<p>When the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Germanic" title="Germanic" class="populated">Germanic</a> tribes known as the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Anglo-Saxons" title="Anglo-Saxons" class="populated">Anglo-Saxons</a> and the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Jutes" title="Jutes" class="populated">Jutes</a> arrived in the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/5th+century" title="5th century" class="populated">5th century</a>, the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/British+Isles" title="British Isles" class="populated">British Isles</a> were a place of great linguistic diversity. Among the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Celtic" title="Celtic" class="populated">Celtic</a> languages spoken there were the ancestors of the tongues now known as <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Irish" title="Irish" class="populated">Irish</a>, <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Scottish" title="Scottish" class="populated">Scottish</a>, <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Pictish" title="Pictish" class="populated">Pictish</a>, <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Breton" title="Breton" class="populated">Breton</a>, <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Welsh" title="Welsh" class="populated">Welsh</a>, <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Cornish" title="Cornish" class="populated">Cornish</a>, and <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Manx" title="Manx" class="populated">Manx</a>. It is a testiment to the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/linguistic+imperialism" title="linguistic imperialism" class="populated">linguistic imperialism</a> of the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/English" title="English" class="populated">English</a> people that despite 1,500 years of assimilation, acculturation, conquest, and cohabitation so few words of Celtic origin have made their way into the English language. In fact, there are believed to be more words <a href="http://everything2.com/title/English+words+of+Arabic+origin" title="English words of Arabic origin" class="populated">borrowed from Arabic</a> than from all the insular Celtic languages combined. Here are the few Celtic <a href="http://everything2.com/title/loanword" title="loanword" class="populated">loanwords</a> that are in common English usage today (I have excluded words that only apply to Celtic culture, and the innumerable interesting but false <a href="http://everything2.com/title/folk+etymology" title="folk etymology" class="populated">folk etymologies</a> that <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Celtophile" title="Celtophile" class="populated">Celtophiles</a> love to dream up):
</p><h1>From <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Irish" title="Irish" class="populated">Irish</a> (<a href="http://everything2.com/title/Gaelic" title="Gaelic" class="populated">Gaelic</a>):</h1>
<p><a href="http://everything2.com/title/banshee" title="banshee" class="populated">banshee</a> - <em>bean síth</em>, "woman of the fairy mound"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/bard" title="bard" class="populated">bard</a> - <em>bard</em>, a high rank of poet<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/bog" title="bog" class="populated">bog</a> - <em>bog</em>, "soft"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/brogue" title="brogue" class="populated">brogue</a> - <em>bróg</em>, "shoe"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/drumlin" title="drumlin" class="populated">drumlin</a> - <em>druim</em>, "the ridge of a hill"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/galore" title="galore" class="populated">galore</a> - <em>go leór</em>, "plenty, enough"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/keen" title="keen" class="populated">keen</a> - <em>caoin</em>, "weep"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/pet" title="pet" class="populated">pet</a> - <em>peata</em>, "a tame lamb"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/phony" title="phony" class="populated">phony</a> - <em>fàinne</em>, "ring" (from the gilt brass ring used by swindlers)<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/shamrock" title="shamrock" class="populated">shamrock</a> - <em>seamróg</em>, "shamrock"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/shanty" title="shanty" class="populated">shanty</a> - <em>sean tigh</em>, "old house"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/slew" title="slew" class="populated">slew</a> - <em>slúag</em>, "army"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/slob" title="slob" class="populated">slob</a> - <em>slab</em>, "mud"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/slug" title="slug" class="populated">slug</a> - <em>slug</em>, "swollow"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/smithereen" title="smithereen" class="populated">smithereen</a> - <em>smidirin</em>, diminutive of <em>smiodar</em>, "small fragment", i.e. "super small fragment"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/Tory" title="Tory" class="populated">Tory</a> - <em>tóraí</em>, "robber, bandit"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/whiskey" title="whiskey" class="populated">whiskey</a> - <em>uisge beatha</em>, "water of life"<br>
</p><h1>From <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Scottish" title="Scottish" class="populated">Scottish</a> (<a href="http://everything2.com/title/Scots+Gaelic" title="Scots Gaelic" class="populated">Scots Gaelic</a>):</h1>
<p><a href="http://everything2.com/title/cairn" title="cairn" class="populated">cairn</a> - <em>càrn</em>, "heap, pile"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/clan" title="clan" class="populated">clan</a> - <em>clann</em>, "family, lineage"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/claymore" title="claymore" class="populated">claymore</a> - <em>claidheamh mór</em>, "great sword"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/crag" title="crag" class="populated">crag</a> - <em>creagh</em>, "rocky outcrop"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/glen" title="glen" class="populated">glen</a> - <em>gleann</em>, "valley"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/glom" title="glom" class="populated">glom</a> - <em>glam</em>, "grab, snatch"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/hubbub" title="hubbub" class="populated">hubbub</a> - <em>ubub</em>, a Scottish exclamation of contempt<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/plaid" title="plaid" class="populated">plaid</a> - <em>plaide</em>, "blanket"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/slogan" title="slogan" class="populated">slogan</a> - <em>sluagh</em>, "army" + <em>ghairm</em>, "call, shout"<br>
</p>
<h1>From <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Welsh" title="Welsh" class="populated">Welsh</a>:</h1>
<p><a href="http://everything2.com/title/clutter" title="clutter" class="populated">clutter</a> - <em>cludair</em>, "heap, pile"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/crumpet" title="crumpet" class="populated">crumpet</a> - <em>crempog</em>, "pancake, fritter"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/flannel" title="flannel" class="populated">flannel</a> - <em>gwlanen</em>, "wool"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/maggot" title="maggot" class="populated">maggot</a> - <em>maceiod</em>, "worms, grubs"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/penguin" title="penguin" class="populated">penguin</a> - <em>pen</em>, "head" + <em>gwyn</em>, "white" (originally applied to the <a href="http://everything2.com/title/great+auk" title="great auk" class="populated">great auk</a>)<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/tor" title="tor" class="populated">tor</a> - <em>twr</em>, "a rocky hill"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/trousers" title="trousers" class="populated">trousers</a> - <em>trews</em>, "pants, trousers"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/truant" title="truant" class="populated">truant</a> - <em>truan</em>, "wretched, miserable"<br>
</p><h1>From <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Breton" title="Breton" class="populated">Breton</a>:</h1>
<p><a href="http://everything2.com/title/tan" title="tan" class="populated">tan</a> - <em>tann</em>, "oak"
</p><h1>From <a href="http://everything2.com/title/Cornish" title="Cornish" class="populated">Cornish</a>:</h1>
<p><a href="http://everything2.com/title/bludgeon" title="bludgeon" class="populated">bludgeon</a> - <em>blugon</em>, "mallet"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/brill" title="brill" class="populated">brill</a> - <em>brilli</em>, "mackerel"<br>
<a href="http://everything2.com/title/gull" title="gull" class="populated">gull</a> - <em>gullan</em>, "bird"</p>
