Theosophy Wales, UK:- Pages About Wales. The History of the Welsh Language. Hanes yr Iaith Gymraeg.

PAGES ABOUT

Wales is a Principality within the United Kingdom and has an eastern border with England. The land area is just over 8,000 square miles. Snowdon is the highest mountain at 3,650 feet. The coastline is almost 750 miles long. The population of Wales as at the 2001 census is 2,946,200.

Theosophy Wales is pleased to present

general pages about Wales, Welsh History

and The History of Theosophy in Wales

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The History of the

Welsh Language

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In the early part of the 1st millenium BCE a powerful and brilliant society emerged in West Central Europe around the headwaters of the River Danube - these people were the Celts. By the 5th century BC the British Isles were Celtic with the existing native population being absorbed into the new culture.

The Celtic language in the British Isles consisted of two distinct groups; Giodelic (Gaelic or Q-Celtic) and Brythonic (British or P-Celtic). Gaelic was spoken in Ireland, the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The rest of Britain including Wales spoke Brythonic. With the Roman Invasion in 43CE onwards, the Brythonic language survived alongside latin, and some latin words were added to the language.

After the Roman withdrawal in the early 5th century CE, Germanic tribes came across the North Sea to colonise Britain. These groups (generally known as the Anglo-Saxons) spoke a language that was the precursor of the English language, and the Celts in South-Eastern Britain were absorbed into their culture. The Celtic west resisted fiercely, but Anglo-Saxon victories at Dyrham near Bath in 577CE, and Chester in 616AD, isolated the Celts of Wales from the Celts of South-West Britain and Cumbria respectively. Many Celts fled from Britain to Brittany in France.

From then the Brythonic language developed seperately in Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Cumbria, and the Welsh language was born. The Celtic language in Cumbria died out in the 14th century and insufficient written records exsit to reconstruct it, but Welsh and Breton are still official working languages, and Cornish having nearly died out in the 18^th century is now experiencing a revival.

Hanes yr Iaith Gymraeg

Yn gynnar yn y mileniwm cyntaf CC fe gododd cymdeithas nerthol a galluog yng Ngorllewin Canol Ewrop o gwmpas tarddiadau'r Afon Donaw - rhain oedd y Celtiaid. Erbyn y 5ed ganrif CC roedd ynysoedd Prydain yn Geltaidd hefo'r boblogaeth frodorol a oedd yno'n barod yn cael eu llyncu i fewn i'r diwylliant newydd.

Roedd yr iaith Geltaidd ym Mhrydain yn cynnwys dau grwp gwahanol; Goideleg (Gaeleg neu Q-Celteg) a Brythoneg (neu P-Celteg). Siaradwyd Gaeleg yn yr Iwerddon, yn Ucheldiroedd ac Ynysoedd yr Alban, ac yn Ynys Manaw. Roedd gweddill Prydain (gan gynnwys Cymru) yn siarad Brythoneg. Ar ôl i'r Rhufeiniaid lanio'n 43 OC, fe barhaodd yr iaith Frythonaidd ochr yn ochr â Lladin, ac fe gafodd rhai geiriau Lladin eu ychwanegu at yr iaith.

Wedi i'r Rhufeiniaid adael Prydain yn gynnar yn y 5ed ganrif OC, fe ddaeth llwythau Almaenig ar draws Môr y Gogledd i wladychu Prydain. Roedd y grwpiau hyn (a'u hadnabyddir yn gyffredinol fel y Saeson) yn siarad iaith a fyddai'n datblygu i fewn i'r iaith Saesneg, a llyncwyd y Celtiaid yn ne-ddwyrain Prydain i fewn i'w diwylliant. Fe wrthsefodd y Celtiaid yn y gorllewin yn ffyrnig, ond fe dorrwyd Celtiaid Cymru i ffwrdd o'r Celtiaid yn ne-orllewin Prydain ac yn Rheged (yn y gogledd-orllewin) gan fuddugoliaethau'r Saeson yn Dyrham ger Caerfaddon yn 577 OC, ac yng Nghaer yn 616 OC. Fe ffôdd lawer o'r Celtiaid o Brydain i Lydaw yn Ffrainc.

Ar ôl hynny fe ddatblygodd yr iaith Frythonaidd ar wahân yng Nghymru, Cernyw, Llydaw a Chumbria, ac fe ganwyd yr iaith Gymraeg. Farwodd yr iaith Geltaidd allan yng Nghumbria yn y 14edd ganrif, ond siaredir Cymraeg a Llydaweg yn eang, ac, wedi bron iawn a marw allan, mae Cernyweg nawr yn gweld adfywiad.