A short lesson in Breton

The language

Today, in the western part of the peninsula, Breton is a full-fledged spoken and written language. A branch of Celtic Indo-European, the language has been evolving for 15 centuries, since the arrival of immigrants from Great Britain, chased off of their island during the great invasions.

Pronunciation:

The strong tonic accent on the next to last syllable of words gives the language a rhythm unlike anything you would find in French. However, all French sounds, apart from x, can be found in Breton. But the aspirations in the language are decidedly Breton.

"c'h", like ch in German.
h, like h in English or German (sometimes silent).
th(in certain regions), like in English.
th(elsewhere) has changed to z or tz.

Different Spellings:

The same word doesn't always have the same spelling, depending on the word that comes before it.

For example:

Standardized Spelling
Reizskrivadur peurunvan

In 1821, Le Gonidec published his celto-breton dictionary and standardized the spelling of the language, relying on the principle of one letter (or group of letters) for one sound, one sound for a letter. Therefore, unlike English or French, Breton is written as it is pronounced. There are a few exceptions. There is no c, q, x, or y ; the e is never silent and never has an accent; g and s are hard consonants like in 'get' or 'mass' (never a 'z' sound).

History of the Breton language. >>> Go there

MINI LEXICON

Aber, aven: estuary (Aber-Wrac'h, Pont-Aven)

Amann: butter

Ankou: death

Aod (aot) : coast, shore

Argoad, argoed (argoat, argoet): wooded land, inland

Arvor (armor): coastline

Avel: wind

Beg (bec) : point, top, summit (Beg-Ar-Méné: mountain top)

Bihan (bian) : small (Enez Vihan: small island)

Bras (braz): large (Mor-Braz : the Ocean)

Breizh: Bretagne (that's where the BZH sticker on many cars comes from) (Mor-Breizh: the channel)

Enez (inis) : island (Enez Du: Black Island)

Fest-deiz: Day festival

Fest-noz: Night festival

Gwenn (guen): white, sacred (Feunteun Gwenn: pure fountain)

Kastell: château, fortification (Plougastell: château parish)

Ker (car): town, village, hamlet

Kozh (koz, koh, cos, coz, co-): old

Lan: hermitage, monastery (Lanildut)

Lann: moor

Loc: isolated place, hermitage

Loc'h : lagoon, coastal lake

Men: rock, stone

Menez (mene, mane, mine): mountain (Ménéguen : white sacred mountain)

Meur: grand, majestusous, important

Mor: sea (Mor Bihan: little sea)

Nevez (neue, newe, neve, nehue): new

Palud: marsh land

Penn: head, end, summit(Penn Ar Bed : Finistère)

Plou (plo, plu, pleu, ple, pli): old parish(Plougoulm, Pluvigner, Plélan)

Roc'h (roch, roh) : rock

Ti (ty) : house

Treizh (treiz, treh, trech, tre) : passage (Kerantreiz/Kerantrech : town of passage)

See you another time: D'ur wech all !

Cheers: Yec'hed mat

Goodbye: Kenavo

To drink: Evañ

Good: Mad (Bloavez mad ! : Happy New Year! ; Digemer mad !:Welcome!)

Good day!: Demat

Good night!: Nozvat

What's your name?: Pe anv out? My name is Jean: Yann eo ma anv

Crêpe: Krampouez

Summer : Hañv(An hañv eo !: It's summer!)

It's raining!: Glav a ra

To eat: Debriñ

Thank you: Trugarez

Bread: Bara (Bara mar plij ! some bread, please!)

Fuck!: Gast ! : (the most commonly used swear word)

Sun: Heol

Wine : Gwin(baragouiner ; gwin ru : red wine)