Cumbric language

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Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language spoken in much of Cumbria, Northern Northumbria, and parts of lowland Scotland until about the 11th century. Although there are traces of Cumbric still in use today, the language is dead and there are no complete records of the language. Some Cumbrian shepherds still count their sheep in a counting form derived from Cumbric: Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera, Pim. Cumbric was once referred to as North Welsh and Cornish as South Welsh.

Much of the origin and character of the Cumbric language remain a mystery. Apart from several insignificant Latin observational texts and place names, the language is today undocumented. What is known is that the language was Brythonic Insular Celtic, most likely descended from Old North Welsh, related to the presumed Brythonic Pictish language, and progressively more distantly, to Cornish. Due to its location, words of Gaelic origin may have enriched the language

The distinction of the Old Brittonic dialects into separate languages begins in about the 5th century, and Cumbric was most likely dead by the 11th century. However, in this time, it is possible that it was moving further away from Welsh grammatically, and developing as a distinct, non-intelligible tongue. It is possible that at its height, Cumbric was spoken by around 30,000 people.

The biggest problems with modern-day knowledge of the language lies with the fact that the language may have been merely a dialect of Welsh, not distinct at all. The old Northern Welsh kingdoms of Rheged and Gododdin spoke Old Welsh, but given time, many linguists consider that this tongue was distinguishable from Old Welsh at the time of its demise.

A couple of Cumbric words survived into the mid-Middle Ages in South West Scotland as legal terms.

Reconstructed cognates in the language only number around 50, and the Celtic Culture of Northwest England has long since been forgotten. Despite this, several forms of "Revived" Cumbric are in their infancies. One is noted to be very similar to Old Welsh, while the other re-creates a hypothetical, distinct language representing what the language may have been like today had it never died out. The internet will no doubt provide a valuable resource for the "revival" of these languages.

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