The Elizabethan map of the languages of Britain : Evidence from two Celtic-English wordlists

Over a century before the systematic study of the Celtic languages developed, Tudor scholars were busy collecting lexicographical, phonological and etymological information about them. Early modern print and manuscript evidence indicates that the interest in the origins of Irish was particularly rife, and that speculations regarding its affinity with Welsh enjoyed some popularity in English circles. This article studies two little known examples of trilingual Irish-Welsh-English wordlists compiled by English speakers towards the end of the 16th century, which provide hitherto underexploited evidence of a rising interest of English colonists in Irish. The article posits that whilst such interest must be placed in the context of the Tudor discovery of Ireland, it also reflects fascinating developments in Elizabethan linguistic thought.