Cumbric language
| Cumbric | |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern England & Southern Scotland |
| Extinct | 12th century |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
|
Linguist list
|
xcb |
| Glottolog | None |
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" in what is now Northern England and southern Lowland Scotland. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. Place name evidence suggests Cumbric may also have been spoken as far south as Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales. The prevailing view is that it became extinct in the 12th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Strathclyde into the Kingdom of Scotland.
Dauvit Broun sets out the problems with the various terms used to describe the Cumbric language and its speakers. The people seem to have called themselves *Cumbri the same way that the Welsh call themselves Cymry (most likely from Brittonic *kom-brogī meaning "fellow countrymen"). It is likely that the Welsh and the Cumbric speaking people of what are now southern Scotland and northern England felt they were actually one ethnic group. Old Irish speakers called them "Britons", Bretnach or Bretain. The Norse called them Brettar. In Medieval Latin, the English term Wales and the term Cumbri were Latinised as Wallenses "of Wales" and respectively Cumbrenses "of Cumbria". The usual English usage was to call them Welsh. In Scots, a Cumbric speaker seems to have been called Wallace, from the Scots Wallis/Wellis "Welsh".
In Cumbria itaque: regione quadam inter Angliam et Scotiam sita – "Cumbria: a region situated between England and Scotland".
The Latinate term Cambria is often used for Wales; nevertheless, the Life of St Kentigern by Jocelyn of Furness has the following passage:
When King Rederech (Rhydderch Hael) and his people had heard that Kentigern had arrived from Wallia [i.e. Wales] into Cambria [i.e. Cumbria], from exile into his own country, with great joy and peace both king and people went out to meet him.
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