alternatehistory.com

The Continental Celtic languages--once spoken from Spain to Asia Minor--have long since been extinct. True, one Celtic language--Breton--is spoken on the Continent, but it is not really an exception; it was brought from Cornwall and South Wales in the 5th and 6th centuries by Britons fleeing the Saxon invaders, and is thus an "Insular Celtic" rather than "Continental Celtic" language. Such at least is the standard view. However, it has been argued that "In Brittany, relatively remote and far removed from the more intensely romanised centres and in close proximity to Celtic-speaking Britain and in close contact with it, circumstances may have been exceptionally favourable for the late survival of Gaulish. Here, there is little doubt, Insular and Continental Celtic did merge." The author quoting this passage acknowledges that "...the Gaulish contribution to the development of the Breton language will probably never be determined with any degree of certainty owing to a lack of direct evidence..." https://books.google.com/books?id=VgBtaDT-evYC&pg=PA148 (BTW, I once read somewhere that Breton nationalists dislike this theory, because they think it makes the Bretons "Gauls, just like the French"...)

Leaving aside the possible influence of Gaulish on Breton, can anyone give a plausible scenario for a Continental Celtic language surviving? Yes, the Italic and Germanic tides were hard to resist, yet after all the Basques managed to retain their language. Could some tribes deep in the Alps, say, have retained theirs?

(Given that some of the Belgae had crossed over to Britian by Caesar's time https://books.google.com/books?id=3cHdQC1cXLEC&pg=PA90 could we even see Continrntal Celtic surviving--in Britain?...)
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