View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

[Facts] Furthermore
All languages ultimately derive or inter-relate to each other from influence. There are some more isolated groups though, like oriental, indo-european and african etcthanks miranda ^_^~SD
vote up1vote down

Replies

Thanks guys! It just seemed odd that the names are so similar but not from the same language.
vote up1vote down
Well, they aren't from the same language but they are from related languages. Celt languages today can be divided into Brythonic/British (P-Celtic if you want to sound very science-y ;o) - Welsh, Cornish, Breton and Goidelic/Gallic (Q-Celtic) - Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and Manx (Isle of Man).So 'hill' is today in...Brythonic:
Welsh - bryn
Cornish - bre/bronGallic:
Irish - cnoc
Scottish - cnoc
Manx - cronk, knockNow where the idea that Brian meant 'hill' came from is beyond me. The official stance of etymology is that it's unknown but *probably* from the Old Celtic for 'high, noble'. I suppose they're assuming a connection to beann/beinn (top, peak) but that's still nothing more than assumption...though if all one wants is a straightforward 'meaning', full-on accurate or not, it'll do nicely.Devon
vote up1vote down