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In article ,
Rusty_Hinge wrote:

Yes. Something that I find very puzzling is how little of the original
Brythonic language remains in English. A very high proportion of place
names etc. are, and so is the genome (even the Y chromosome), and not
just in the west. But very, very few words - exept in such usages.

Oh, I dunno, where ja rear English spoked nahdays innit?

As far as I know, neither oikish nor orcish are Celtic languages!

Niver snot innit, but demonstrate how fast a language can
change/deteriorate...

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Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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bobharvey wrote:

snip

I recall an article in Lincolnshire Life about this around 0.45
centuries ago, which later appeared too in Essex Countryside. My
grandfather (an east coast man) used Yan, Tan, Tether etc. to count
turns of rope or rag marks on a depth line. It is now known
univerally as 'the method of counting sheep', but I suspect was
applied more widely.

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/lincoln_sheep.htm suggests that
quantities up to 20 would be held in the head, and then tallied on a
notched stick. Such notched sticks have been found in Roman remains,
and allegedly back to the iron age.

It is a fascinating subject - I have heard on the BBC that they may be
the only surviving iron age words in the language. Certainly it is
interesting that they seem to work in base 20, like most european
languages (french, for example, has distinct words like quinze, but
goes for vingt et un above 20. Just as dutch has vijftien, for
example). The "correct" way to use the 5-barred-gate method of
tallying is in rows of 4 gates, or 20s. There does seem to be
residual evidence of base 20 being as important as base 10 before
scientific consistency got going.

One politially incorrect theory is that women count in base 20 and men count
in base 21.

.... and in Norfolk and Linconshire they count in base 22 ......

....Yo - gimme six!....

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from David W EEE Roberts contains these words:

One politially incorrect theory is that women count in base 20 and men count
in base 21.

.... and in Norfolk and Linconshire they count in base 22 ......

....Yo - gimme six!....

Wochit!

Or I'll slap you wiv me webbies!

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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Very few, as you say. Here is a list I found. http://www.palgrave.com/language/fre..._Celtic%20.pdf

It is not just in England that very little trace of the celtic language remains, but in the Celts' original heartland of Austria and Bohemia. And in all those other areas that were originally thoroughly celtic, like France and all across central Europe into Turkey (yes, the celtic language of Galatian appears to have been in use around Ankara until about the 4th century AD) where they were overtaken by incoming dominant cultures of Romans, Germans, Slavs, Magyars and Greeks (or whoever got to Ankara before the Turks), who seem to have neglected to borrow the preceding natives' language, placenames aside. So it wasn't just the incoming English who failed to learn to speak much of the preceding occupants' language, it was everyone else who moved into celtic lands too.

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So it wasn't
just the incoming English who failed to learn to speak much of the
preceding occupants' language, it was everyone else who moved into
celtic lands too.

And if the language(s) was/were written as well as spoken, no wonder!

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Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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In article ,
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from echinosum contains these words:

So it wasn't
just the incoming English who failed to learn to speak much of the
preceding occupants' language, it was everyone else who moved into
celtic lands too.

And if the language(s) was/were written as well as spoken, no wonder!

They weren't - the written form was invented by a missionary whose
mother tongue was not a Celtic language, as far as I know - you may
make what deductions you want from that :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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from contains these words:
In article ,
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from echinosum contains these words:

So it wasn't
just the incoming English who failed to learn to speak much of the
preceding occupants' language, it was everyone else who moved into
celtic lands too.

And if the language(s) was/were written as well as spoken, no wonder!

They weren't - the written form was invented by a missionary whose
mother tongue was not a Celtic language, as far as I know - you may
make what deductions you want from that :-)

Confuse-us say...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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