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Language and History in Early Britain: A Chronlogical Survey of the Brittonic Languages : 1st to 12th C. A. D.
The history of British language and its descendants, Welsh, Cornish and Breton, before the Norman Conquest is very imperfectly known. An attempt is made here to trace, from all available evidence, their development from the first to the twelfth century, and especially to analyse the chronology of their sound changes. Part I deals with the sources, such as Romano-British and post-Roman inscriptions; names in Classical authors; early Welsh, Cornish and Breton documents; the Latin loanwords in British and Irish; and many British place-names in English, which can only be adequately understood when fitted into such a chronological scheme. Part II sets out in detail the probable dates of the linguistic developments concerned.
- GenresNonfiction
752 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1953
51 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson
19 books3 followersProfessor Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson CBE FRSE FSA DLitt was an English linguist and a translator who specialised in the Celtic languages. He demonstrated how the text of the Ulster Cycle of tales, written circa AD 1100, preserves an oral tradition originating some six centuries earlier and reflects Celtic Irish society of the third and fourth century AD. His Celtic Miscellany is a popular standard.
In retirement, Jackson continued his work on place-names and Goidelic languages. However he suffered a stroke in 1984 that restricted his work.
An obituary was published in The Times on 8 March 1991 and in the journal Nomina.
In retirement, Jackson continued his work on place-names and Goidelic languages. However he suffered a stroke in 1984 that restricted his work.
An obituary was published in The Times on 8 March 1991 and in the journal Nomina.
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February 29, 2012
Superimportant book by Jackson, the source for language changes in the early brittonic languages. This is a book in two parts. The first part gives a slightly problematic history of britain, taking into account the language of the people all the way through. The problem is that he has the typical victorian bias, and although he just about avoids the idea that all the britons were slaughtered, he wants them to be magically speaking british very soon afterwards. His ideas of early breton settlement, wholesale abandoning of urban areas, i disagree with. His idea of vulgar latin being quite weak until c5, and then becoming stronger and influencing borrowings into irsih and welsh are clever. later places in britaincan be devided into areas based on when they were conquered. less old= more welsh place names.
The second part is a very complicated discussion of how and when grammatical changes took place but the most important part is the chronology of sound changes. of these, lenition in c5, and w>gw in c8 are the most importat. There are also all the troubling cornish and breton z and ds explained. His chronology of the languages of britain - british-c6, seperates into west brittonic and south-west brittonic, also primitive cumbric. old welsh - c12, old cornish -c14, old breton -c11, middle welsh - c14/15, middle cornish -c17, middle breton -c16/17
Primitive irish c2-4, archaic 7-8, old 8-10, middle 10-13, modern 13-present, scottish gaelic, no periods, c15-on, manx c17-on
3 quotes:
{the funnest part of the book, emphasising Jacksons historic skill}
Indeed the whole tale of Cerdic and Cynric would make nonsense of the story of the peace after Mount Badon.
{amusing lenition in modern latin dialects, and the date of the settling of Brittonic orthography, before it was used in vernacular texts}
When the loosening of ariculation which was rthe cause of lenition began to affect internal consonants in the native British speech of these people, it inevitably affeccted also, and equally, their Latin pronunciation. {thus, welsh, breton and cornish look regular becausew they are entirely spelt as latin, which was pronounced like them with lenited internal syllabels} This need not surprise us in this country, for many of us still remember the "unreformed" pronounciation of Latin once taught in our schools which produced such monstrosities as [meite, sparitjuai, oreishio] for mater, spiritui and oratio... Similarly, the American who pronounces duty as [dudi] makes catena into [kadene].
...
Taking all the evidence togetherm, it is a fair assumption that those charactristics were indeed established in the sixth century and (probabl early) seventh century, while the whole Brittonic church was still united ; and therefore that a tradition must have existed from that time, fortified by enough aLatin documents with British place and personal names and perhaps glosses to keep the principles of Brittonic orthography settled, right down the period of our oldest Old Welsh, Cornish and Breton sources.
{the latin animal and plant names borrowed into British, how and why!}
Admissus (equus), asinus, bestia, cattus, columba, draco, leo, mulus, ostrea, piscis (replacing native *escos), porcellus, serpens, vipera, viverra,
The second part is a very complicated discussion of how and when grammatical changes took place but the most important part is the chronology of sound changes. of these, lenition in c5, and w>gw in c8 are the most importat. There are also all the troubling cornish and breton z and ds explained. His chronology of the languages of britain - british-c6, seperates into west brittonic and south-west brittonic, also primitive cumbric. old welsh - c12, old cornish -c14, old breton -c11, middle welsh - c14/15, middle cornish -c17, middle breton -c16/17
Primitive irish c2-4, archaic 7-8, old 8-10, middle 10-13, modern 13-present, scottish gaelic, no periods, c15-on, manx c17-on
3 quotes:
{the funnest part of the book, emphasising Jacksons historic skill}
Indeed the whole tale of Cerdic and Cynric would make nonsense of the story of the peace after Mount Badon.
{amusing lenition in modern latin dialects, and the date of the settling of Brittonic orthography, before it was used in vernacular texts}
When the loosening of ariculation which was rthe cause of lenition began to affect internal consonants in the native British speech of these people, it inevitably affeccted also, and equally, their Latin pronunciation. {thus, welsh, breton and cornish look regular becausew they are entirely spelt as latin, which was pronounced like them with lenited internal syllabels} This need not surprise us in this country, for many of us still remember the "unreformed" pronounciation of Latin once taught in our schools which produced such monstrosities as [meite, sparitjuai, oreishio] for mater, spiritui and oratio... Similarly, the American who pronounces duty as [dudi] makes catena into [kadene].
...
Taking all the evidence togetherm, it is a fair assumption that those charactristics were indeed established in the sixth century and (probabl early) seventh century, while the whole Brittonic church was still united ; and therefore that a tradition must have existed from that time, fortified by enough aLatin documents with British place and personal names and perhaps glosses to keep the principles of Brittonic orthography settled, right down the period of our oldest Old Welsh, Cornish and Breton sources.
{the latin animal and plant names borrowed into British, how and why!}
Admissus (equus), asinus, bestia, cattus, columba, draco, leo, mulus, ostrea, piscis (replacing native *escos), porcellus, serpens, vipera, viverra,
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