Welsh language
Welsh language. The oldest language spoken in Britain, with an unbroken history from Brythonic origins as part of the Celtic family of Indo-European languages from which most European languages derive. Its development was powerfully affected by external linguistic influences: Latin of Rome and the Christian Middle Ages; Irish, a Goidelic form of Celtic; Norse to a minor extent; and especially English following the Germanic invasions of Britain, and French after the Norman Conquest. Germanic and English advances westward led to the separate development of Brythonic Celtic in Wales, Cumbria, and Cornwall: only Welsh survives; Cumbric died out in the 11th cent. and Cornish in the 18th. At the same time, Welsh, the language of that part of Britain which the invaders called foreign (Wealas), acquired its characteristics of initial mutations, a complex word order, and an accent on the penultimate syllable. Those who used this language called themselves Cymry (fellow-countrymen).
Welsh appeared as a recognizable language before ad 600; up to the mid-12th cent., when French and English influences became strong, Old Welsh has left few traces apart from inscriptions, manuscript glosses, and Welsh poetry in saga or prophetic vein and usually recorded in manuscripts of the 13th and 14th cents., e.g. The Book of Aneurin and The Book of Taliesin, and perhaps too the prose tales known as the Mabinogi. Middle Welsh from the mid-12th cent. to the early 15th was rich in prose and popular verse, whose writers were patronized by Welsh princes and then (after 1283) by gentry of Welsh and immigrant lineage. Several dialects also emerged: according to Gerald of Wales (d. 1223), Welsh ‘is more delicate and richer in north Wales’, but ‘the language of Ceredigion in south Wales … is the most refined’. The same influences that enriched the language set the scene for its decline, for trends in government and society, immigration and town foundation, popularized Latin, French, and especially English in the later Middle Ages. The Act of Union (1536) sought to replace Welsh with English in official contexts; although this was not fully practicable, it discouraged its use and patronage, and the gentry gradually ceased to speak Welsh, adopting English surnames instead of Welsh patronymics.
Salvation came with printing and the Reformation, especially with the translation of the Scriptures and the Prayer Book into Welsh (1567, 1588). The dignity of William Morgan's Bible (1588) set a standard for literary Welsh thereafter. Educational, antiquarian, publishing, and religious movements in the 17th and 18th cents. ensured its survival as a spoken and written tongue; indeed, the 18th cent. saw a renaissance in Welsh culture. Even after half a century of industrialization, in 1801 80 per cent of Wales was Welsh-speaking; the borderland and southern littoral had not been so for centuries. Industrialization was not at first an enemy to Welsh, for many migrants to the southern valleys were Welsh-speaking, and in 1851 there were more Welsh-speakers than in 1801; but as a proportion of the expanding population they were a declining number (from 80 to 67 per cent between 1801 and 1851). The popularity of English among the upper classes, the demands of British education, the cosmopolitan industrial and commercial centres, immigration, and mass media and communications undermined Wales's linguistic character and portrayed the language as old-fashioned. By 1901, 50 per cent of Wales's population spoke Welsh; thereafter the decline was relentless, the figure standing at 19 per cent in 1981 (about 500,000 people), mostly in the rural west and north-west. In North America, too, where Welsh was implanted by emigrants in the late 19th cent., social and religious changes produced decline.
Yet since the 18th cent., Welsh literary culture has shown some creativity: an interest in Welsh history and tradition (including the eisteddfod), a vigorous Welsh press, active nonconformity, the growth of national sentiment, and the foundation of national institutions (notably a library, museum, and university) in the late 19th and early 20th cents. More recently, opinion has focused intently on the question of the language's survival. It has been buttressed by academic study and a literary renaissance, acceptance at all levels of education, as well as by pressure groups, even perhaps violent protests. Official milestones are the report on The Legal Status of the Welsh Language (1965), the Welsh Language Act (1967) which enshrined the principle of equal validity with English, a Welsh TV channel (1982), and the Welsh Language Board (1993) to oversee its use and fate. It remains to be seen whether this nurturing will enhance its vitality and stem its overall decline.
Welsh appeared as a recognizable language before ad 600; up to the mid-12th cent., when French and English influences became strong, Old Welsh has left few traces apart from inscriptions, manuscript glosses, and Welsh poetry in saga or prophetic vein and usually recorded in manuscripts of the 13th and 14th cents., e.g. The Book of Aneurin and The Book of Taliesin, and perhaps too the prose tales known as the Mabinogi. Middle Welsh from the mid-12th cent. to the early 15th was rich in prose and popular verse, whose writers were patronized by Welsh princes and then (after 1283) by gentry of Welsh and immigrant lineage. Several dialects also emerged: according to Gerald of Wales (d. 1223), Welsh ‘is more delicate and richer in north Wales’, but ‘the language of Ceredigion in south Wales … is the most refined’. The same influences that enriched the language set the scene for its decline, for trends in government and society, immigration and town foundation, popularized Latin, French, and especially English in the later Middle Ages. The Act of Union (1536) sought to replace Welsh with English in official contexts; although this was not fully practicable, it discouraged its use and patronage, and the gentry gradually ceased to speak Welsh, adopting English surnames instead of Welsh patronymics.
Salvation came with printing and the Reformation, especially with the translation of the Scriptures and the Prayer Book into Welsh (1567, 1588). The dignity of William Morgan's Bible (1588) set a standard for literary Welsh thereafter. Educational, antiquarian, publishing, and religious movements in the 17th and 18th cents. ensured its survival as a spoken and written tongue; indeed, the 18th cent. saw a renaissance in Welsh culture. Even after half a century of industrialization, in 1801 80 per cent of Wales was Welsh-speaking; the borderland and southern littoral had not been so for centuries. Industrialization was not at first an enemy to Welsh, for many migrants to the southern valleys were Welsh-speaking, and in 1851 there were more Welsh-speakers than in 1801; but as a proportion of the expanding population they were a declining number (from 80 to 67 per cent between 1801 and 1851). The popularity of English among the upper classes, the demands of British education, the cosmopolitan industrial and commercial centres, immigration, and mass media and communications undermined Wales's linguistic character and portrayed the language as old-fashioned. By 1901, 50 per cent of Wales's population spoke Welsh; thereafter the decline was relentless, the figure standing at 19 per cent in 1981 (about 500,000 people), mostly in the rural west and north-west. In North America, too, where Welsh was implanted by emigrants in the late 19th cent., social and religious changes produced decline.
Yet since the 18th cent., Welsh literary culture has shown some creativity: an interest in Welsh history and tradition (including the eisteddfod), a vigorous Welsh press, active nonconformity, the growth of national sentiment, and the foundation of national institutions (notably a library, museum, and university) in the late 19th and early 20th cents. More recently, opinion has focused intently on the question of the language's survival. It has been buttressed by academic study and a literary renaissance, acceptance at all levels of education, as well as by pressure groups, even perhaps violent protests. Official milestones are the report on The Legal Status of the Welsh Language (1965), the Welsh Language Act (1967) which enshrined the principle of equal validity with English, a Welsh TV channel (1982), and the Welsh Language Board (1993) to oversee its use and fate. It remains to be seen whether this nurturing will enhance its vitality and stem its overall decline.
Ralph Alan Griffiths
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Welsh language