Brithenig is an invented language, or constructed language

Constructed language

A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...

 ("conlang"). It was created as a hobby in 1996 by Andrew Smith from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, who also invented the alternate history

Alternate history (fiction)

Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...

 of Ill Bethisad

Ill Bethisad

Ill Bethisad is an ongoing, collaborative alternate history project which currently has over 70 participants, originally created by Andrew Smith from New Zealand. It was initiated in 1997 as the Brithenig Project. It can be counted to the subgenre of steampunk, and is known as one of the oldest and...

 to "explain" it.

Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, like Esperanto

Esperanto

is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...

 or Interlingua

Interlingua

Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...

, nor to provide detail to a work of fiction, like Klingon

Klingon language

The Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe....

 from the Star Trek

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

 scenarios. Rather, Brithenig started as a thought experiment to create a Romance

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

 language that might have evolved if Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 had displaced the native Celtic

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

 language as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

The result is a sister language to French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Catalan

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, albeit a test-tube child, which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

, and words that are borrowed from Brythonic

Brythonic languages

The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...

 and from English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 throughout its pseudo-history. One important distinction between Brithenig and Welsh is that while Welsh is P-Celtic, Latin was a Q-Italic language (as opposed to P-Italic, like Oscan), and this trait was passed onto Brithenig.

Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages are Breathanach (influenced by the other branch of Celtic), Judajca (influenced by Hebrew), Þrjótrunn (influenced by Icelandic), Wenedyk

Wenedyk

Wenedyk is a naturalistic constructed language, created by the Dutch translator Jan van Steenbergen . It is used in the fictional Republic of the Two Crowns , in the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad...

(influenced by Polish), and Xliponian (which experienced a Grimm's Law

Grimm's law

Grimm's law , named for Jacob Grimm, is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC...

-like sound shift). It has also inspired Wessisc, a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic.

Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part of ISO 639-3.

Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at the Cleveland Public Library

Cleveland Public Library

The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869 and is located in Cleveland, Ohio. It operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 28 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and a library for the blind and physically...

 from May through August 2008. Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included the Babel Text in Smith's language).

Vocabulary

Most of Brithenig's vocabulary is distinctively Romance, even though it is disguised as Welsh. The following list of 30 words gives an impression of what Brithenig looks like in comparison to nine other Romance languages including Wenedyk, and to Welsh. The similarity of about one-quarter of the Welsh words to Brithenig words (indicated by not being bracketed) is due to their common Indo-European

Indo-European

Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...

 background, although a few others, such as ysgol, were borrowings from Latin into Welsh.

Brithenig compared with Romance and Welsh

English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...	Brithenig	Latin	Portuguese Portuguese language Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...	Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...	Catalan Catalan language Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...	French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...	Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...	Rhaeto-​Romance	Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...	Wenedyk Wenedyk Wenedyk is a naturalistic constructed language, created by the Dutch translator Jan van Steenbergen . It is used in the fictional Republic of the Two Crowns , in the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad...	Welsh Welsh language Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
arm	breich	brachium	braço	brazo	braç	bras	braccio	bratsch	braţ	brocz	braich
black	nîr	nĭger	negro	negro	negre	noir	nero	nair	negru	niegry	(du)
city, town	ciwdad	cīvĭtas	cidade	ciudad	ciutat	cité	città	citad	oraş	czytać	(dinas)
death	morth	mŏrs	morte	muerte	mort	mort	morte	mort	moarte	mroć	(marwolaeth)
dog	can	canis	cão	perro	gos / ca	chien	cane	chaun	câine	kań	(ci)
ear	origl	auris, aurĭcŭla	orelha	oreja	orella	oreille	orecchio	ureglia	ureche	urzykła	(clust)
egg	ew	ovum	ovo	huevo	ou	œuf	uovo	ov	ou	ów	wy
eye	ogl	ŏcŭlus	olho	ojo	ull	œil	occhio	egl	ochi	okieł	(llygad)
father	padr	pater	pai	padre	pare	père	padre	bab	tată	poterz	(tad)
fire	ffog	ignis, fŏcus	fogo	fuego	foc	feu	fuoco	fieu	foc	fok	(tân)
fish	pisc	pĭscis	peixe	pez, pescado	peix	poisson	pesce	pesch	peşte	pieszcz	pysgodyn
foot	pedd	pĕs	pé	pie	peu	pied	piede	pe	picior	piedź	(troed)
friend	efig	amīcus	amigo	amigo	amic	ami	amico	ami	prieten	omik	(cyfaill)
green	gwirdd	vĭrĭdis	verde	verde	verd	vert	verde	verd	verde	wierdzi	gwyrdd
horse	cafall	ĕquus, cabăllus	cavalo	caballo	cavall	cheval	cavallo	chaval	cal	kawał	ceffyl
I	eo	ĕgo	eu	yo	jo	je	io	jau	eu	jo	mi
island	ysl	īnsŭla	ilha	isla	illa	île	isola	insla	insulă	izła	(ynys)
language, tongue	llinghedig, llingw	lĭngua	língua	lengua	llengua	langue	lingua	linguatg, lieunga	limbă	lęgwa	(iaith)
life	gwid	vīta	vida	vida	vida	vie	vita	vita	viaţă	wita	(bywyd)
milk	llaeth	lac	leite	leche	llet	lait	latte	latg	lapte	łoc	llaeth
name	nôn	nōmen	nome	nombre	nom	nom	nome	num	nume	numię	(enw)
night	noeth	nŏx	noite	noche	nit	nuit	notte	notg	noapte	noc	(nos)
old	gwegl	vĕtus	velho	viejo	vell	vieux	vecchio	vegl	vechi	wiekły	(hen)
school	yscol	schŏla	escola	escuela	escola	école	scuola	scola	şcoală	szkoła	ysgol
sky	cel	caelum	céu	cielo	cel	ciel	cielo	tschiel	cer	czał	awyr
star	ystuil	stēlla	estrela	estrella	estel	étoile	stella	staila	stea	ścioła	(seren)
tooth	dent	dēns, dĕntem	dente	diente	dent	dent	dente	dent	dinte	dzięć	dant
voice	gwg	vōx	voz	voz	veu	voix	voce	vusch	voce	wucz	(llais)
water	ag	aqua	água	agua	aigua	eau	acqua	aua	apă	jekwa	(dŵr)
wind	gwent	vĕntus	vento	viento	vent	vent	vento	vent	vânt	więt	gwynt

Example

The Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...

:

Nustr Padr, ke sia i llo gel:

sia senghid tew nôn:

gwein tew rheon:

sia ffaeth tew wolont,

syrs lla der sig i llo gel.

Dun nustr pan diwrnal a nu h-eidd;

e pharddun llo nustr phechad a nu,

si nu pharddunan llo nustr phechadur.

E ngheidd rhen di nu in ill temp di drial,

mai llifr nu di'll mal.

Per ill rheon, ill cofaeth e lla leir es ill tew,

per segl e segl. Amen.

External links

• The page of Brithenig
• The page of Brithenig (mirror)
• The cultures of Ill Bethisad
• Romance glossary (a list of common words in several Romance languages, including Brithenig and Wenedyk)