what languge came first welsh or english?

Answer 1

english was here first, welsh is all made up....

Answer 2

Well, both are living languages, so when English first came about as a separate language Welsh might have been very different. But welsh is definitely older, the language of the Britons since way before Roman times. Old English originated little more one and a half millenia ago, as a separate language, but then it was a mix of several older languages; Frisian, Jutish, Saxon as well as many others. Those other languages though are probably a similar age to Welsh, and they are all West Germanic languages and very similar to each other, even mutually intelligible at one point, so English wasn't very different to any of them,, nowadays it would have probably been called a dialect at first.

Later there was more Danish influence, and French following the Norman invasion, which arguably means it isn't even as ancient as I said it was, as it has changed dramatically from a language very like modern German or Dutch, with a full blown case and gender system, to that which we know and love today.

Answer 3

I don't have all the details, but my ex-husband is Welsh. They cannot date the Welsh language exactly. They do know that it came well before the English language. The Welsh language for many years was only spoken by a few, however in recent years the new generation has brought it back.

Answer 4

Welsh. Welsh is a Celtic language: the Celts were dominant over much of Europe before they were pushed out (with nuch bloodshed) by the Romans.

English is a mixture of many other languages, but its basic roots are Anglo-Saxon and some from the people who entered Britain in the fifth century after the Romans left. I believe that there is a remnant of a related language, Fresian, on the border between the North -East of the Netherlands and Germany.

Answer 5

Very interesting to learn that the Welsh language came before the English but where abouts does the Scottish and Irish fit in.

Answer 6

Welsh-like languages were spoken in Britain long before English-like languages were, but another way to look at this would be: Was there a time in British history when a person who speaks modern Welsh would have understood the version of Welsh spoken then, yet a person who speaks modern English would not have understood the version of English spoken then (or was it visa versa?). Clearly, a person who speaks modern English would not have understood the English of Chaucer's time (late14th century), but they probably would have understood the English of Shakespeare's time (late 16th century). What is the corresponding time period for Welsh? Does anyone know?

Answer 7

Hard to say really, both evolved from earlier languages e.g. Welsh from Brythonic Celtic languages spoken in Britain since before the Romans came, and English has it's roots in Anglo-Saxon dialects which arrived in Britain after the Romans left, with a big dash of Latin/Norman French thrown in. So a Welsh-like pre-cursor language was spoken in Britain before an English-like language, but whether it resembled modern Welsh more closely in 500AD than what the Anglo-Saxons spoke in 500AD resembles modern English, I don't know.

Answer 8

Welsh is a far more ancient language than English

Answer 9

Welsh is much older than English. Its a gaelic language like Irish and Scotch and these civilizations existed long before the English. And no, it is not made up of germanic and latin languages.

Answer 10

Welsh was the language of the first settlers in Wales (the Celts), who came thousands of years ago. English was created less than two thousand years ago, when Germanic settlers came.

Answer 11

Welsh is a form of Gaelic and came first.