List of English words of Brittonic origin

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.

This list omits words of Celtic origin coming from later forms of Brittonic and intermediate tongues:

• See Gaulish (e.g. ambassador, bound, car, carpenter, piece), via Norman/Old French
• Other Continental Celtic (e.g. down, iron, leather, rich), via Germanic^[1]
• 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.^[2] The following list derives mainly from surveys of possible Brittonic loanwords in English by Richard Coates, Dieter Kastovsky, and D. Gary Miller. Etymologies from the Oxford English Dictionary are included to indicate the view of this authoritative (but not necessarily definitive) source, distinguishing between the first, second, third and online editions. Words that are the most widely accepted as Brittonic loans are in bold.

Word	Possible Brittonic etymology	OED etymology	Type
ass	Old British *assin or Old Irish *assan,[3] but more likely from Irish.[4][3]	Celtic (OED1)	historic (widely used in the Bible instead of donkey)
bannock	Etymologised by the OED as from Gaelic bannach, ? < Latin pānicium < pānis bread.[5] But possibly Old Brittonic *bannoc.[6]	Gaelic (OED1)	historic
basket	On one theory, it is from Latin bascauda "kettle, table-vessel," said by the Roman poet Martial to be from Celtic British and perhaps cognate with Latin fascis "bundle, faggot," in which case it probably originally meant "wicker basket." But OED frowns on this, and there is no evidence of such a word in Celtic unless later words in Irish and Welsh, sometimes counted as borrowings from English, are original.[7]	Unknown (OED Online)	common
beck	Agricultural implement with two hooks. Etymologised in the OED as from a 'Celtic root bacc-' (possibly via French).[8] The similar Old English becca "fork" has been proposed as a Brittonic loan, though this has been questioned.[4]	French (OED1)	technical
bin	Often considered to be from Old Brittonic *benna, but possibly a borrowing from Gallo-Roman.[6]	Probably Celtic (OED1)	common
brat	Possibly from a Brittonic root meaning "cloak, cloth" (Old Welsh *breth or *brath), cognate with Old Irish bratt. However, the OED and recent scholars see the English word as coming from Irish.[9][10] In Old English, bratt meant "cloak", but later came to mean "ragged garment", then "beggar's garment", and then "beggar's child", whence it attained its current meaning of "unruly child".[11][12] "Brat" is still used in parts of Northern England to refer to a rough working apron.[13]	Irish bratt (OED1)	common, pejorative
brock	From Brittonic *brocco-s, meaning "badger".[4][6]	Celtic (OED1)	technical
carr	From carreg such as in Welsh, meaning 'rock'.[6]	Old Northumbrian (OED1)	technical, local
coomb	From Old Brittonic *kumba, meaning "valley".[4][6] Frequently used as a place-name element in southwestern England.	Probably Brittonic (OED1)	local
crag	According to the OED 'apparently of Celtic origin: compare Irish and Gaelic creag, Manx creg, cregg, Welsh craig rock. None of these, however, exactly gives the English crag, cragg'.[14]	Celtic (OED1)	common
doe	Possibly from a Brittonic root *da-,[15] but could also be from Latin.	Latin dāma (OED1)	technical
dun	According to the OED, 'perhaps < Celtic: compare Irish and Gaelic donn brown, Welsh dwn'.[16]	Celtic (OED1)	common
gavelock	A kind of spear. Cf. 'Old Norse gaflak, gaflok neuter javelin (perhaps adopted < English), Welsh gaflach (said to mean ‘bearded arrow’), Irish gabhla lance, Old Northern French gavelot (12th cent.), gaverlot, gavrelot, garlot (= Central French javelot, Italian giavelotto ) javelin, whence Middle Dutch gavelot, gaverloot, Middle High German gabilôt'.[17] Now thought to have been borrowed into English from Old Norse, which borrowed it from Old Irish.[18]	Celtic (via Old French?) (OED1)	technical
gull	Probably from Brythonic Celtic; compare Welsh gwylan "gull," Cornish guilan, Breton goelann; all from Old Celtic *voilenno-. Replaced Old English mæw.[19]	Welsh or Cornish (OED Online)	common
hog	Possibly from Brittonic *hukk.[20] Given by the OED as a Celtic loan, related to Cornish "hoch"; Welsh "hwch," a pig or a sow, its connotation being a large instance.	Celtic (OED Online)	common
peat	Probably from a Celtic root *pett- (source also of Cornish peyth, Welsh peth "quantity, part, thing," Old Irish pet, Breton pez "piece").[21]	Unknown (OED Online)	common
sark	Derived by Andrew Breeze from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh seirch 'armour, trappings' (itself from Latin sarcīre 'patch').[22]	Germanic *sarki-z (OED1)	historic
tor	'Generally held to be Celtic', per the OED, which cites Old Welsh twrr ‘heap, pile’ and Gaelic tòrr ‘hill of an abrupt or conical form, lofty hill, eminence, mound, grave, heap of ruins’.;[23] possibly via Latin turris (tower) such as Glastonbury Tor. Especially used in Devon.[24]	Celtic (OED1)	technical, local
wan	Possibly from Brittonic *wanno- and related to Welsh gwan, which has a similar meaning to the English word.[20]	Unclear (OED Online)	common
yan, tan, tethera etc.	And variants. Most common in northern England, and ultimately from Brittonic *oinā, *deŭai, *tisrīs, etc., though heavily corrupted over time. Whether this is a legitimate Brittonic survival or a later borrowing from Welsh and Cornish remains open to scholarly debate.	Unclear	local

In extinct uses, seven main others are proposed, mainly by Andrew Breeze, seen in Old English. Though less controversial than others, some of the seven have been disputed:

funta

'fountain, spring.' Latin fontana and Church Latin (still used) font loaned into Brittonic and borrowed from either/both into Old English.^[4] Used in nine sets of settlements across counties west of London and east of Gillingham, Dorset: (Bedfont, (the) Chalfont(s), Mottisfont, Fonthill Bishop, Fontmell Magna, Fontwell, Teffont and Urchfont). Phrase the 'fount of all wisdom/knowledge' is cognate, seen to endure as a shorthand, poetic form of fountain.^[25]

luh

'pool',^[4] in use in the Northumbrian dialect of Old English. The modern English cognate, 'loch', is taken from Scottish Gaelic.^[26]

milpæþ

'army road', the first element of which is possibly from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh mil 'thousand, army'.^[27]

prass

'pomp, array', perhaps from the Brittonic ancestor of Welsh pres 'soldiers in array'.^[28]

stor

'incense, wax'.^[29] However, the Oxford English Dictionary regards it as a Latin loan.

toroc

'bung.' Highly disputed. Possibly not even an English word^[3]–or an English word but not of Celtic origin.^[4]

wassenas

'retainers', possibly from Brittonic.^[30]

See also

• Brittonicisms in English
• Celtic language-death in England