From amahoney@perseus.tufts.edu Sun Apr 22 08:12:09 2001
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Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 11:12:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Anne Mahoney <amahoney@perseus.tufts.edu>
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: St Patrick in Brittany
In-Reply-To: <3AE2DB21.38031BD5@temple.edu>
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On Sun, 22 Apr 2001, Dan Tompkins wrote:

(snip)
> 
> It is the Brittany connection that strikes me right now, because  Breton
> is Celtic.  Are there other examples of a close affinity between the
> Bretons and the Irish?  Are there studies of linguistic and other
> connections?  how much Old Breton do we in fact have?
> 

The main evidence for Old Breton is glosses in Latin MSS of the 9th and
10th centuries, according to P. Russell, "Introduction to the Celtic
Languages" (London/NY, Longmans:  1995, p. 114).  The standard reference
seems to be L. Fleuriot, "Le Vieux breton" (Paris, Klincksieck: 1964), and
Russell also cites R. Hemon, "A Historical Morphology and Syntax of
Breton" (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies:  1975).  Breton is a
Brittonic language ("P-Celtic") like Welsh, rather than a Goidelic
("Q-Celtic") like Irish.  It's still alive, barely.

--Anne Mahoney


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