Why is Breton and Britannia disconnected by the English channel????

Question

They must be related but why is Breton part of France, do the Bretons' speak English , their own language, french??? I bet they were really pi$$ed off during the Nazi occupation

Answer 1

The Bretons are descended from British (Celtic) settlers who migrated across the Channel. I haven't got any reference books with me, but I think it was about the 7th/8th centuries AD. They are NOT descended from the Gauls, who inhabited most of France until the Romans wiped them out in one of the greatest genocides of the Roman conquests.

Even today, it is quite easy to see the resemblances between their language and Cornish and Welsh.

The majority of Bretons speak French as their first language and, in much of Brittany, you hardly hear Breton spoken at all. It is only in Finistère and parts of Morbihan that you find substantial numbers of Breton speakers.

Actually, not all Bretons were that pissed off by the Nazi occupation. During the Nazi period (probably as an attempt at divide-and-rule), they encouraged the teaching of the Breton language in schools, thus reversing the former French policy of ignoring the language. They also promoted a unified Breton spelling, using elements of pronunciation from both northern and southern dialects.

Answer 2

The Celts (including the Bretons) were once everywhere in Western Europe. They gradually moved (and were pushed) further and further west, and north in the case of Scotland.

I presume a few Bretons speak Breton, they must all speak French, no doubt some have learned English. Everyone was pissed off during the Nazi occupation, I believe. But I don't think the Celts were any higher on Hitler's list of acceptable races than the French were, and certainly lower than the Anglo-Saxons.

Answer 3

A Breton is an inhabitant of Bretagne, which is French for Brittany. Great Britain comes from the French Grande Bretagne, meaning Great Brittany.

Bretons, like the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles, the Irish and Scots, the Welsh, Manx and Cornish, spoke a Celtic language. Breton is also the name of the language, in English and French. It is close to Welsh and Cornish.

Answer 4

I don't know what "Breton" is.