The Cornish language has been declared dead by international experts, reports This Is Cornwall. The Celtic dialect was branded “extinct” by Unesco’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, published yesterday.

It featured alongside other ancient languages across Britain, with Manx also said to have gone the way of the do do bird and Scottish Gaelic and Welsh said to need help if they are going to survive the 21st century.

The organisation hopes the online atlas will aid research into the preservation of under-threat languages.

Unesco director-general Koichiro Matsuura said:

The death of a language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions of the community that spoke it – from poems and legends to proverbs and jokes.

But Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership, said reports of its extinction are premature. She said:

Saying Cornish is extinct implies there are no speakers and the language is dead, which it isn’t. Unesco’s study doesn’t take into account languages which have growing numbers of speakers and in the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum.

As a result of the growing popularity of Cornish, it is in a fairly unique situation and therefore difficult to classify.

Unesco said about 30 linguists worked on the Atlas.

[Source]

Originally posted 2009-02-25 09:02:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: midlander1231

CORNWALL’S historic links with Ireland, Wales and Scotland could earn it a place on a high-powered assembly to champion their Celtic ties reports the Western Morning News. On the eve of the county’s new super-council coming into force, talks will be held this weekend on Cornwall becoming a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (Bipa).

Supporters of the move say now is the time for Cornwall to “raise its status” and hope cultural links with the other main players will see the county take a step up on the national stage. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-04-11 09:34:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tintagel, located on the craggy, wind swept cliffs of southwestern Cornwall is the traditional birth place of King Arthur, it is a wonderous place. Atop the stone island lies the ruins of Tintagel castle and village, built in the 12th and 13th century. This date makes it too recent to be directly related to King Arthur who reportedly was born around 480 C.E., but it is still a place of mystery and holiness. Although the existing castle was started by Reginald, the Earl of Cornwall in 1141, distinctive Mediterranian pottery, called Tintagel Ware, has been found there that dates back to the 5th and 6th centuries. Tintagel was obviously a wealthy trading post during that time and may, in fact, have been a stronghold of Arthur.

In 1998, the English Heritage revealed that during that season’s excavations at Tintagel, a broken piece of Cornish slate was uncovered with an inscription reading, “Pater Coliavificit Artognou”, which translated means “Artognou, father of a descendent of Coll, had this built”. “Artognou” is pronounced “Arthnou”. The inscription has been dated to the 6th century and the reference to “Coll” is interesting in that King Coel Hen (the Old) was the 4th century founder of the Royal Line of Dummonia. Dummonia is the kingdom that King Arthur is reported to have ruled.

A sacred well can be found at the top of the island crest, along with an underground passage which ends at a pool of water. Archaeologist have determined that this passage was used as a “cold storage” pit, but I believe that this is wrong. The site is located several hundred feet from the castle proper, and is confronted with the full fury of the winds that constantly sweep over the island. Most fortresses had storage rooms built within them, or closer to them, for easy access. The passage is instead obviously a ritual site that mimics the Earth Goddesses’ womb. The close connection between Tintagel and the Goddess is also evident in the two labyrinths carved in stone a few miles from Tintagel. These carvings have been dated to around 1400-1250 B.C.E. The mazes are identical to those found at Crete and among ancient Native American sites.

Below the castle ruins is a large cave with openings to the ocean and to a cove. Known as “Merlin’s Cave”, it is “typical” of those caves believed to be representative of the Earth Goddess and the mysteries of fertility. It is lined in quartz crystal and exudes a sense of high energy within its walls.

Just outside the cave entrance and running up the left side of the cliff is a natural rock sculpture of a face. Researcher Paul Broadhurst notes in his book, “Tintagel and the Arthurian Mythos”(2), that the face is that of Arthur. Upon closer examination curved rams horns are seen sprouting from the rock forehead. The castle builders added on to this image by building stone walls connecting to the natural horn structure. Is this a representation of Arthur? No. It is rather an ancient, primordial, visage of the Horned God, Cernunnos. Literature on the rock face is almost non-existent. The scant mention of the horned image in Broadhurst’ book ignores the horned image, and the accompanying photograph is devoid of the horns. Perhaps it is more advantageous to maintain local tradition than to discuss the alternative, but more obvious, meanings of the image.

