Re: Some suggestions

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@nova.umuc.edu>]

On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Andrew Smith wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
> 
> > Surely it's the other way round!  Welsh is a _Celtic_ language, not a
> > neo-Latin language as Brithenig is.  One thing we can be certain about is
> > that the Celts had a calendar with months well before the Romans took over.
> > And we can certainly discount such reconstructions as the "Gravesian"
> > calendar.
> >
> What is clear is there was a celtic calendar, but the intrepretation of
> how widespread its use in Celtic society was, and how it is/was used
> remains speculation.  If Padraic wishes to preserve the Kernu calendar,
> then I would suggest that its legal latin version is universal to the
> Kemrese lawcourts, although I would suggest that it would be a historical
> construct rather than an 'authentic calendar'.  An intellectual game that
> appealed to national sentiment would not be beyond the bounds of medieval
> clerics.

I meant to reply to this earlier...

I feel I may have sown some confusion here.  The Legal Calendar is _not_
the Celtic calendar a la Coligny with its multiyear cycle and intercalary
months and all that.  It is indeed a construct: not just my construction,
but a product of legal scholars' construction *there*; of the very early
dark ages for Britain, not before the late sixth century, certainly
settled by the 8th. For they put together what was still known of the
Roman and Celtic calendars, mixing and harmonising the two and weeding out
what was then irrelevant or not understood.  It is essentially the Roman
calendar with Celtic names.  I have the feeling that most of the names
have no more meaning to the average Cambrian than our Western months have
to us.

Now, the one problem I have with this system is that the month names are,
well, Gaulish.  I would prefer that British names could be used for the
purpose, but the only Celtic calendar I've ever heard of is that of
Coligny.  Certainly the only quite complete one!  Unless something better
comes along, or if one of our Welsh scholars can reconstruct British forms
of the Welsh names, I think it will suffice well enough. 

Padraic.

> - andrew.