5. What Celtic languages are still spoken in the British Isles? What is the most flourishing Celtic language today? What are its peculiarities?

The Insular Celtic languages are mostly those spoken on the islands of Britain, Ireland, Man, and part of France. The Insular languages belong to one of two branches, the Goidelic and the Brythonic. The Goidelic languages are Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Manx is a form of Gaelic spoken on the Isle of Man. The last native speaker of Manx died in 1974, but many are learning the language today, and we have recordings of native speakers. Irish and Scottish Gaelic are both still used by native speakers. In addition to living native speakers in Ireland and Scotland, there are also native Scottish Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia, Canada. We also have many medieval Irish manuscripts, containing Ireland’s national epic the Táin Bó Cuailnge and other Irish myths, poetry and lore, and a few medieval Scottish Gaelic mss.

The Brythonic languages form the other branch of the Insular Celtic languages. Welsh, Cornish, and Breton are Brythonic. There are still many native speakers of Welsh today, mostly in Wales. The last native speaker of Cornish died in the late eighteenth century, but there are a number of people in Cornwall and elsewhere who have attempted to learn Cornish and even rejuvenate the language. Breton is spoken in Bretagne, or Brittany, in France, by descendants of British Celts who moved there over a thousand years ago. We have fewer medieval Welsh manuscripts preserving the mabinogi and other traditional Welsh tales, poetry and lore, than we have of Irish, but Welsh literature is alive and well.

Some Celtic words can be found in modern English:

Blad – удар, aik = oak, ava = at all, crag = neck, avon = river, whiskey = water of life, ben – mountain.

6. What historical events are these dates associated with? 55 bc, 54 bc, 43 ad, 410 When and why did the Romans leave Britain?

On the 25 of August 55 BC Julius Caesar invaded Britain. He heard that Britain was an enormous island rich of natural resources such as: gold and silver. Caesar's aim was to develop trade and control northern seas. He also intended to invade the country of people from which Gauls of France got help in the Gallic Wars. However, there is a theory that the Romans didn't mean to conquer the island in 55 BC but wanted to collect more information about Britain. Caesar landed and expected to conquer the island easily but the weather caused problems and the islanders fought fiersely. They attacked the Romans on foot and it chariots. The Romans forced Celts to flee, the expedition hadn't been a great success. The Romans were short of supplies, lost their vessels, men and returned to the continent.

Julius Caesar attempted to conquer Britain for the second time in 54 BC. He came with larger forces. The Celts resisted but the Romans were better trained and had better arms. Some Celtic chieves submitted and promised to pay tribute to Rome. Although Julius Caesar invaded the island twice, he wasn't able to conquer it. The tribute wasn't paid and the Romans managed to conquer the island only after almost 100 years.

In 43 AD Emperor Claudius's army landed on the Kent shores. Claudius had his own reasons to conquer Britain. He wished to strengthen his influence and prestige among the Romans, improve economical state of the Empire, make slaves and get the rich natural resourses of the island. The invasion was successful because the Romans were not expected. By the middle of 44 AD most of Britain had fallen and the Roman invasion was comltete. However, the Romans never managed to conquer the whole island.

410 AD is considered to be the year when the Romans left Britain. In the 4th century the power of the Roman Empire weakened gradually. The Scots and the Picts continued their attacks, the tribes from nothern Germany and southern Scandinavia attacked the island, they invaded Gaul and the Roman legions were recalled to defend the central provinces of the Empire.