Outside Influences On The Celts, Art, religion, and so on

[barddas]

I thought the Mythology thread was becoming a bit off track so I started this one



Viking Influence
Viking raids of the 9th and 10th centuries caused upheavals that put an end to contemporary artistic endeavor. The return of settled conditions around 1100 brought with it a period of renewed creative activity, although the virtuosity of earlier centuries was never regained. Shrines and reliquaries for sacred objects-such as the great processional cross from Cong were the outstanding artistic productions of the time.
An important innovation, most evident in the carving of stone crosses and metalwork, was the gradual movement away from abstract geometric decoration toward increasing representation of the human figure, particularly bishops, saints, and biblical personages.

[barddas]

Old English (500-1100 AD)

West Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark: the Angles (whose name is the source of the words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes, began populating the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisian--the language of northeastern region of the Netherlands--that is called Old English. Four major dialects of Old English emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast.

These invaders pushed the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is now a dead language. (The last native Cornish speaker, Dolly Pentreath, died in 1777 in the town of Mousehole, Cornwall.) Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt.

The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this is deceptive; Old English is much more important than these statistics would indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots.

Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, lasted until about 1100. This last date is rather arbitrary, but most scholars choose it because it is shortly after the most important event in the development of the English language, the Norman Conquest.

[barddas]

This is the site where the article on language came from.

http://www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm

cheers

[Jimmy Carbomb]

Keep it coming buddy! I'm sure I'm not the only one reading all this!

[barddas]

Thanks GB!!! I will!!!





YEs three beer mugs. One for you, me and one to wrestle over!!! LOL!!!

Cheers

[RavenWing]

Make that last one for me!

[stevenpd]

Don't count me out! My traditional ancestry is from scandanavia and I married a Scot, which lead me to my interest in all things Scot (out of necessity). Her maiden name was Angus.

[ranger]

Hard to follow for a new guy, especially a 6th generation American. My Grandmother's family (Ross) is supposed to be from Scotland (Tain). A little disagreement between there and County Antrim, Ireland. But can I get a beer for effort?