LL-L: "Celtic connections" LOWLANDS-L, 24.OCT.1999 (05) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 24.OCT.1999 (05) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Braw1 at aol.com
Subject:

Does German originate from Gaelic or some form of celtic Gaelic?
I read that German is derived from ancient celtic languages
and latin influences, is this true?.  Furthermore, Scots is derived from
German, Norse, etc.. but influenced by Gaelic and an older sister language to
English.  However, I understand that most peoples of Scotland never spoke
Gaelic or Erse but spoke languages which were Germanic.  If so, how strong is
the Gaelic influences in Scots?  Is it's influence limited to accent and tone
of language?
Braw1-Mark

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Celtic connections

Mark,

As we have discussed previously, Celtic languages have influenced some Germanic
languages, either through contacts or because Celtic speakers adopted Germanic
language varieties.

German is most definitely a Germanic language, and Celtic is a separate branch
of Indo-European.  Some say German is West Germanic (like our Lowlands
languages), and some say that it (and closely related varieties like Yiddish)
makes up a separate South Germanic branch.  Areas in which now Upper German
(e.g., Bayuvarian) dialects are spoken used to be predominantly
Celtic-speaking.  Germanic and Celtic people mixed and became Germanic speakers,
and what is known as "Celtic substrates" remained in those Germanic varieties,
influenced the phonology etc.  At least this is a theory.  The same thing
happened to Latin and it offshoots (Spanish, Galician, French, etc.) in formerly
Celtic-speaking areas.

In other words, German is *not* derived from Celtic, but certain varieties of it
may have been influenced by Celtic varieties that are now extinct.

I hope this helped.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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