How the CELTS Changed The ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The Celts were the dominant culture in England for many centuries from about 900 BC until 43 AD but who were there before them. Who built Stonehenge and the other Neolithic sites in Britain? And how did the Celts influence the English language. New research and DNA evidence tells us more than we knew even a few years ago. The answer is that they had a massive influence on English. In this video we see how.

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00:00 Who were the native Britons?
00:52 A word about sources
01:13 Pre-Celtic history of Britain
02:05 The first inhabitants
03:05 Mesolithic period
03:39 The Neolithic period
05:26 The Bell Beakers
07:47 The Celts arrive
09:16 The Roman Rule
11:42 The Anglo-Saxons and the Celts
13:56 Celtic vocabulary in English
21:09 The "meaningless DO"
26:38 1000 years to adopt DO. Why?
27:37 The present continuous

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CREDITS
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter
Amazon affiliate link

The History of English Podcast
Kevin Stroud

The development of the Periphrastic Do by RÜDIGER ZILM

Many thanks to Bill Hicks for the Welsh recordings.

Pytheas

DOGGERLAND

ANATOLIA

STONEHENGE

BELL BEAKER

BRONZE AGE TOOLS

PONTIC CASPIAN STEPPE

THE CELTS

MAKING CRUMPETS by Kevin T Quinn via Flickr

[chrisg]

Hi, German here. Yes, there’s a “do” over here. It exists in Plattdeutsch, which is the old version of German that is still being spoken by some elderly country folks in the north of Germany. That dialect is very closely connected to English. I don’t remember when the German pronunciation changed from pp to pf and from k to ch, it’s been too long that I studied this, but the old version that still exists as a dialect uses “do” exactly like you do in English, and instead of “Apfel 🍎”, they say “Appel” and instead of “machen” (to make) they say “maken”. This dialect is also very much alive in modern Dutch which is why us northerners who still understand that dialect and practise it for traditions sake or for the fun of it in certain situations can also understand Dutch quite well.

[jamesr]

Fascinating! I am a German teacher. Most of my students are native English speakers. When I tell them that German and English are first cousins, they want to know why and how. Your explanation of the movement of tribes will help me explain and the pie chart of the English language and its influencers will also be most helpful. Thank you.

[moniquehuchet]

Coming from France and teaching French to 12 years old Canadians, I told them they already knew a lot of French words and asked them to research the etymology of words in their dictionary . It was a hit!

[qwitchyy]

I’m a Celtic anthropologist, so I really enjoyed this. It’s interesting hearing things that differ from what I was taught, but hey - that’s the beauty of anthropology and history. We’re constantly gathering new information that helps us contextualize peoples of the past.

[russellsantana]

I'm an armchair linguist, and have studied this subject over and over and over again and never tire of hearing others talk about it too. Excellent video.

[LinaGuadagnuolo]

You are endlessly fascinating. I'm a retired teacher of English, from Australia. My personal interest has always been the evolution of language in the lands following invasion and migration patterns. The Jamaican use of modern English sparked my interest years ago. I have since been looking for a video like yours to provide another piece of the puzzle that is English today. Thank you for your research and sharing of knowledge.

[t.a.k.palfrey]

Diolch yn fawr am eich dysg a wybodaeth. Thank you so much for your learning and shared knowledge. As someone whose Welsh ancestors left Britain in the 1730s, I found your talk highly informative and easy to grasp. I am proud that my family has retained a degree of fluency in Cymraeg for what is now almost 300 years after leaving. My children and grandsons, now scattered across four continents, continue to show interest in maintaining that tradition, though to varying degrees. Of course, your observations about use of "foreign" syntax is spot on. For the reasons you intimated, I have found Spanish and French grammar far easier than either Kiswahili or Kibukusu, and German the most challenging of all. Though I must admit that Swedish is the most difficult of my non-tonal languages to pronounce correctly from reading. Please keep up the great work. BTW, in more formal Welsh, the phrase you quoted, "I didn't open the door", is not written as, "Wnes i ddim agor y drws", which is used casually, but rather, "Agorwn i ddim y drws", which I suppose is best translated as, "Opened I not the door".

