Cornish language

Cornish
Cornish
Kernewek
Native to	United Kingdom
Region	Cornwall
Native speakers	300 fluent (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Celtic Brythonic Cornish; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Recognised minority language in	United Kingdom
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kw
ISO 639-2	cor
ISO 639-3	cor

Cornish (Cornish: Kernewek) is a very old language from Cornwall in the southwest of England. Cornish is a Celtic language and is very similar to Welsh and is related to Gaelic.

History

A long time ago, Cornish was the only language spoken in Cornwall, but more and more people began to speak English, instead of Cornish. In 1550, when the prayer book was written in English instead of Latin, the Cornish people got angry and there was a rebellion. Because many Cornish-speakers died and they would now hear the Bible in English, Cornish was used less and less.

By 1800, only a few people could speak Cornish, and since no one spoke it to one another any more, Cornish became endangered.

People say that a woman called Dolly Pentreath was the last person who could speak Cornish. That is not quite true, but she was one of the last people to use it instead of English.

How old is the Cornish language?

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 AD. These were in the form of glosses scribbled in the margins of a Latin text –Smaragdus' Commentary on Donatus.

The origins of the Cornish language

Derived from the Brythonic languages, the Cornish language has common roots with both Breton and Welsh. The words 'Cornwall' and 'Cornish' are derived from the Celtic Cornovii tribe who inhabited modern-day Cornwall prior to the Roman conquest.

Methods of spreading

Some people learned about Cornish by traveling around talking to people who could still speak it and by reading old plays and books. Some people wanted to learn the language and speak it and so in 1904 a learned man, Henry Jenner, wrote a book to help people. Some people then began to learn the language and speak it again.

Today

No one knows how many Cornish-speakers there are now. People think that about 300 people probably speak Cornish. Some young people have grown up speaking it. Most people in Cornwall know a few sentences or words in Cornish. In 100 years, Cornish has grown from almost no speakers to many thousands, which is very exciting for many people.

There are now many new books, films and songs in Cornish. The Bible has now been translated into Cornish. There is an event, the open Gorseth, with a story and poetry competition. Sometimes, Cornish is used in churches.

There used to be a problem with Cornish: three different dictionaries had different spellings, and people did not agree about how to write words or say them. That was confusing for people when they have not been speaking for long. In 2008, people who used different types of Cornish came together and agreed on a new standard form of Cornish to be used everywhere.

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

Cornish Language Media

WIKITONGUES- Elizabeth speaking Cornish*Recorded in Truro, United Kingdom.*Good evening, I’m Elizabeth and I live in Cornwall, I’m Cornish and I speak the Cornish language. I’m a Cornish speaker.*So, I began to learn Cornish when I was... around about seven years old, I think. My mother was learning Cornish at evening classes and she came home and taught me and my brother to speak the language.
A map showing the westward decline of Cornish, 1300–1750
The first page of Vocabularium Cornicum, a 12th-century Latin-Cornish glossary
Beunans Meriasek (The life of St. Meriasek) (f.56v.) Middle Cornish Saint's Play
William Bodinar's letter, dated 3 July 1776
Dolly Pentreath (died 1777), said to be the last monolingual speaker of Cornish, in an engraved portrait published in 1781
Cornish can be seen in many places in Cornwall; this sign is at Penzance railway station.
The view from Carn Brea beacon (Karn Bre) in Penwith (Pennwydh), near Crows-an-Wra (Krows an Wragh), looking towards the village of Treave (Trev) with Porthcurno (Porthkornow) in the distance. The Cornish language has had substantial influence on Cornwall's toponymy and nomenclature.
Commemorative plaque in Cornish and English for Michael Joseph the Smith (An Gof) mounted on the north side of Blackheath common, south east London, near the south entrance to Greenwich Park