Cornish language

Cornish (Cornish: Kernewek) is a very old language from Cornwall, in the south-west of Great Britain. A Celtic language, Cornish is very similar to Welsh and also is related to Gaelic, all three of which Brythonic languages. Cornish is less closely related to the Goidelic languages: Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.

Cornish
Kernewek
Native to	United Kingdom
Region	Cornwall
Native speakers	300 fluent[1]
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cornish
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	United Kingdom
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kw
ISO 639-2	cor
ISO 639-3	cor
ELP	Cornish

History

The words 'Cornwall' and 'Cornish' are derived from the Celtic Cornovii tribe, which inhabited modern-day Cornwall prior to the Roman conquest. ^[source?]

Cornish started to diverge from Welsh towards the end of the 7th century AD. and the earliest known examples of written Cornish date from the end of the 9th century. They were in the form of glosses that were scribbled in the margins of a Latin text ^[source?]

A long time ago, Cornish was the only language spoken in Cornwall, but more and more people began to speak English instead. In 1550, when the Book of Common Prayer was written in English, instead of Latin, the Cornish people got angry, and there was a rebellion. ^[source?]

By 1800, only a few people ^{[weasel words]} could speak Cornish.

People say that a woman called Dolly Pentreath ^[source?] was the last person who could speak Cornish and not English. That is not quite true since she was one of the last people.^[source?]

Revival

Some people ^{[weasel words]} relearned Cornish by travelling around talking to people who could still speak it and by reading old plays and books. ^[source?] Some people ^{[weasel words]} wanted to learn the language and speak it and so in 1904, a learned man, Henry Jenner, wrote a book to help people. ^[source?] Some people ^{[weasel words]} then began to learn the language and to speak it again. ^[source?]

No one knows how many Cornish-speakers there are now. ^[source?] It is estimated that about 300 people speak Cornish. ^{[weasel words]} Some young people ^{[weasel words]} have grown up speaking it. Most people in Cornwall know a few sentences or words in Cornish. ^[source?] In 100 years, Cornish has grown from having almost no speakers to having many thousands ^[source?]

Sample phrases

The beginning of Origo Mundi (Origin of the World), a play written in Cornish in the late 14th century

• Kernowek: Cornish
• Kernow: Cornwall
• Den: Man
• Benyn: Woman
• Gorthugher da: Good afternoon
• Dydh da!: Good day!
• Duw genes!: Goodbye!
• Onen hag oll: One and all.
• Fatla genes!: How's it going with you