Word of the Week: September 25, 2000
The Impossibility of Native Welshmen

History, so the saying goes, is written by the victorious. The victorious also dictate the language sometimes. When the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes conquered England in the years after their first arrival in A.D. 449, it had just recently been left by the Romans (traditionally the Romans left in A.D. 410). The people they found there were, of course, native Britons. But the victorious Anglo-Saxons called them "Welisc," "Waelisc," "Wilisc," or "Wylisc." Those are among the spellings I find--all with multiple diacritical marks which I cannot reproduce in this font, unfortunately ("Wallace" is an Anglo-Norman form of the word). The word means "foreigner." So the Welsh were pushed into Wales (another form of the word) and were "foreigners" in their own land. The Welsh, however, who are Celtic, call themselves "Cymry," which means "fellow-countryman," which is appropriate for the real native Britons. So you might feel a bit torn about being a native Welshman, but you can be Cymric!

Words of the Week are written by Dr. Jacques A. Bailly.