The naturally constructed face is known as a simulacra (a natural object which looks like people, animals or deities) which are found throughout the world. According to Rickard and Michell, “these spontaneous images are often prominent in local folklore, and in times of pagan religion they were symbols of the gods and other characters of mythology. They give hints about the spiritual qualities…of the country around them. Certain spots on earth are seen…as ‘generation centres’…because they are spots where nature seems to manifest the prototypes of Creation”. (3)

The sense of wonder that one has when seeing such a marvel is profound. But are these simply natural oddities? I don’t believe so. I believe that these are direct links to Gaia, which indicate just how close to nature we once were, and how close we can again become. The face at Tintagel has been there for eons and is a reminder that the Horned God is still with us, watching over the wildlands.

The people of ancient Britain acknowledged the sacred power held at Tintagel and the areas around it by carving the labyrinths at Rocky Valley and digging the ritual cave at the top of Tintagel. If, in fact, this is the home of Arthur, what better place to build his castle. Arthur was a Pagan and worshipped the Old Gods. His teacher, Merlin, was a druid. The Face of Cernunnos, clearly sculptured on the side of the island by the forces of Nature, would give authority to the King who acted on behald of the Horned One. We can find that same sacred power where we live, wherever that is, if we but look and open our hearts and minds to it.

NOTES

1. Geoffrey Ashe. Arthurian Britain. Glastonbury: Gothic Image Publications, 1997, pg. 210

2. Paul Broadhurst. Tintagel and the Arthurian Mythos. Launceston: Pendragon Press, 1992, pg 158

3. Bob Rickard and John Michell. Unexplained Phenomena: Mysteries and Curiosities of Science, Folklore and Superstition. London: Rough Guides, Ltd., 2000, page 234

Source

We really pleased to be able to announce that for lovers of the Cornish Celts, the book A Handbook of the Cornish Language is now available online, free of charge and available for download. Thanks to Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks.net, we are able to get this invaluable linguistic resource in numerous formats for studying on our desktop computers or mobile devices. This book is principally intended for those persons of Cornish nationality who wish to acquire some knowledge of their ancient tongue, and to read, write, and perhaps even to speak it. Its aim is to represent in an intelligible form the Cornish of the later period, and since it is addressed to the general Cornish public rather than to the skilled philologist, much has been left unsaid that might have been of interest to the latter, old-fashioned phonological and grammatical terms have been used, a uniform system of spelling has been adopted, little notice has been taken of casual variations, and the arguments upon which the choice of forms has been based have not often been given.

Excerpt

…man, and have far less in common with the Anglo-Saxon, the Celt, or any other white man than they have with the Hottentot, the Esquimaux, the Lapp, or the Australian “blackfellow.†This is particularly the case in what was once the forest-covered district of middle England. There, no doubt, when there was any fighting to be done, the aboriginal hid in the woods until it was all over, and only then came out to share in the spoil and the glory and the drinks; while the white man, whether Briton, Saxon, or Norman, went out to fight, and not infrequently to be killed. A survival, perhaps, of the unfittest was the result, which may account for some of the peculiar characteristics of the Midland lower classes. That the successive changes of masters were matters of little or no importance to the enslaved aboriginal, while a life of servitude was intolerable to the free white man, may account for the fact that the labouring classes of Devon, Cornwall…

Project Gutenberg

Many Books.net

Pic:http://www.sustrust.co.uk/news.html

The Western Morning News says: IT MAY look like little more than a pile of rubble today, but these stones are the remains of an iconic monument which once possessed as much cultural and religious importance as the Merry Maidens, Hurlers or Perran Round. Caerwynnen Quoit – also known as the Giant’s Frying Pan and Pendarves Quoit – is situated in a field outside Camborne.

Like the quoits of Lanyon, Trethevy, Chun, Zennor and those on Scilly, Caerwynnen is a chamber tomb dating from around 3,000BC. Although the structure is a scheduled ancient monument, neglect led to its total collapse in 1967. However, plans are now being drawn up to re-erect it.

On Sunday, members and supporters of the Sustainable Trust met at the quoit to hear about its history and plans for its protection. The organisation, which has bought the monument and five acres of surrounding land near Troon with help from a Heritage Lottery grant, intends to restore and reposition the huge stones. Continue Reading »

Pic: Capitol Hill.

The link between Bodmin’s ancient wassailing tradition and the town council has been re-forged after hundreds of years reports This Is Cornwall. Councillors have agreed to display the wassail bowl at Shire House, along with a history of the custom that dates back to the early 17th century.

