The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced [ˈkəm.rɨ]) are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen", and probably came into use before the 7th century.
The Welsh themselves called themselves Cymry, "compatriots", and named their country Cymru, which is thought to have meant "Land of the Compatriots" in Old Welsh; this has reference to their awareness that they were the original countrymen of Wales, and indeed Britain by virtue of their ancestors the Brythoniaid ( ...
The words “Wales” and “Welsh” come from the Anglo-Saxon use of the term “wealas” to describe (among other things) the people of Britain who spoke Brittonic – a Celtic language used throughout Britain which later developed into Welsh, Cornish, Breton and other languages.
The English words for the descendants of one of these Celtic peoples, Welsh, and for their homeland, Wales, come from the Old English word wealh, meaning "foreigner, stranger, Celt." Its plural wealas is the direct ancestor of Wales, literally "foreigners, Celts." An Old English adjective derived from wealh, wælisc or ...
The origins of the word Wales go as far back as 500 B.C. when Germanic tribes first started moving into Northern Germany where they attacked Celtic tribes, including a powerful ethnic group they came across which they called 'volcae'.
The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry (plural) (singular: Cymro [m] and Cymraes [f]), and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm. ri]) are descended from the Brythonic word kombrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen".
Roman Wales was an area of south western Britannia under Roman Empire control from the first to the fifth century AD. Romans called it Cambria but later considered it to be part of "Roman Britain" along with England.
When the sagas mention Wales, it is called Bretland in Old Norse.
The development of English was greatly influenced by the vocabulary of invaders, both Norse and Norman. But linguistic experts believe it may have also borrowed a few words from Welsh and its ancient ancestor language.
Etymology 1
Perhaps of Celtic origin, compare Welsh and Breton tad (from Proto-Brythonic *tad), Old Irish data; and possibly related to Russian дя́дя (djádja, “uncle”) and/or Russian де́душка (déduška, “grandfather”), all imitative. In Welsh, after triggering a soft mutation, 'Tâd' turns into 'Dâd'.
The Welsh descended from the Celtic tribes of Europe. It has been posited that the Beaker Folk came to Wales from central Europe in around 2000BC. They brought with them rudimentary knives and axes made from metals.
Simply put, the welsh hate the Saxons because the Saxons were effectively the Danes to the Welsh two centuries earlier. When the Roman Empire collapsed in the 3rd-4th century, Britain was left completely un defended and un governed.
The Vikings were seafaring people who came over to the British Isles from around the 8th to the 11th centuries, mainly from the Scandinavian countries of Norway and Denmark.
The name New South Wales came from the journal of Lieutenant James Cook (later Captain Cook), who sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770. He thought that the land looked like the south coast of Wales. He named it "New Wales" but then changed the name in his journal to "New South Wales".
The Romans ruled from the 1st century ce until the 4th–5th century. Welsh Celts fought off incursions from the Anglo-Saxons. A number of kingdoms arose there, but none was successful in uniting the area. The Norman conquerors of England brought all of southern Wales under their rule in 1093.
The history of what is now Wales (Welsh: Cymru) begins with evidence of a Neanderthal presence from at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC.
Welsh developed from the Celtic language known as Brythonic or Brittonic. The two most closely related languages are Cornish and Breton.
If Welsh can seem complex and beautiful, it's because it's spent 4,000 years evolving. What's certain is that it's Britain's oldest language. From Indo-European and Brythonic origins, the Romans were the first to commit these words to paper, introducing elements of Latin still present today.
Prof Donnelly said: "People from Wales are genetically relatively distinct, they look different genetically from much of the rest of mainland Britain, and actually people in north Wales look relatively distinct from people in south Wales."
This has traditionally been attributed to the powerful unified forces of the contemporary Welsh kings, particularly Rhodri the Great. Thus, the Vikings were unable to establish any states or areas of control in Wales and were largely limited to raids and trading. The Danish are recorded raiding Anglesey in 854.
The Battle of Buttington was fought in 893 between a Viking army and an alliance of Anglo-Saxons and Welsh. The annals for 893 reported that a large Viking army had landed in the Lympne Estuary, Kent and a smaller force had landed in the Thames estuary under the command of Danish king Hastein.
Battle of Wippedesfleot – Britons (Welsh) defeat the Anglo-Saxons (Jutes) in battle in Kent and confine them to the Isle of Thanet. The Anglo-Saxons (Jutes) move westwards and regain their ground in Kent.
Today, Wales is seen as a Celtic nation. The Welsh Celtic identity is widely accepted and contributes to a wider modern national identity. During the 1st centuries BC and AD, however, it was specific tribes and leaders which were named.
The original populations of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (including Northern Ireland) have common genetic roots.
Wales was then home to at least five native tribes including: the Deceangli in the north east; the Ordovices in the north west; the Demetae in the south west; the Silures in the south east; and the Cornovii in the central borderlands area.