Brithenig

Brithenig
Created by	Andrew Smith
Date	1996
Setting and usage	A thought experiment in alternate history, Ill Bethisad, if Latin had replaced Celtic
Purpose	constructed languages artistic languages alternative languages Brithenig
Sources	constructed languages  a posteriori languages (Romance language based on Celtic)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzt

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 a sister language to French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Italian, albeit a test-tube child, which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from Brythonic 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 (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	Spanish	Catalan	French	Italian	Rhaeto-​Romance	Romanian	Wenedyk	Welsh
arm	breich	brachium	braço	brazo	braç	bras	braccio	bratsch	braţ	brocz	braich
black	nîr	nĭger	negro	negro	negre	noir	nero	nair	negru	niegry	(du)
city, town	ciwdad	cīvĭtas	cidade	ciudad	ciutat	cité	città	citad	oraş	czytać	(dinas)
death	morth	mŏrs	morte	muerte	mort	mort	morte	mort	moarte	mroć	(marwolaeth)
dog	can	canis	cão	perro	gos / ca	chien	cane	chaun	câine	kań	(ci)
ear	origl	auris, aurĭcŭla	orelha	oreja	orella	oreille	orecchio	ureglia	ureche	urzykła	(clust)
egg	ew	ovum	ovo	huevo	ou	œuf	uovo	ov	ou	ów	wy
eye	ogl	ŏcŭlus	olho	ojo	ull	œil	occhio	egl	ochi	okieł	(llygad)
father	padr	pater	pai	padre	pare	père	padre	bab	tată	poterz	(tad)
fire	ffog	ignis, fŏcus	fogo	fuego	foc	feu	fuoco	fieu	foc	fok	(tân)
fish	pisc	pĭscis	peixe	pez, pescado	peix	poisson	pesce	pesch	peşte	pieszcz	pysgodyn
foot	pedd	pĕs	pé	pie	peu	pied	piede	pe	picior	piedź	(troed)
friend	efig	amīcus	amigo	amigo	amic	ami	amico	ami	prieten	omik	(cyfaill)
green	gwirdd	vĭrĭdis	verde	verde	verd	vert	verde	verd	verde	wierdzi	gwyrdd
horse	cafall	ĕquus, cabăllus	cavalo	caballo	cavall	cheval	cavallo	chaval	cal	kawał	ceffyl
I	eo	ĕgo	eu	yo	jo	je	io	jau	eu	jo	mi
island	ysl	īnsŭla	ilha	isla	illa	île	isola	insla	insulă	izła	(ynys)
language, tongue	llinghedig, llingw	lĭngua	língua	lengua	llengua	langue	lingua	linguatg, lieunga	limbă	lęgwa	(iaith)
life	gwid	vīta	vida	vida	vida	vie	vita	vita	viaţă	wita	(bywyd)
milk	llaeth	lac	leite	leche	llet	lait	latte	latg	lapte	łoc	llaeth
name	nôn	nōmen	nome	nombre	nom	nom	nome	num	nume	numię	(enw)
night	noeth	nŏx	noite	noche	nit	nuit	notte	notg	noapte	noc	(nos)
old	gwegl	vĕtus	velho	viejo	vell	vieux	vecchio	vegl	vechi	wiekły	(hen)
school	yscol	schŏla	escola	escuela	escola	école	scuola	scola	şcoală	szkoła	ysgol
sky	cel	caelum	céu	cielo	cel	ciel	cielo	tschiel	cer	czał	awyr
star	ystuil	stēlla	estrela	estrella	estel	étoile	stella	staila	stea	ścioła	(seren)
tooth	dent	dēns, dĕntem	dente	diente	dent	dent	dente	dent	dinte	dzięć	dant
voice	gwg	vōx	voz	voz	veu	voix	voce	vusch	voce	wucz	(llais)
water	ag	aqua	água	agua	aigua	eau	acqua	aua	apă	jekwa	(dŵr)
wind	gwent	vĕntus	vento	viento	vent	vent	vento	vent	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, no. 25-26, 1999, p. 255.
• Havliš, Jan, "Výlet do Conlangey", in: Interkom, 2008/3 (243), pp. 17–21.
• International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, William J. Frawley, Oxford University Press (C) 2003, p. 154
• Higley, Sarah L., Audience, Uglossia, and CONLANG: Inventing Languages on the Internet. M/C Journal Vol 3 Issue 1 (2000). Cited as example of an a posteriori constructed language.
• Parkvall, Mikael, Limits of Language. Almost Everything You Didn't Know You Didn't Know about Language and Languages, 2008, pp. 91–93, 131.

External links

• The cultures of Ill Bethisad
• The page of Brithenig
• The page of Brithenig (mirror)
• Romance glossary (a list of common words in several Romance languages, including Brithenig and Wenedyk)