Brithenig
language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Brithenig is constructed language that was made up by Andrew Smith from New Zealand in 1996. The idea behind it is the question what the Welsh language would have looked like if it had been a Romance instead of a Celtic language: a sister language to French, Spanish and Italian, but one that looks much like Welsh. It plays a key-role in the made-up world of Ill Bethisad, where Latin took the place of Old Celtic as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain, thus giving way to the development of Brithenig.
Brithenig is the best known example of the so-called group of "alternative languages", languages that could have existed if history had been different. Another well-known example is Wenedyk, which does the same with Polish as Brithenig does with Welsh.
Remove ads
Words
The following list of 30 words shows what Brithenig looks like compared to a few other Romance languages:
Remove ads
Sample
The Lord's Prayer:
- Nustr Padr, ke sia i llo gel:
- sia senghid tew nôn:
- gwein tew rheon:
- sia ffaeth tew wolont,
- syrs lla der sig i llo gel.
- Dun nustr pan diwrnal a nu h-eidd;
- e pharddun llo nustr phechad a nu,
- si nu pharddunan llo nustr phechadur.
- E ngheidd rhen di nu in ill temp di drial,
- mai llifr nu di'll mal.
- Per ill rheon, ill cofaeth e lla leir es ill tew,
- per segl e segl. Amen.
References
- Higley, Sarah L., M/C Journal Archived 2005-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Vol 3 Issue 1.
Other websites
- The page of Brithenig Archived 2009-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
- The cultures of Ill Bethisad
- Romance glossary (a list of common words in all Romance languages, also Brithenig and Wenedyk)
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads