Cumbric

Cumbric
Region	Scotland, North West England, The Pennines
Extinct	11th - 12th century
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cumbric
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xcb

Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in Northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, i.e. the area anciently referred to as the Hen Ogledd, and centred on Cumbria. Place name evidence suggests it may also have been spoken further south, in the Yorkshire Dales. Most linguists believe that it became extinct in the 11th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent kingdom of Strathclyde into the kingdom of Scotland.

One of the main questions regarding the status of Cumbric, is whether it should be considered a separate language at all. The North-Welsh speaking area was probably isolated from the Welsh speaking kingdoms of Wales after the Battle of Chester in 616, which appears to have sealed the Northumbrian conquest of Cheshire and Lancashire. It is impossible for us to know how long Brittonic speech persisted in these conquered areas (although the Celtic place-name cluster around Wigan suggests there may have been pockets in which the language survived for a considerable time) or whether language innovations were transmitted between the North-Welsh and the Welsh of Wales.

The scarcity of linguistic evidence means that Cumbric's distinctness from Welsh is more deduced than proven. However, Cornish and Welsh evolved into separate languages with low mutual intelligibility in the period between 597-1000, after being geographically separated by the fall of the Cotswold region at the Battle of Deorham. It is therefore highly probable that the final stages of Cumbric were very different from Welsh.

Equivalence with Old Welsh

Some linguists argue that the differences between Cumbric and Old Welsh are not enough to classify it as a language. Since, at some stages in its development and usage, it was probably mutually intelligible with Welsh, it is not certain whether and when exactly it should be classified as having existed as a separate language.

Linguistic evidence

Although the language is long extinct it is arguable that traces of its vocabulary persisted into the modern era. In the 19th and 20th centuries sheep counts and children's counting rhymes which are possibly derived from Cumbric were collected throughout northern England and southern Scotland: eg Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera, Pimp compared to Old Welsh Un, Dou, Tri, Petwar, Pimp. Whether these counting systems bear any relation to the Brittonic dialects spoken in the region is a matter of some debate. It has been argued that these numerals were introduced to England by Welsh shepherds or monks during the medieval period. The fact that some have also been collected outside of the region in which Cumbric was spoken may indicate that they were a later introduction from Wales, or, less probably that they are part of a wider celtic sub-stratum. It is also possible that the counting systems were preserved in the Cumbric speaking region then exported into neighbouring areas.

More concrete evidence of Cumbric exists in the place-names of the extreme northwest of England and the South of Scotland, the personal names of Strathclyde Britons in Scottish, Irish and Anglo-Saxon sources, and a few Cumbric words surviving into the High Middle Ages in South West Scotland as legal terms.

From this scanty evidence, little can be deduced about the singular characteristics of Cumbric, not even the name its speakers used to refer to it. What is known is that the language was Brythonic Insular Celtic, descended from Old North Welsh, related to the presumed Brythonic Pictish language, and to Cornish and Breton. Due to its location, it is likely that Goidelic and Scandinavian loan-words were incorporated into the language before its demise.

Counting Systems of Possible Cumbric Origin

*	Keswick	Westmorland	Eskdale	Millom	High Furness	Wasdale	Teesdale	Swaledale	Wensleydale	Ayrshire
1	yan	yan	yaena	aina	yan	yan	yan	yahn	yan	yinty
2	tyan	tyan	taena	peina	taen	taen	tean	tayhn	tean	tinty
3	tethera	tetherie	teddera	para	tedderte	tudder	tetherma	tether	tither	tetheri
4	methera	peddera	meddera	pedera	medderte	anudder	metherma	mether	mither	metheri
5	pimp	gip	pimp	pimp	pimp	nimph	pip	mimp(h)	pip	bamf
6	sethera	teezie	hofa	ithy	haata	-	lezar	hith-her	teaser	leetera
7	lethera	mithy	lofa	mithy	slaata	-	azar	lith-her	leaser	seetera
8	hovera	katra	seckera	owera	lowera	-	catrah	anver	catra	over
9	dovera	hornie	leckera	lowera	dowa	-	horna	danver	horna	dover
10	****	****	dec	dig	****	-	****	dic	****	dik
15	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	mimph	-	bumfit	mimphit	bumper	-
20	giggot	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The numbers show some similarity to one another, and commonly go into folk etymology, e.g. bumper or into rhyming patterns, e.g. yan, tan or leetera, seetera. In some cases, there is also some shift, e.g. in Ayrshire, "seetera" means seven, but in Keswick, "sethera" is six.

The Cumbric origin of these counting systems is debatable, but there is a clear Celtic component in their origin, e.g pethera/methera Welsh pedwar. Similar Yan Tan Tethera counts have been collected throughout upland England.

English words of possible Cumbric origin

A number of words occurring in Scottish and Northern England dialects of English have been proposed as being of possible Brythonic origin. Ascertaining the real derivation of these words is far from simple, due in part to the similarities between some cognates in the Brythonic and Goidelic languages (see Linn below) and the fact that borrowing took place in both directions between these languages. Another difficulty lies with some words which were taken into Old English as in many cases it is impossible to tell whether the borrowing is directly from Brythonic or not (see Brogat, Crag). The following are possibilities:

• Bach - cowpat (cf Welsh bawch, Gaelic buadhar)
• Baivenjar - mean fellow (Welsh bawyn)
• Brat - apron; often cited as a relic of Brythonic, the word is found in Welsh, Scots and northern English dialects but originates in Gaelic. Possibly spread into English by Hiberno-Norse settlers.
• Brogat - a type of mead (Welsh bragod - also found in Chaucer)
• Coble - small flat bottomed boat (also North East England), akin to Welsh ceubal and Latin caupulus
• Crag - rocks (either from Brythonic craig or Goidelic creag)
• Croude - type of small harp, as opposed to clarsach (Gaelic Cruit, Welsh Crwth)
• Croot - a small boy (Welsh crwt, Gaelic cruit, "someone small and humpbacked")
• Galnes - weregeld, or fine for homicide (Welsh galanas)
• Linn - pool in river; waterfall (either from Brythonic llyn or Goidelic linne)
• Lum - Well known Scottish word for chimney, Welsh llumon
• Peat - probably from Brythonic for "piece" (Welsh peth "thing" vs. Gaelic cuid "part")
• Pen - pointed conical hill (Gaelic beinn probably of Pictish origin)
• Poll - a pool (Brythonic pwll, Goidelic poll)
• Vendace - fish of Lochmaben, Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake, probably cognate with Gwyniad

Some possible words in Cumbric

Cumbria - Cwmbru Cumbric - Cwmbraic England - Lhaigr English - Saisnec House - tu Hill - pen lake - lhyn river - avon

See also

• Cumbrian dialect
• Etymology of Cumbrian place names

External links

• A website devoted to the Cumbric language Revival

References

• Jackson, Kenneth H. (1953). Language and History in Early Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Russell, Paul (1995). An Introduction to the Celtic Languages. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-10082-8.
• Schmidt, Karl Horst (1993). "Insular Celtic: P and Q Celtic". In M. J. Ball and J. Fife (ed.) (ed.). The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 64–98. ISBN 0-415-01035-7. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)