List of English words of Brittonic origin

The number of English words known to be derived from the Brittonic language is remarkably small. In fact, as far as can be ascertained it is lower than the number of words of Gaulish origin found in the English language, which arrived through Norman French. The influence of the Brittonic language on English has been extremely limited. However, it is possible that some British words have been obscured by a close similarity to Germanic words which are thought to offer a more likely etymology, and also that some of them have been misidentified as Gaulish via French, which were for whatever reason unattested until after the Norman invasion.

Other sources of Celtic words in English

This list does not include words of Celtic origin definitely borrowed into English from other languages/later forms of Brittonic, namely:

  • Later Brythonic: Welsh (e.g. coracle), Cornish (e.g. wrasse, possibly gull), or Breton (e.g. dolmen, menhir).
  • Gaelic (e.g. keening, bog, bother, hubbub, glen, clan)
  • Gaulish (via Norman French or Latin: ambassador, bound, car, carpenter, piece)
  • Gaulish or similar Indo-European via early Germanic (e.g. down[1]).

List

Conservative scholarship recognises fewer than ten' Brittonic loan-words in English.[2] This list includes a variety of putatively Brittonic loan-words listed in key surveys,[3][4][5][6] to which a range of suggestions for Brittonic etymologies for words attested only in Old English (which are italicized) could be added, principally from the work of Andrew Breeze.[7] Oxford English Dictionary etymologies are included to indicate the view of this authoritative (but not necessarily definitive) source, distinguishing between the first, second, and third editions.

word likelihood of Brittonic origin putative Brittonic etymology OED etymology
bannock possible Etymologised by the OED as from Gaelic bannach, ? < Latin pānicium < pānis bread.[8] But possibly Old Brittonic *bannoc.[5] Gaelic (OED1)
beck possible Agricultural implement with two hooks. Rather vaguely etymologised in the OED as from a 'Celtic root bacc-' (possibly via French).[9] French (OED1)
bin possible Possibly from Old Brittonic *benna, but possibly borrowed in to Germanic before the separation of Old English.[5] Probably Celtic (OED1)
brock probable From Brittonic *brocco-s, meaning "badger". Celtic (OED1)
carr probable 'Rock'. Cf. Welsh carreg 'rock'. Given as a Celtic loan by Kastovsky.[5] Old Northumbrian (OED1)
coomb probable From Old Brittonic *kumba, meaning "valley".[5] Probably Brittonic (OED1)
crag probable According to the OED 'apparently of Celtic origin: compare Irish and Gaelic creag, Manx creg, cregg, Welsh craig rock. None of these, however, exactly gives the English crag, cragg'.[10] Celtic (OED1)
doe possible Perhaps from the Brittonic root *da-,[11] Latin dāma (OED1)
dun possible According to the OED, 'perhaps < Celtic: compare Irish and Gaelic donn brown, Welsh dwn'.[12] Alternatively, a Germanic origin has been suggested.[13] Celtic (OED1)
luh probable Old Northumbrian ('pool'), cf. Old Welsh *luch.[5] The modern English cognate "loch" is derived from Scottish Gaelic via Scots. ─
mattock possible The OED concludes that 'there are no Germanic cognates, and Welsh matog, Irish matóg, and Scottish Gaelic màdog are from English. Perhaps < vulgar Latin *matteūca club, cudgel.'[14] Latin (OED3)
milpæþ possible Old English, 'army road', possibly from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh mil 'thousand, army'.[15] ─
prass probable Old English, 'pomp, array', perhaps from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh pres 'soldiers in array'.[16] ─ (cf. s.v. oliprance, n.) (OED3)
sark possible Possibly from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh seirch 'armour, trappings' (itself from Latin sarcīre 'patch').[17] Germanic *sarki-z (OED1)
stor possible 'Incense, wax'.[18] Perhaps Latin (OED2)
tor probable 'Generally held to be Celtic', according to the OED, which cites Old Welsh twrr ‘heap, pile’ and Gaelic tòrr ‘hill of an abrupt or conical form, lofty hill, eminence, mound, grave, heap of ruins’.[19] Celtic (OED1)
wassenas possible Old English, 'retainers', possibly from Brittonic.[20] ─
yan, tan, tethera etc. possible And variants. Most common in areas of northwestern England such as Cumbria, and ultimately from Brittonic *oinā, *deŭai, *tisrīs, etc., though heavily corrupted. There is substantial disagreement as to whether it is a remnant of the Cumbric once spoken in the region or a later borrowing from Welsh and Cornish. ─

References
  1. Douglas Harper, "Online Etymology Dictionary" - down (n.2), retrieved Mar. 1, 2014.
  2. David N. Parsons, 'Sabrina in the thorns: place-names as evidence for British and Latin in Roman Britain', Transactions of the Royal Philological Society, 109.2 (July 2011), 113–37 (p. 120).
  3. Coates, Richard, ‘Invisible Britons: The View from Linguistics’, in Britons in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. by Nick Higham, Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, 7 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007), pp. 172–91 (pp. 177-80).
  4. Campbell, A. 1959. Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 220.
  5. Kastovsky, Dieter, ‘Semantics and Vocabulary’, in The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume 1: The Beginnings to 1066, ed. by Richard M. Hogg (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 290–408 (pp. 318-19).
  6. D. Gary Miller, External Influences on English: From Its Beginnings to the Renaissance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 19–20.
  7. Breeze, Andrew, ‘Seven Types of Celtic Loanword’, in The Celtic Roots of English, ed. by Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola and Heli Pitkänen, Studies in Languages, 37 (Joensuu: University of Joensuu, Faculty of Humanities, 2002), pp. 175–81.
  8. "bannock, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017
  9. "beck, n.3." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017.
  10. "crag, n.1." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017.
  11. Douglas Harper, "Online Etymology Dictionary" - doe (n.), retrieved Mar. 1, 2014.
  12. "dun, adj." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017.
  13. "Dun (Wiktionary)".
  14. "mattock, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017.
  15. Andrew Breeze, 'Exodus, Elene, and The Rune Poem: Milpæþ "Army Road, Highway" ', Notes and Queries, 38.4 [236] (1991), 436-38.
  16. Andrew Breeze, 'Maldon 68: Mid Prasse Bestodon', English Studies, 73 (1992), 289-91.
  17. Andrew Breeze, 'Old English Syrce "Coat of Mail": Welsh Seirch "Armour" ', Notes and Queries, 40.3 [238] (1993), 291-93.
  18. Breeze, Andrew. 1998. ‘A Brittonic etymology for Old English stor ‘incense’.’ Anglia 116, 227-30.
  19. "tor, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 1 September 2017.
  20. Andrew Breeze, 'Old English Wassenas "retainers" in Godpatrick's Writ', Notes and Queries, 39.3 [237] (1992), 272-75.

See also
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