Question

How much did the celtic language contribute to english?

Answer 1

Celtic was the language of a large part of the Brirish people before the Roman conquest (1st century AD). It is not altogether clear to what extent Latin was adopted during the Roman period (1st-5th century). It seems likely that Latin was essentially an urban language and that Celtic survived in the countryside. This is suggest by the fact that the language of the Britons driven west by the Anglo-Saxons was Celtic (5th-6th century). It appears that the Romanized urban populatioins were wiped out and it was the rural Celtic population that survived, albeit in the remote corners of the west. The Welsh and Cornish lanugages are Celtic languages. The Celtic influence on Old English is relatively limited. The Celtic and Germanic tribes were in contact with each other on the Continent before the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain. There were word borrowings during this period. The words involved seem to be primarily related to the military, reflecting the fact that Celtic armies could be hired. Very few Celtic words entered Old English during the Anglo-Saxon conquest (5th-6th centuries). The sole exceoption here appeas to be plzce names, places conquered by the Anglo-Saxons. [Lovis] The reason for the lack of borrowings seems to reflect the nature of the Anglo-Saxon conquest. The Anglo-Saxons did not integrate with the Britons. The conducted a war of extermination. Thus the Britons were forced to die or flee into thre remopte west. This probably explains the lack of Celtic words entering Old English. There were some Celtic words that entered Old English after the conquest. This was the influence of Irish monks that participated in the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons. The important word "cross" from the Celtic-Gaelic "crois", was used alongside the Old English "rood" for several centuries before it eventually became an English word. And then according to one scholar, "... the efficiency of the Norman conquest created a linguistic hierarchy with Celtic languages entrenched firmly at the bottom." [Lovis] The limited borrowings from Celtic include bucket, car, crockery, noggin, gob, slogan and flannel, truant and gaol, but these words entered Middle English during the Norman period. [Lovis] The remanents of Celtic in Britain have two branches. Goidelic (Gaelic) consists of Irish, Highland Scottish and Manx. Brythonic (British) consists of Welsh, Cornish and Breton. All have largely disappered, although preservationists and nationalists are striving to keep the languages alive. 
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