Cumberland, Westmorland
and N.W. Yorkshire down to the second half of the 19th century, just as
herrings are still counted in Manx by Manx fishermen otherwise quite
innocent of the language. Accordingly, from the 7th century onwards
Brythonic became gradually limited in Great Britain to three
districts--Strathclyde, Wales, and Cornwall and Devon. During the 7th
century the Brythons of Wales and Strathclyde often fought side by side
against the Angles, and it is from this period that the name by which
the Welsh call themselves is supposed to date, _Cymro_ < _*Combrox_, pl.
_Cymry_ < _*Combroges_, i.e. "fellow-countrymen" as opposed to W.
_allfro_, Gaul. _Allobroges_, "foreigners." We have no means of
determining when Celtic speech became extinct in the petty states of the
north which retained their independence longest.

The chief features which distinguish the Brythonic from the Goidelic
dialects have already been enumerated. In the course of the 6th and 7th
centuries final short vowels disappeared. In compound names the final
vowel remains in the first component until the 7th century. Short vowels
in other than initial syllables when immediately preceding the stress
(on the historical penultimate) disappear, whilst long ones are
shortened, e.g. Welsh _cardawt_ from Lat. _caritatem_. Other vowels in
unstressed position are apt to be reduced, thus o, u, give i in O.W.
(Mid. W. y). A marked characteristic of Welsh as distinguished from
Cornish and Breton is the treatment of a under the influence of a
following i. In Welsh the result is ei, in Corn. and Bret. e, e.g. Welsh
_seint_, "saints," Bret. _sent_, sing. _sant_. The mutations seem to
have started in the second half of the 6th century in the case of the
tenues.

See J. Loth, _Les Mots latins dans les langues Brittoniques_ (Paris,
1892); J. Loth, _Chrestomathie bretonne_ (Paris, 1890).

(a) _Welsh (Cymraeg)._--It is usual to divide the history of the Welsh
language into three periods--Old, Middle and Modern. To the oldest
period belong the collections of glosses, the earliest of which go back
to about 800. The middle period extends from 1100 to 1500.

As a rule the medial mutation of the tenues and mediae is not denoted
in O. Welsh. Intervocalic g is sometimes retained but generally it has
disappeared, whilst after r and l it is still written. In the course
of the 9th century initial w (v) becomes gu (later gw). As the O.
Welsh documents consist alm