loanwords - Why are there so few words in English that are derived from Welsh?


Why are there so few words in English that are derived from Welsh?


Wikipedia mentions only 11.



Answer



Language origin specialists theorize that the proportion of loanwords in a language is a function of both the length of exposure to and the social status of the borrowed language.


English words borrowed from Celt are less than one hundred and probably more around 60.


However, the exposure of English to Welsh is long (449 AD to present) but the Welsh language had a lower status from the Saxon point of view.


Remember the double meaning of Wilisc in OE, the Saxon word for Celt (=> Welsh): it means both "foreigner" and "slave" (see the forms Wyel: slave, servant or Wylen: female slave).


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