This is the website of the
CORNISH LANGUAGE
CLASS held in Heamoor,
Penzance, Cornwall, UK.
© 2018 S. Penhaligon, Klass An Hay
Nothing like English!
Cornish is a totally different language from English. It is very similar to Welsh, and
even closer to Breton—the language spoken in Brittany. These three languages all
sprang from the same root many centuries ago.
A brief history
Cornish is descended directly from the ancient Brythonic language that was spoken
in much of Britain during the Iron Age and Roman period, long before the English
language developed and came to dominate.
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Anglo-Saxons from northern Europe invaded
Britain and pushed the existing Celtic inhabitants westwards into Wales and
Cornwall, where they continued to speak their own language. In the same period,
Christian missionaries from Ireland and Wales came to Cornwall and helped shape
its separate identity.
In 936 AD, King Athelstan of England declared the River Tamar to be the official
boundary between the West Saxons and the Cornish, who were seen as a separate
nation, with their own language and customs. This separation continued through
the Middle Ages, when on numerous occasions the people of Cornwall withstood
attempts by the English authorities to force English customs, and the English
language, upon them.
Gradually, however, English customs and culture infiltrated Cornwall and the
Cornish language began to be less widely known and spoken. The bulk of the
literature in Cornish that remains today comes from the period 1200 to 1600 AD,
known as the Middle Cornish period.
By the middle of the 17th century, Cornish was spoken only in Penwith and
Kerrier and was no longer being passed on to the next generation as a living
language. The last native speakers of Cornish are believed to have died by the end
of the 18th century. Tradition has it that the very last native Cornish speaker was
Dollly Pentreath, a fishwife from Paul, who died in 1777, though in fact there were
certainly others with traditional knowledge of the language who survived her.
Scholars continued to study the language after it ceased to be used as a
community language and some even made efforts to revive it, though there were
differences of opinion on matters of both spelling and pronunciation. Plus ça
change. The language was set back on its feet early in the 20th century thanks to
the efforts of Henry Jenner and Robert Morton Nance.
Today there is more interest in the language than ever and the number of
Cornish speakers expands each year. An official body, the Akademi Kernewek,
oversees the coining of new words for modern items and concepts.
Klass An Hay is part of this Cornish language revival movement, and invites you
to come and join in the excitement of it!
An Yeth Kernewek
The Cornish Language
Forms of modern
Cornish
All our classes now use the
Standard Written Form (SWF)
spelling system.
The Standard Written Form,
or Furv Skrifys Savonek to
give it its Cornish name, is the
form you will see used on
street-name signs and official
documents.
What modern Cornish
looks like
Here’s a sample of the
language written in SWF, with
a translation below it:
Y'n vledhen 1800 nyns o
agan taves kernewek byw.
Ny allas den klappya
Kernewek, dell hevel.
Mes y'n vledhen 2018
yma tus ow klappya an
keth yeth na arta. Fatel yll
homma bos gwir?
Yma a-dro dhe dhew
kans bledhen ynter an dhiw
vledhen ma. Hwedhel agan
taves yw hemma.
Translation: ‘In the year
1800 our Cornish language
was not a living one. People
couldn't chat in Cornish, it
seems.
But in the year 2018
there are people chatting in
this same language again.
How can this be true?
There are about two
centuries between these
two years. This is the story
of our language.’
Welcome sign in
English and Cornish
at Penzance
Railway Station