Few
English words are known to come directly from
Brittonic. More can be proven to derive
from Gaulish, which arrived through Norman French, often strengthened in form and use by Church/state
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
.
This list omits words of Celtic origin coming from
later forms of Brittonic and intermediate tongues:
* See
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerl ...
(e.g. ''ambassador'', ''bound'', ''car'', ''carpenter'', ''piece''), via Norman/Old French
*Other
Continental Celtic (e.g. ''down''), via Germanic
* See
List of English words of Welsh origin a list which includes
Cornish (e.g. ''coracle''; ''crag''; ''corgi'' (type of dog), likely ''flannel''; likely ''gull'' (type of bird), ''iron'', ''lawn'', ''wrasse'' (type of fish))
* See
Gaelic (e.g. ''keening'', ''bog'', ''bother'', ''hubbub'', ''glen'', ''clan'')
* See
Breton (chiefly local terms in archaeology: ''dolmen'', ''menhir'')
List
Academia recognises beyond all reasonable doubt "fewer than ten" Brittonic loan-words in English that are neither historic nor obsolete. The following list derives mainly from surveys of possible Brittonic loanwords in English by
Richard Coates
Richard Coates (born 16 April 1949, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated at Wintringham School) is an English linguist. He was Professor of Linguistics (alternatively Professor of Onomastics) at the University of the West of Eng