Language learning

History

The language of our forefathers and mothers is intimately tied to the history, philosophy and religious worldview of the Celts as it has been so for over 3000 years. The Celtic language tree is one branch of a geeater Indo language tree of the world and shares a common ancestor with Sanskrit through the etymological process. The Gaulish language is the language of the Celts of mainland Europe and was the tongue of the Druids there reaching back at least 1000 years evolving gradually from Proto-Celtic. The loss of Gaulish was due to the strict oral traditions of Celtic society not giving much to written documents. The second reason for this loss was because of Roman occupation and suppression of the Druids. That being said modern Gaulish projects have made attempts at reconstructions, but there are still not enough archaeological finds to completely understand the nuances of the Gaulish language as it was. We do have a lot of information to successfully reconstruct many words and generally understand the structure of things. It is our hope and prayer that one day greater finds will be made in order to compeletly restore Gaulish or at least one dialect of Gaulish language back to the European continent for spiritual liturgical use.

Modern dilemma

The drop of language speaking in modern times is not only due to suppression by mainstream education systems and governments from centuries of imperialism, but also the medias influence on younger generations, distracting them with frivolous non-sense and materialism. Instead of learning history and language, many people in general are taught to be ignorant. In the words of Celtic scholar Peter Berresford Ellis, “Language is the highest form of cultural expression.” That being said, if our languages ceases to be spoken, then our cultures will die with it, God forbid. In recent decades the amount of Celtic language speakers had decreased in places like Ireland, but seeing this, a much greater effort is being pushed by grass roots enthusiasts in the past several years to encourage learning across all Celtic regions of Europe.

Recent numbers

As of 2025, approximately 428,800 people in Wales, or 13.9% of those aged three and older, reported speaking Welsh on a daily basis. This figure reflects a commitment to increasing the usage of the Welsh language, as local authorities and the Welsh Government aim to double the daily use of Welsh and reach one million Welsh speakers by 2050

In Ireland

Gaeltacht Areas: In the Gaeltacht regions, where Irish is traditionally spoken, approximately 15,360 people reported using Irish daily in 2022.

Total Speakers: As of the 2022 census, 1,873,997 people in the Republic of Ireland reported some ability to speak Irish, which is about 39.8% of the population.

Daily Speakers: Only 71,968 individuals claimed to speak Irish daily outside the education system, showing a decrease from previous years.

The Celtic languages are broken up in to two different categories Goidelic and Brythonic, they are:

Classic Celtic languages:

• Old Irish ( Oldest Celtic manuscripts ) still can be learned and spoken.
• Gaulish ( Survives in fragments ) Reconstructions are a work in progress.
• Lepontic
• Galatian
• Noric
• Celt Iberian
• Brittonic
• Pictish

Gaulish language and Script

The Gaulish alphabet varied over time and across regions, but most commonly, Gaulish was written using three primary scripts:

Latin Script:

As the Romans occupied Gaul, the Latin alphabet became the most common script for writing Gaulish. It was essentially the same as the standard Latin alphabet used for Latin, consisting of 23 letters:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z

In Gaulish inscriptions, the Latin alphabet was often used with specific modifications to represent Gaulish phonetics. The letters K and Q were sometimes used interchangeably, and X could represent sounds like “ks” or “gz.”

Greek Script:

In certain parts of Gaul, especially in regions near Greek colonies like Massilia (modern-day Marseille), Gaulish was also written using the Greek alphabet. The Greek script used for Gaulish included the following letters:

Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

The Greek script was adapted to represent Gaulish sounds and can be seen in a limited number of inscriptions.

Lepontic Script (an ancient Italic script):

In the earlier period, especially in the region of Northern Italy and Switzerland (Cisalpine Gaul), Lepontic (an ancient Celtic script) was used for writing Celtic languages like Gaulish. This script was based on the Etruscan alphabet and had the following letters:

𐌢 𐌠 𐌑 𐌂 𐌃 𐌄 𐌅 𐌆 𐌇 𐌈 𐌉 𐌊 𐌋 𐌌 𐌍 𐌏 𐌐 𐌒 𐌓 𐌔 𐌕 𐌖 𐌗

This script is found primarily in early Celtic inscriptions, but it was mostly replaced by the Latin script over time.

Phonetic Considerations:

In writing Gaulish, the pronunciation of certain sounds differs slightly from Latin:

• C was always hard, like “K.”
• V was likely pronounced as “W.”
• X could represent both “ks” or “gz” sounds.

Summary of Key Scripts:

1. Latin alphabet: Most commonly used by later Gaulish speakers.
2. Greek alphabet: Used in some regions influenced by Greek colonists.
3. Lepontic script: An older writing system used in northern Gaulish areas.

The Latin alphabet is the most accessible and widespread for Gaulish inscriptions, though variations in spelling and regional differences existed.