"It is not likely to be a hefty volume because the vast majority of the material has been lost in the mists of time. But the remnants of a language spoken in parts of the UK and Ireland 2,000 years ago are being collected for what is being billed as the first complete dictionary of ancient Celtic. The dictionary will not be huge because relatively few words survive, but experts from Aberystwyth University say they expect they will end up with more than 1,000 words."
"Dr Simon Rodway, a senior lecturer in the department of Welsh and Celtic studies at Aberystwyth, said it was exciting to be involved in compiling the first dictionary of its kind. He said: These disparate sources have never before been brought together in a way that offers such an insight into the nature of Celtic languages spoken in these islands at the dawn of the historical period."
A team at Aberystwyth University is assembling the first complete dictionary of ancient Celtic, collecting surviving words spoken in parts of the UK and Ireland two thousand years ago. The dictionary will cover material from about 325 BC to AD 500 and is expected to include more than 1,000 words despite heavy loss of material. Sources include Julius Caesar's accounts, ancient memorial stones, and a small number of Roman-British inscriptions. The dictionary will illuminate linguistic roots of modern Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Breton and Cornish, and will interest linguists, historians, archaeologists and archaeogeneticists.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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