008. Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included the Babel Text in Smith's language).

Vocabulary

Most of Brithenig's vocabulary is distinctively Romance, even though it is disguised as Welsh. The following list of 30 words gives an impression of what Brithenig looks like in comparison to nine other Romance languages including Wenedyk, and to Welsh. The similarity of about one-quarter of the Welsh words to Brithenig words (indicated by not being bracketed) is due to their common Indo-European background, although a few others, such as ysgol, were borrowings from Latin into Welsh.

Brithenig compared with Romance and Welsh

English	Brithenig	Latin	Portuguese	Galician	Spanish	Catalan	Occitan	French	Italian	Rhaeto-​Romance	Friulian	Romanian	Wenedyk	Welsh
arm	breich	brachium	braço	brazo	brazo	braç	braç	bras	braccio	bratsch	braç	braţ	brocz	braich
black	nîr	nĭger, nĭgrum	negro	negro	negro	negre	negre	noir	nero	nair	neri	negru	niegry	(du)
city, town	ciwdad	cīvĭtās, cīvĭtātem	cidade	cidade	ciudad	ciutat	ciutat	cité	città	citad	citât	oraş, cetate	czytać	(dinas)
death	morth	mŏrs, mŏrtem	morte	morte	muerte	mort	mòrt	mort	morte	mort	muart	moarte	mroć	(marwolaeth)
dog	can	canis	cão	can	perro, can	gos, ca	gos, can	chien	cane	chaun	cjan	câine	kań	(ci)
ear	origl	auris, aurĭcŭla	orelha	orella	oreja	orella	aurelha	oreille	orecchio	ureglia	orele	ureche	urzykła	(clust)
egg	ew	ovum	ovo	ovo	huevo	ou	uòu	œuf	uovo	ov	ûf	ou	ów	wy
eye	ogl	ŏcŭlus	olho	ollo	ojo	ull	uèlh	œil	occhio	egl	voli	ochi	okieł	(llygad)
father	padr	pater, patrem	pai	pai	padre	pare	paire	père	padre	bab	pari	tată	poterz	(tad)
fire	ffog	ignis, fŏcus	fogo	lume, fogo	fuego	foc	fuòc	feu	fuoco	fieu	fûc	foc	fok	(tân)
fish	pisc	pĭscis	peixe	peixe	pez, pescado	peix	peis	poisson	pesce	pesch	pes	peşte	pieszcz	pysgodyn
foot	pedd	pĕs, pĕdem	pé	pé	pie	peu	pè	pied	piede	pe	pît	picior	piedź	(troed)
friend	efig	amīcus	amigo	amigo	amigo	amic	amic	ami	amico	ami	amì	amic	omik	(cyfaill)
green	gwirdd	vĭrĭdis	verde	verde	verde	verd	verd	vert	verde	verd	vert	verde	wierdzi	gwyrdd
horse	cafall	ĕquus, cabăllus	cavalo	cabalo	caballo	cavall	caval	cheval	cavallo	chaval	cjaval	cal	kawał	ceffyl
I	eo	ĕgo	eu	eu	yo	jo	ieu	je	io	jau	jo	eu	jo	(mi)
island	ysl	īnsŭla	ilha	illa	isla	illa	illa	île	isola	insla	isule	insulă	izła	(ynys)
language, tongue	llinghedig, llingw	lĭngua	língua	lingua	lengua	llengua	lenga	langue	lingua	linguatg, lieunga	lenghe	limbă	lęgwa	(iaith)
life	gwid	vīta	vida	vida	vida	vida	vida	vie	vita	vita	vite	viaţă	wita	(bywyd)
milk	llaeth	lac, lactis	leite	leite	leche	llet	lach	lait	latte	latg	lat	lapte	łoc	llaeth
name	nôn	nōmen	nome	nome	nombre	nom	nom	nom	nome	num	non	nume	numię	(enw)
night	noeth	nŏx, nŏctem	noite	noite	noche	nit	nuèch	nuit	notte	notg	gnot	noapte	noc	(nos)
old	gwegl	vĕtus, vĕtŭlus	velho	vello	viejo	vell	vièlh	vieux	vecchio	vegl	vieli	vechi	wiekły	(hen)
school	yscol	schŏla	escola	escola	escuela	escola	escòla	école	scuola	scola	scuele	şcoală	szkoła	ysgol
sky	cel	caelum	céu	ceo	cielo	cel	cèl	ciel	cielo	tschiel	cîl	cer	czał	(awyr)
star	ystuil	stēlla	estrela	estrela	estrella	estel	estela	étoile	stella	staila	stele	stea	ścioła	(seren)
tooth	dent	dēns, dĕntem	dente	dente	diente	dent	dent	dent	dente	dent	dint	dinte	dzięć	dant
voice	gwg	vōx, vōcem	voz	voz	voz	veu	votz	voix	voce	vusch	vôs	voce	wucz	(llais)
water	ag	aqua	água	auga	agua	aigua	aiga	eau	acqua	aua	aghe	apă	jekwa	(dŵr)
wind	gwent	vĕntus	vento	vento	viento	vent	vent	vent	vento	vent	vint	vânt	więt	gwynt

Example

The Lord's Prayer:

Nustr Padr, ke sia i llo gel:

sia senghid tew nôn:

gwein tew rheon:

sia ffaeth tew wolont,

syrs lla der sig i llo gel.

Dun nustr pan diwrnal a nu h-eidd;

e pharddun llo nustr phechad a nu,

si nu pharddunan llo nustr phechadur.

E ngheidd rhen di nu in ill temp di drial,

mai llifr nu di'll mal.

Per ill rheon, ill cofaeth e lla leir es ill tew,

per segl e segl. Amen.

References

• Geolinguistics. 25–26. American Society of Geolinguistics: 255. 1999. ISSN 0190-4671. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Havliš, Jan (March 2008). "Výlet do Conlangey" (PDF). Interkom (in Czech). 243: 17–21.
• Frawley, William J., ed. (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 154. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Parkvall, Mikael (2008). Limits of Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know You Didn't Know about Language and Languages. Wilsonville: Battlebridge Publications. pp. 91–93, 131. OCLC 70894631.

External links

• Smith, Andrew (23 December 2007). "The Page of Brithenig". Andrew's Homepage. Dunedin. Archived from the original on 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2015-09-07. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Brown, Padraic; et al. "Ill Bethisad". bethisad.com. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
• Fröhlich, Werner. "Romance glossary". geonames.de. Retrieved 2015-09-07.