| Celtic languages have been spoken for a very
long time. They are much
older than the English language. The Cornish language spoken today
developed from the British language spoken across most of Britain
at the
time of the Romans. The English language only started to
develop when invaders came from Germany, Denmark and
Scandinavia after the Romans left.
If you have seen the cartoon books 'Asterix the Gaul', you might
wonder what Gaul was. Gaul was the name of France when it
was part of the Roman Empire. Gaul was populated by Celtic
tribes, who all spoke languages similar to British. The general name
for the language was Gaulish. Asterix would have used many words
similar to ones we use today in Cornish.
Cornwall was also very important at the time of the Romans. For a
very long time, KERNOW was known for being a good place to find
useful metals. Even before the Roman Empire, traders visited to
buy a metal called TIN. Do you know why tin was so important? |
