Introduction

The term "Insular" refers to the place of origin of these languages, namely the British Isles, in contrast to the (now extinct) Continental Celtic languages of mainland Europe and Anatolia. There is a theory that the Brythonic and Goidelic languages evolved together in those islands, having a common ancestor more recent than any shared with the Continental Celtic languages such as Celtiberian, Gaulish, Galatian and Lepontic, among others, all of which are long extinct.

The Insular Celtic group consists of the modern Celtic languages, which are generally further subdivided into

• Goidelic (Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic?) and
• Brythonic (Welsh, Cornish, Breton) groups.

The verb

The table below shows a reconstruction of indicative present verb endings.

C.f. also Old Irish verb inflection.

Number	Present
	Absolute	Conjunct
Sg.1	-āiōs	-āiō
Sg.1	-ā[mi]s	-ā[mi]
Sg.2	-āieis	-āiei
Sg.3	-ā[ti]s	-āie
rel.	-ā[s]so
Pl.1	-āiomos[i]s	-āiomos
rel.	-āiomoses
Pl.2	-āieteses	-āietes
Pl.3	-āiontes	-āiont[o]
rel.	-āionteso

Language Family Tree

Indo-European > Classical Indo-European > Celtic > Nuclear Celtic > TGB Celtic > Insular Celtic

• Brythonic
  • Old-Modern Welsh
    • [owl] Old-Middle Welsh
    • [cym] Welsh
  • Southwestern Brythonic
    • [bre] Breton
    • [cor] Cornish
• Goidelic
  • Modern Goidelic
    • Eastern Goidelic
      • [glv] Manx
      • [gla] Scottish Gaelic
    • [gle] Irish
  • [sga] Early Irish

Languages Sorted Alphabetically

• Breton
• Cornish
• Gaelic, Irish
• Manx
• Old Irish
• Scots Gaelic
• Welsh