The Nuclear Celtic languages, also known as Gallo-Insular Celtic, Gallo-Brythonic–Goidelic, and, ambiguously in terms of the position of Lepontic, North Celtic or Core Celtic, are a group of

Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yve ...

once spoken across Europe and the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, reaching even

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, but nowadays restricted to the

Celtic nations The Celtic nations or Celtic countries are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. The term ''nation'' is used in its original sense to mean a ...

. It consists of all Celtic languages that are not

Hispano-Celtic Hispano-Celtic is a term for all forms of Celtic spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans (c. 218 BC, during the Second Punic War). In particular, it includes: * A northeastern inland language attested at a relati ...

, namely the

Insular Celtic languages Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages spoken in Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Br ...

together with the extinct

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, 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, ...

and Lepontic languages. The Nuclear Celtic languages separated from Hispano-Celtic around 900 BC, possibly due to

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n influence causing Hispano-Celtic to drift away from a common Celtic cultural sphere.

Terminology and internal classification

The terms used to refer to the Celtic grouping comprising

Goidelic The Goidelic ( ) or Gaelic languages (; ; ) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle o ...

and Brittonic, and also the position of Lepontic in this grouping, vary by author.

"Nuclear Celtic" and "Core Celtic"

Eska defines ''Nuclear Celtic'' as including

, Lepontic, and the

(

and Brittonic), and furthermore defines ''Core Celtic'' as a sub-branch of Nuclear Celtic that excludes Lepontic. On the other hand, Stifter redefines ''Core Celtic'' to include Lepontic, making it synonymous to what Eska terms ''Nuclear Celtic''. Eska's internal taxonomy of Nuclear Celtic is as follows: *Nuclear Celtic ** Cisalpine Celtic: Lepontic →

Cisalpine Gaulish The Celtic Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions are frequently combined with the Lepontic inscriptions under the term ''Celtic language remains in northern Italy''. While it is possible that the Lepontii were autochthonous to Northern Italy since th ...

** Core Celtic *** "similar to Transalpine Celtic" ****

Transalpine Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, 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, ...

("Transalpine Celtic") **** Galatian **** Noric ***

Insular Celtic Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages spoken in Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Br ...

****

**** Brittonic

"North Celtic"

Schrijver defines ''North Celtic'' as referring to what Eska calls ''Core Celtic'', namely a grouping of

and

to the exclusion of Lepontic. He also groups

and Lepontic together in a contrasting grouping he calls ''South Celtic''. Schrijver's Celtic taxonomy is as follows: However, Jørgensen, despite borrowing Schrijver's ''North Celtic'' and ''South Celtic'' terminology, redefines ''North Celtic'' to include Lepontic as well. This redefined North Celtic is thus identical to Eska's Nuclear Celtic. Jørgensen's redefinition of North Celtic is as follows: *North Celtic ** Lepontic ** (of uncertain further subgrouping) ***

***

*** Brittonic

Other terms

''Gallo-Insular Celtic'' and ''Gallo-Brythonic–Goidelic'' are terms coined, respectively, by Kim McCone (who supports an

clade) and

John T. Koch John Thomas Koch (born 1953) is an American academic, historian, and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory, and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' ...

(who follows a Gallo-Brythonic hypothesis). Gallo-Insular Celtic's family tree is defined by McCone as follows: * Gallo-Insular Celtic ** Gaulish (also including Lepontic) ** Insular Celtic ***

("Irish") *** Brittonic ("British")

Common characteristics

Common characteristics of the Nuclear Celtic branch (and the Core Celtic sub-branch as defined by Eska) include: * ''*st'' becoming a phoneme known as

tau gallicum Tau gallicum, or D with short stroke overlay in Unicode, (majuscule: Ꟈ (), minuscule: ꟈ ()) is a letter that was used to write the Gaulish language.

, which was notated variously in Gaulish but merged with ''-ss-'' in Goidelic. In contrast, Hispano-Celtic preserved ''*st'' as is. * Complete monophthongization of the diphthong ''*ei'' to in non-final position. * Refashioning of the (preserved in Hispano-Celtic) inflected relative pronoun ''*yos'' (feminine ''*yā'') into an uninflected relative particle ''*yo''. * Spread of the o-stem genitive singular ''*-ī'', completely absent in Hispano-Celtic. * A genitive plural ''*-om'', contrasting with its Hispano-Celtic counterpart ''-um''. Eska believes that ''*-om'' is a shared innovation of Nuclear Celtic with Hispano-Celtic preserving an older ending. However, Prósper believes the reverse was the case, with Hispano-Celtic innovating ''-um'' (and even there, ''-om'' was retained in some dialects); ''-om'' elsewhere would be a retention. * The repurposing of ''*to'', originally a connecting particle, into a preverb ''*to-''; such a preverb appears in Cisalpine Gaulish and Insular Celtic. * The rise of a characteristic verb complex, including the ability to affix multiple preverbs to a verb simultaneously; both Gaulish and early Insular Celtic allow double prefixation of verbs.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * {{Celtic languages Celtic languages