On the 12th day of Christmas, wassailers visit homes, pubs and shops, and offer ale from the bowl, and collect donations to charity.

This particular form of wassailing is unique to Bodmin. Present town clerk Paul O’Callaghan is keen to follow in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, Nicholas Srey, and engage in the event. Continue Reading »

Pic: BBC.

St Piran’s Day is very popular in Cornwall and the term ‘Perrantide’ has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many Cornish-themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants. The village of Perranporth (‘Porthpyran’ in Cornish) hosts the annual inter-Celtic festival of ‘Lowender Peran’, which is also named in honour of him. [Wiki] This Is Cornwall reports that on St Piran’s Day (the 5th March), ASDA in St Austell will be celebrating St Piran’s Day  and raising funds for the Children’s Hospice South West Precious Lives Appeal.

The day will be kicked off by mayor of Restormel Jackie Bull at 11am. She will also be in the store to help the activities along.

Music performed by The Cornish Connections will entertain everyone in the foyer.

The Cornish Language Society will be making announcements over the tannoy in English and Cornish to try and show that the language is not dead.

The veteran rugby players the Bolingey Barbarians will also be in the outer foyer collecting money.

The event, taking place on Thursday, March 5, will also feature a host of local producers.

[Source]

Pic: Independent

The Cornish language has been declared dead by international experts, This Is Cornwall reported. In The Independent Jenefer Lowe replies that the language is not dead and is, in fact, growing.   There are thought to be just 300 fluent speakers of Cornish left and Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership, says reports of its extinction are premature.

Saying Cornish is extinct implies that there are no speakers and the language is dead, which it isn’t. Unesco’s study doesn’t take into account languages which have growing numbers of speakers, and in the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum.

Mrs Lowe added:

As a result of the growing popularity of Cornish, it is in a fairly unique situation and therefore difficult to classify – along with Manx, which is also designated as extinct despite there now being a Manx-language primary school on the island.

The Manx language was thought to have died out in the mid-19th century but there are now believed to be about 600 active speakers.

The Welsh Language Board says there about 500,000 speakers of the language, and census data from 2001 recorded about 50,000 speakers of Scottish Gaelic in the Western Isles. Unesco found that the greatest language diversity was in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 2,000 languages are spoken. Christopher Moseley, a linguist and editor-in-chief of the atlas, said that on the question of which languages survive:

there is a subtle interplay of forces, and this atlas will help ordinary people understand those forces better.

[Source]

An Excerpt from Book Of Folk-lore. by Sabine Baring-Gould [1913] We cannot expect to find reminiscences of the gods and goddesses of the primitive Silurian or Ivernian race that peopled Great Britain and Ireland, or even of the Celtic and Roman divinities, save in a most attenuated form. Even the saints of the Catholic Church who filled the religious horizon in England and Scotland for a thousand years have faded from it.

But we will endeavor to discover some traces, and some do remainThe prehistoric rude-stone building race certainly did have a goddess of Death, and probably one of Generation. In the subterranean excavations made in Le Petit Mona, by the Baron de Baye, the necropolises were guarded by rude figures representing a female cut in the chalk, and also by a representation of a stone hammer. The female figure has also been found cut on limestone in the department of Gard, on dolmens. In Brittany, in the covered alleys, there are numerous figures of stone axes or hammers, and also a curious shield-like representation that may possibly take the place of the female figure found in the chalk tombs, but which it was difficult to execute in granite. On one of the slabs of a dolmen, near Loudun, that I examined, was cut a celt, and a cdt is also cut on the huge upper stone or table of the famous dolmen of Confolens. In Brittany, where the incoming Celts from Wales and Cornwall overflowed the land and submerged the earlier peoples, these former have been largely influenced by the people they treated as belonging to a lower stratum of civilisation. Continue Reading »

Pic: BBC

The BBC reports that a collection of rare Bronze Age axe heads discovered in Cornwall has gone on display in Truro after a campaign to keep the relics in the county. The 3,000-year-old artifacts were found in perfect condition, buried in a clay pot at Mylor near Falmouth during a search using metal detectors.

The collection would have gone to the British Museum but the Royal Cornwall Museum raised about £10,000 to keep it.

The find is believed to be the biggest of its type in Cornwall. Continue Reading »