See Also: Welsh language(encyclopedia)
Welsh cakes with roasted apricots and Welsh cake ice cream(recipes)
Welsh(dictionary)
welsh(dictionary)
Welsh rarebit(dictionary)
Welsh 1, adjective(dictionary)
Welsh (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Welsh Assembly(dictionary)
Welsh 2, noun(dictionary)
Welsh corgi(encyclopedia)

Welsh language (sh)




Celtic language of Wales.

Besieged for centuries by the English language, Welsh continues to be spoken by 18-20% of the population of Wales, or more than half a million people, though estimates of the actual number of first-language speakers vary widely. Welsh is traditionally divided into three periods: Old Welsh (งใ 800-1150), attested mainly in glosses and short textual passages; Middle Welsh (งใ 1150-1500), with a rich medieval literature including poetic texts originally composed much earlier; and Modern Welsh (from งใ 1500). Modern literary Welsh was largely fixed by William Salesbury's Bible translation. Vernacular Welsh, split along dialectal lines, has long been diverging from literary Welsh; many modern speakers cannot write or easily understand the traditional written language. The issue of an acceptable modern standard remains unresolved.