Celtic Language In English Essay

The first people in England about whose language we have definite knowledge are the Celts. The Celtic languages in England have two divisions: the Gaelic or Goidelic branch and the Brythonic branch. Celtic was probably the first Indo-European tongue to be spoken in England. One other language, Latin, was spoken rather extensively for a period of about four centuries before the coming of English. Latin was introduced when Britain became a province of the Roman Empire.

It was in A.D. 43 that the Emperor Claudius decided to undertake the actual conquest of the island. With the knowledge of Caesar’s experience behind him, he did not underestimate the problems involved. According an army of 40,000 was sent to Britain and within three years had subjugated the peoples of the central and

Their Roman houses and baths, temples, and occasional theaters, testify to the introduction of Roman habits of life. The houses were equipped with heating apparatus and water supply; their floors were paved in mosaic. By the third century Christianity had made some progress in the island. Among the other evidences of Romanization must be included the use of Latin language. A great number of inscriptions have been found, all of them in Latin. The majority of these proceed no doubt from the military and official class and, being in the nature of public records. Latin did not replace the Celtic language in Britain as it did in Gaul. Its use by native Britons was probably confined to members of the upper classes and some inhabitants of the cities and towns. About the year 449 an event occurred that profoundly affected the course of history. In that year, as traditionally states, began the invasion of Britain by certain Germanic tribes the founders of the English nation. The traditional account of the Germanic invasions goes back to Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, tells us that the