ON LEXICAL AND ETYMOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF WELSH PERSONAL NAMES

Abstract

The article mainly traces the etymology of Welsh personal names. Welsh derives from Brittonic, the native Celtic language of Britain at the time of the Roman Empire. It has emerged in a recognizable form almost in the VI century, though until the XII century – just like its sister languages Breton, Cornish and Cumbric it can be also considered a Brittonic dialect. The personal name systems of all these sister languages were so similar in the Low Middle Ages that they could be considered more as Brittonic personal names, rather than simply a Welsh phenomenon. Welsh personal names have surely fallen under the influence of political changes. Starting with a mixture of original Celtic and adopted Roman personal names, the Welsh increasingly adopted English names after the conquest. A significant return to native personal names only took place in the XIX century after the Welsh cultural revival.