ABSTRACT
Six Celtic languages survived into post-medieval times. Of these, three, namely Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Irish, belong to the Gaelic or Goidelic branch of Celtic and are closely related to one another. The other three, Breton, Cornish and Welsh, constituting the Brittonic or Brythonic branch, are less closely related to one another than are the Gaelic languages. Cornish died out towards the end of the eighteenth century but Manx survived until well into the second half of the present century (the last native speaker died at the age of 97 in 1974).
