Italo-Celtic language family? Possible hypothesis.

[Sikeliot]

It is often said Italic and Celtic languages split from a common root in Central Europe, with the former going down into northern Italy and the latter into Western and Central Europe, plus Iberia.

Could it instead be possible that the similarities are due to the fact that most of the former Celtic world is now Romance speaking, and the Romance languages, including Latin, absorbed some Celtic influences and vice versa but they never began with a common root?

[Benacer]

I think linguists would be able to tell. From what it seems there are texts from some dead Celtic languages from mainland Europe also. They usually employ comparative analysis and it's probable they realized some similarities with common origins that evolved in different ways, as opposed to something that evolved directly from Latin influence, for instance. I am not an expert though, so I can't say for sure.

[Percivalle]

It is often said Italic and Celtic languages split from a common root in Central Europe, with the former going down into northern Italy and the latter into Western and Central Europe, plus Iberia.

Could it instead be possible that the similarities are due to the fact that most of the former Celtic world is now Romance speaking, and the Romance languages, including Latin, absorbed some Celtic influences and vice versa but they never began with a common root?

It's very unlikely that similarities are due to Celtic influences in Latin. If there are similarities are very old.

[Sikeliot]

I do think though that it's not that they split off as one, but that they influenced one another as separate groups.

Still, it is clear there are similarities. Part of western Ireland is "Connemara" and what do you think the "mar" part of that means? Sea, just like in Latin.

[Sikeliot]

It's very unlikely that similarities are due to Celtic influences in Latin. If there are similarities are very old.

More likely Latin influences on Celtic.

[Dominicanese]

i think we'er all eventually gonna speak the original indo european language or something very similar cause our languages are not even evolving theyr are just borrowing words from eachother

[Benacer]

It would be nice if we could know more about the Lusitanian language. Apparently it's not quite Celtic but not Italic either, but something in between both. Maybe it could be another branch of the supposed Proto-Italo-Celtic language.

[Sikeliot]

The other thing is, Italic languages were centered in central Italy but they did pass through the north, but northern Italy was always Celtic speaking. So at some point both branches were being spoken in Italy simultaneously.

[Percivalle]

More likely Latin influences on Celtic.

The Italic-Celtic theory is based mostly on morphology similarities, that hardly can be due to recent influences.

[Sikeliot]

The Italic-Celtic theory is based mostly on morphology similarities, that hardly can be due to recent influences.

I think it is interesting how different they sound though. I have heard Gaelic and Welsh and they lack the Mediterranean sound of Spanish or Italian.