[christianspanfellner]

"Are you wanting a coffee?" sounds like, "Are you one coffee short?" to my non-Scottish ears. I'll remember that. And let me just say that years of university education haven't taught me as much about the Celtic influence on English as this excellent video of yours. Changes at the grammar level are so seldom addressed in teaching materials.

[leighcanham]

Diolch yn fawr!

I cracked laughing at what you said, "Je suis femme." I was in Les Deux Magots, a restaurant in Paris with my French friend. This was around 1976/77. Waiter approached to take our order... "Je suis femme." I said. My friend almost crawled under the table. The waiter laughed and corrected my French: "Ja'i faim." Well, I learnt more French that day, and never made that mistake again. Similar thing when I was learning Spanish. I lived in Gibraltar not long after that incident in Paris. I made friends with local people very quickly and decided to learn Spanish. We were playing volley ball on the beach and I hit the sand, face down. I shouted: "Estoy muy embarazada." instead of "Estoy avergonzado." Embarazada = Pregnant. Avergonzado = Embarassed. The same very warm day I declared, "Estoy caliente." instead of "Estoy calor." Caliente = Hot as in hot water or sexually aroused. Calor if you are feeling very warm. My friends fell about laughing, literally. I never made that mistake again. The joy of learning!

Thank you so much for yet another informative and interesting lesson. I always enjoy your presentations!

[genny]

I remember hearing often when I was a child ( in South Wales), some children and adults saying eg, ‘ I do do that’. ‘ I do do the food shopping on Thursdays’. The response would usually be, ‘ Oh, you do, do you. I do do mine on Fridays’. 🙂

[d_mosimann]

Thank you so much, Gideon, for this video and your work in general. Bringing togheter two of my special interests - Cultural History and Linguistics - in an entertaining way. Love from a Celt at heart (from the Helvetii tribe) with an obvious Germanic makeover (tongue, aswell as blond hair and blue eyes).

[hotdatedave]

This was absolutely fascinating! In Cornish dialect, people still use "do" (in shortened form) for positive statements: I d'like sugar in my tea. I d'go down town Mondays.

[marcelroberto]

Dear Mr. Gideon . I owe you a lot .You're an outstanding professor, the finest . Your videos are amazing . Much obliged for all your effortness.

[williampatten]

Scottish, irish, welsh, cornish, and english genes flow through me, yet I was born in Montana from a long lineage of Americans. Can this cowboy be yearning for knowledge of his own history? I also have a strong desire to learn more about early humans, and proto-language. This channel helps calm that beast inside me.

[No_P_and_o]

I'm an English teacher and I was always fascinated by the history of English. I've dabbled in a variety of different languages and realized that the "do" we use at the beginning of yes/no questions is similar to Arabic. In Arabic, they say "hal" at the beginning of any question that has a yes or no answer. We use do the same way but we also use are the same way in English. I don't think it's because these two languages connect in some way but it is interesting that they both have a word that signifies a yes or no question.

[cindyswimchick]

American here— love your channel and lessons. Keep it up!

[Johan-vkyd]

I was excited to know about the ”unnecessary do” being an element of celtic grammar, which influenced the english language profoundly, albeit celtic vocabulary left only sparse traces!

[angelarasmussen]

Brilliant thoughts on the Celtic influence I have not heard before as a lay linguist or a person fascinated by our English language but never a student in a linguistic class at university. Thanks for this break down.

[lisasternenkind]

In German we also say "I have hunger", so this English saying must be coming from the Old Germanic the Saxons spoke. Besides, Old English had a second phonetic shift to become modern English, while modern German only went through a single phonetic shift. This is why English is pretty similar to German and some German dialects, especially those named "Plattdeutsch", have lots of identical words English also has, and also the Grammar is almost the same.

[morganpatterson]

I feel baffled by my luck stumbling across this video randomly. In school, I struggled with grammar. I think it’s fair to say it was mostly due to a learning disability and missing lessons because it took me longer to finish tests (I would be sequestered to another room to finish while missing whatever the next lesson was). ANWAY, thank you sir, because feel like I have a second chance at learning this stuff. Especially from an intriguing historical lens!