Do you consider the Cornish to be English, or a separate ethnicity?

[Sikeliot]

The notion of Cornish as a separate ethnicity is based on the (false) notion that the English are purely or mostly Anglo-Saxon and that the Cornish are purely Brittonic and basically Welsh.

But now that it is known that English people are also of Celtic origins and, in some parts, mixed with varying degrees of Anglo-Saxon, do you still consider the Cornish a separate ethnicity?

[Peterski]

Not today, but they were a separate ethnicity back in times when they still spoke Cornish.

Later they became assimilated by the English, so they are no longer a separate ethnicity.

[Óttar]

Self-identification matters. I don't see why they couldn't identify as both simultaneously. My great aunt Emilia Stevens was Cornish.

[TEUTORIGOS]

The notion of Cornish as a separate ethnicity is based on the (false) notion that the English are purely or mostly Anglo-Saxon and that the Cornish are purely Brittonic and basically Welsh.

But now that it is known that English people are also of Celtic origins and, in some parts, mixed with varying degrees of Anglo-Saxon, do you still consider the Cornish a separate ethnicity?

By law they the rights of the English by genetics they cluster to England than say Orkney or Wales.

[Graham]

They are English and their identity is not far removed from the rest of the West country. Their main difference comes from being far from where England is centralised.

[Dunai]

Of course the Cornish people based on their history are a none-English population. It doens't matter that lately English is the native language to most of them, they have the same rights to be recognized as a separate ethnicity as the Welsh, Scots, Irish, Manx.

[♥ Lily ♥]

I think they should have their own separate identity as 'Cornish' rather than 'English', like the Welsh and Scottish have their own identities... although they're also British too as they're from the island of Great Britain. (An analogy can be made if Basques gained independence from Spain;- they'd still be Iberians. Norway isn't Sweden - but they're still classified as Scandinavians... and Europeans.)

They're part of 'Celtic King Arthur's West Country' which consisted of Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire ('Moonshiners',) Cornwall and Somerset.

They also speak with a West Country accent.

Cornish accent...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmtqn8wANLY

They sound a bit similar to the Irish, and also to other West Country people from my original home county of Dorset (where I was born and raised and where most of my relatives stem from and still live, although I have a bit of Welsh and Western Irish ancestry too,) Devon, Somerset and Wilts.

Two more Celtic languages (Devonshire and Cumbric have been declared as dead languages as they've died-out and people aren't speaking in them anymore in Devon and Cumbria, as English is more practical for them.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BErF_KpU5fw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh5iMXvO5Gk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdunFeukq6M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjTIFkWJctY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC46XJ9Ow04

Not sure if I made a mistake with the voting in the poll earlier, but if so, I meant to vote for the separate identity option.

[Grace O'Malley]

I see them as English but they are also one of the Celtic nations.

This is a very interesting article on the topic.


One hundred years ago Cornwall’s very future as a Celtic nation lay teetering on a knife edge. In 1901 the meeting of the Pan-Celtic Congress in Dublin had voted 32-22 to postpone a decision on Cornwall’s membership of the Congress. Doubtful about Cornish claims to be ‘Celtic’ because of the ‘death’ of the Cornish language, some of the leading lights of the Celtic Association resisted its admittance. This was despite the claims of Louis Duncombe-Jewell, who had, virtually single-handedly, made the Cornish question a ‘very burning one’ for the Association.1 In an emotional essay entitled ‘Cornwall: One of the Six Celtic Nations’, he had reeled off a long list of Celtic characteristics, from the literary remains of the language to archaeological remnants to holy wells to the fairy lore of the Duchy and to the characteristics of the inhabitants.2 Yet it remained an uphill battle to convince those ‘custodians of celticity, guarding their self-appointed right to adjudicate as to who or what might legitimately be termed “Celtic”’.3 The reason was simple. Like most educated Europeans of the late 19th century the early Celtic Congress equated nationality with language. In the absence of a living Celtic language there could be no living Celtic nation.

Anyone interested can read the rest at the link below.

On being a Cornish ‘Celt’: changing Celtic heritage and traditions in Cornwall

https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/19179/OnbeingaCornishcelt.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[♥ Lily ♥]

'Cornish nationalists torture a prisoner with Cornish Pasty and clotted-cream Cornish ice-cream!!' :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEYmJjcYwGg

[♥ Lily ♥]

I see them as English but they are also one of the Celtic nations.

This is a very interesting article on the topic.



Anyone interested can read the rest at the link below.

On being a Cornish ‘Celt’: changing Celtic heritage and traditions in Cornwall

https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/19179/OnbeingaCornishcelt.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

There's six official Celtic nations: Wales, Scotland, Ireland, The Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_nations

The Celtic nations flag:

https://cdn7.bigcommerce.com/s-fbaa7/images/stencil/1024x1024/products/112/203/Celticnation__44343.1321479571.jpg?c=2

A little YT video I made 5 years ago in tribute to the Celtic nations.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxvQm4E9dug

Interesting video about the DNA results of the English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuJ6zeMlVSY

[Alcuin52]

No.

[Septentrion]

The notion of Cornish as a separate ethnicity is based on the (false) notion that the English are purely or mostly Anglo-Saxon and that the Cornish are purely Brittonic and basically Welsh.

But now that it is known that English people are also of Celtic origins and, in some parts, mixed with varying degrees of Anglo-Saxon, do you still consider the Cornish a separate ethnicity?

Oh come on! The Cornish are obviously English by all means. They might be the most "Celtic" people of England, but are more English than the vast majority of the Celtic Fringe peoples. In fact, Cornwall was part of the Wessex kingdom.