Tag Archives: Gaidhlig

Vocabulary: ‘The weather’ in Celtic languages

Today’s blog post is continuing our series on the comparison of vocabulary of closely related languages and is taking us to the British Isles again, as well as to Brittany (Bretagne) in France, and to the various Celtic languages spoken there, namely Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, as well as Cornish and Breton. Our topic today is the weather and the most important words related to it. Both Welsh (Cymraeg) and Cornish (Kernewek) belong to the Brittonic group of the Celtic languages (to which also Breton Brezhoneg belongs), and Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) belong to the Goidelic group (to which also Manx Gaelg  belongs).

weather celtic

The terms for these weather-related words in Cornish/Kernewek:

weather – kewer, sunshine – Howl, wind – gwyns, rainbow – kammneves, rain – glaw, clouds – kommol, thunder – taran, thunderstorm – hagarawel derednow, lightning – lughes, snow – ergh, hail – keser

and in Breton/Brezhoneg:

the weather – an amzer, sunshine – Heol, wind – avel, rainbow – kanevedenn, rain – glav, cloud – koumoul, thunder – taran, thunderstorm – arnev, lightning – luc’hed, snow – erc’h, hail – grizilh 

 

Vocabulary: The colours in the Celtic languages

Today’s blog post is taking us to the British Isles and to the Celtic languages still spoken there. I am going to share the vocabulary for the colours in 4 different Celtic languages, namely the two Goidelic languages Irish Gaeilge and Scottish Gaelic Gàidhlig, and the two Brittonic languages Welsh Cymraeg and Cornish Kernewek, which is spoken in Cornwall.

colors welshcolors cornishcolors gaeliccolors irish