Where did Cornish come from?
Cornish, like all the Celtic languages developed out of a civilisation in central Europe several thousand years before the development of the Roman Empire or Greek civilisation. The Celts eventually covered most of Western and Central Europe. By the time of the Romans, Britain, Ireland, France, parts of Spain, Belgium, Northern Italy and parts of the Balkans were all speaking Celtic languages. France was called 'Gaul' at this time, and spoke an early P-Celtic language called Gaulish. Spain and Portugal had traces of P-Celtic, but it is believed this is where the Q-Celtic languages developed.
By the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, Celtic languages were severely under threat. Gaulish had become Latinised. The combination of Latin and Gaulish turned into French. You can still find many more Celtic words in French than you will ever find in English. Note the similarity of 'chercher' and the Cornish word 'kyrghes'. Also compare the days of the week.
Eventually, the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain and pushed the Celts/Britons further west. Soon, the Britons of the south west of Britain (Dumnonii) were cut off from the Welsh and North Welsh (Cumbric). It was at this time that 'Brythonic' turned into Cymraeg (Welsh) and Kernewek (Cornish). Another major language event at this time was the emigration of thousands of south west Britons escaping the Anglo Saxon surge. They fled across the Channel to Brittany. They were probably encouraged to go there because it is possible that the remains of Gaulish were still spoken there.
However, from this point the three Brythonic languages took on their own developments. Today we can see the similarities and differences:
| ENGLISH | CORNISH | WELSH | BRETON |
| Hundred | Kans | Cant | Kant |
| Head | Penn/Pedn | Pen | Penn |
| Good | Da/Mas | Da | Mad |
| A wood | Koos | Coed | Koad |