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Post by siaron on Feb 6, 2005 20:43:26 GMT -1
My name is Siaron and I am very excited to be here ;D.
Thank you for developing this site and forum. I was directed here by Angharad, so diolch i chi hefyd!
I am a student of all things Brythonic, and follow a Celtic pagan path. I have been studying Welsh for the past 3 years, in the hope the I will be able to work with the old writings better. I look forward to reading the posts on this forum.
Bendithion (Blessings!)
Siaron
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Post by Blackbird on Feb 7, 2005 7:55:33 GMT -1
Great to have you here I'm still very much a beginner at Welsh - my plan is to learn modern Welsh, then try to get back to Middle Welsh. One day. I know enough to work out what I'm reading, but I'm hopeless conversationally ;D Hwyl nawr, Mwyalchen
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Post by siaron on Feb 7, 2005 15:11:27 GMT -1
Great to have you here I'm still very much a beginner at Welsh - my plan is to learn modern Welsh, then try to get back to Middle Welsh. One day. I know enough to work out what I'm reading, but I'm hopeless conversationally ;D Hwyl nawr, Mwyalchen Annwyl Mwyalchen, Well, here's the thing about Welsh (I get into this with my instructor all the time)--just when you think you have the rules figured out, they go and change the rules on you! It can be quite maddening. As for Middle Welsh, I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but have you looked into Cornish? The reason I ask is that my husband is past Education Secretary of the Cornish Language board. We went to the National Library of Wales and looked at the fascimile of the Black Book of Carmarthen, and because Middle Welsh is actually a little closer to Cornish than it is to Welsh, he was able to read it quite easily! Cornish retained the letter forms seen in Middle Welsh-v and k specifically, and other linguistic elements. Cornish is close to modern Welsh too...I can pick up a number of words spoken (although written is a different story as there is a huge controversy about Cornish spelling--two different systems!) So, I have decided to try to tackle Cornish when I get a little more proficient with Welsh. Hwyl! Siaron
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Post by goldenhand on Feb 8, 2005 15:45:52 GMT -1
Hey, good to see you here!
Interesting what you say about Cornish - and when you think about it geographically, you can see how Cornwall might well have retained earlier forms of the language. I'd also like to know more about Breton, of which I'm pretty much in complete ignorance. It would be very interesting to compare both Cornish and Breton to various forms of Welsh.
(by the way Blackbird, do I get commission, lol!?)
;D
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Post by siaron on Feb 8, 2005 21:13:44 GMT -1
Hey, good to see you here! Interesting what you say about Cornish - and when you think about it geographically, you can see how Cornwall might well have retained earlier forms of the language. I'd also like to know more about Breton, of which I'm pretty much in complete ignorance. It would be very interesting to compare both Cornish and Breton to various forms of Welsh. (by the way Blackbird, do I get commission, lol!?) ;D Annwyl Goldenhand! It's great to be here. Thank you for the referral. You probably knew me as celticgirl on the other forum (which I have since left). Here's what I know about Cornish: Wales was cut off from Cornwall (at the time known as West Wales) in the 7th or 8th century when the Saxons reached the Severn estuary. From that time, the language in Cornwall began to evolve independently from Welsh, but seems to have retained a form closer to Middle Welsh. When the Cornish language "died" in the 19th century, there were already linguists working hard to save it, so of course it never really died at all. I think that population migration from Cornwall to Brittany created the same kind of situation. At some point when Cornwall and Brittany were two kingdoms ruled by one appointed leader, the languages were probably the same. Later on, the Breton population got cut off from Cornwall and so their language began to evolve independently as well. Today, a Cornish speaker can converse with a Breton, as long as it is done slowly and listening with great care (kind of like Irish and Scots Gaelic speakers). The three languages (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) are considered to be of one family and there are many similarities, as well as many differences. I just am amazed at some words in Cornish being so similar to Welsh, and others being so completely different. If you'd like to get a better look at Cornish, do a Google search for Cornish Language or Learn Cornish--you'll find all kinds of links. Hwyl! Siaron
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Post by Blackbird on Feb 10, 2005 7:16:31 GMT -1
Great, thanks for all the info on that I plan to continue learning modern Welsh, as there are so many good learning resources, and then perhaps I'll take a look at Cornish. I heard recently that there is another proposed old Celtic language, Devonian. Some people claim this as a language in its own right, while others think that they simply have a few borrowed words from Cornwall. There's a group for discussing it here - groups.msn.com/DevonsCelticLanguage/ that has some interesting info on the title page.
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