From Welsh Words Modern Welsh is a descendant of Celtic, one branch of the Indo-European family of languages, and thus ultimately derives from a common Proto-Indo-European language used by the nomadic tribes of Europe and Western Asia about 5,000 years ago - - - two related forms, Continental Celtic (extinct) in mainland Europe and Insular Celtic in the British Isles. - - - Insular Celtic itself falls into two branches: Brythonic (from Brython ‘Briton’) and Goidelic (from Goidel ‘Irishman’). This simple division situation is often made to appear more complicated than it really is as Brythonic is also called British by some scholars and Old Welsh by others. Similarly, Goidelic is called Gaelic (from Gael the modern form of Goidel) in some sources and in Ireland is now generally called Irish - - - In the 5th century the Irish colonists invaded western Scotland and the Isle of Man, displacing the native, probably non-Indo-European, Pictish language with their own; this subsequently developed into Scottish Gaelic, which still thrives, and the now-extinct Manx language. To this day Irish and Scottish Gaelic, particularly in the written form, remain very close. England and Wales were occupied by the Romans from AD 70 to AD 410 and the British tongue was therefore strongly influenced by Latin. It was displaced in England by a distantly related Indo-European language, Anglo-Saxon, from about AD 450, following Anglo-Saxon colonization from northern Europe, but still survives in Wales as Welsh. (Ironically it was an Anglo-Saxon word walas meaning ‘foreigners’ which gave the name both to that country and its language.) A British-speaking pocket also remained in the county of Cornwall in the far south-west of England until 1800. It was from Cornwall in the 6th and 7th centuries that refugees from Anglo-Saxon pressure sailed across the channel to what was to become Brittany, taking with them their language which still survives under the name of Breton - - - In England, Anglo-Saxon, initially influenced by Celtic and Latin, and, later, by the closely related Norse or Old Scandinavian spoken by Vikings, who arrived England in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, grew into Old English. The inroads made by the Vikings into the coastal areas of Wales can, incidentally, be traced in place-names such as Swansea and Skomerb - - BUT WHERE IS THE ARCHEOLOGY ? - but the majority of the English inhabitants of the Welsh Marches would have spoken Middle English - - source Llanegwad Google Search: place-names wales Google Search: place-names wales gazetteer ic NorthWales - 'Fibreglass stone circles' for Gorsedd Google Search: Eisteddfoddau - Google Search: Eisteddfodau - Google Search: EisteddfodThe National Eisteddfod of Wales Google Search: gorsedd circle
Bilingualism: "Both English and Welsh are official languages.
English is spoken by most of the population but 20per cent of the population spoke Welsh in the late 1990s. In recent years the language has experienced a revival in the largely anglicised, urban areas of southeastern and northeastern Wales.
It's because since 1970, Welsh has been included in the school curriculum.
In 1982 Welsh is established in a television station and the Welsh culture interests more people. Now many more bilingual publications are to be found in everyday life. Nearly all road signs are in English and Welsh. In 1993 the Welsh language act gave parity to English and Welsh in government, business and the courts. All the people speak English but - - - "
Cyfeiriadur Gwe Google - World > Cymraeg
Lady Llanover, the wife of an ironmaster in Gwent, was very influential
in encouraging the wearing of "national dress", both in her own home and
at eisteddfodau. She felt it was important to encourage the use of the
Welsh language and the wearing of an identifiable Welsh costume.
She succeeded in developing the Welsh "national dress"
because people felt that their national identity was under threat
and the wearing of a national costume was one way to declare that identity.
see National costume of Wales
The garments are made of Welsh flannel.
The costume regarded as national dress is based on clothing
worn by Welsh countrywomen during the early nineteenth century.
The tall "chimney" hat did not appear until the late 1840's
and seems to be based on an amalgamation of men's top hats
and a form of high hat worn during the 1790 - 1820 period
in country areas.
Today the costume is usually worn by young girls
throughout Wales on St David's Day <<< Google Search: Welsh national costume Google Image Search: Welsh national costume Google Directory - Society > Genealogy
Google Directory - Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > Wales
- - - the Anglicisation of the gentry created a breach in Welsh society, which was further, deepened by religious differences.
Slow to adopt Protestantism, the Welsh people were decidedly cool to Oliver Cromwell’s Puritanism and had to be persuaded by force.
In the 18th century they began to lean heavily toward Calvinism, and the growth of the Calvinistic Methodist Church was an assertion of Welsh nationalism;
it culminated in 1920 in the disestablishment of the English Church in Wales.
This turn supplied the party with one of its most forceful leaders, David Lloyd George.
Welsh nationalism has been kept alive up to the present day by the Plaid Cymru Party (founded in 1925), which has at times elected members to the British Parliament and otherwise kept pressure on the major parties to protect the special interests of Wales.
In 1979 a Labour Party plan to devolve some powers to an elected assembly in Wales was voted down by the Welsh people by a margin of four to one.
The Conservation Party that was elected later that year dropped any further plans for a Welsh government.
In 1997 the Labour Party come into power supported the idea of devolving some of Parliament’s powers to national legislatures in Scotland and Wales.
In a referendum held in September 1997 barely more than half of Welsh voters supported the creation of a Welsh assembly.
Elections were held in 1999, and the Welsh assembly convened in early 2000 in Cardiff
Google Search: Welsh nationalism Banned Google Search: gorsedd circle Google Image Search: gorsedd circleGoogle Search: Plaid Cymru Party
ic NorthWales - Wales is 'poor as Slovenia': "DEPRIVED parts of Wales remain as poor as Slovenia despite an injection of millions of pounds in European aid, Plaid Cymru claimed yesterday."
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updated February 16 2004 - site map of
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