In 330 BC, Romans quaked at the name of Celt – skilled iron workers, fierce tall bearded fighters, sackers of cities. In fact, there’s a reason iron is called ‘iron’ and not ferrum in English. Isarn in Celtic became isen in Old English. cf. Isengard, and later iron. Celts gave the northern Europe the skill of ironworking. The etymology tells the tale of technological dissemination. Confer all the English words (many of which are Greek portmanteaux) floating around in Spanish and Chinese today. They show off the originators and disseminators of invention. What is a greater signal of inventive power than the penetration of the phrase “blue jeans”?

The Romans hated Celts and Gauls and thought their life and ways depraved. They took on no words from them. On the other hand, vae victis, the Gauls took up Latin with great aplomb and Gaulish writing died out shortly after Caesar’s arrival. They were “converted”. One Celtic the Welsh learned all sorts of new words from Rome though never sold out their language, and you can see from the list of acquired words what types of things the Welsh still needed to learn from the imperium:

mur – murus – wall
ffenster – fenestra – window
gwydr – vitreus – glass
cegin – culina – kitchen
cyllel – culter – knife
ffwrn – furnus – oven
seban – sapo – soap
ysbwng – spongea – sponge

Although the Welsh were Celts, they were not as sophisticated as the Gauls. Roman interest in the Britons and Welsh retreated by 410, leaving only windows and sponges and a smattering of Latin words behind… at least until the trade routes dried up a bit and with them the good sponges for feminine hygiene. And one other legacy left behind from that Roman era was kidnapped Romano-Briton who spoke poor Latin: we call him Patrick. The Celts were not a monolith, even if they liked the monolithic style. It was hard going in Britain after 400. But apparently the Welsh weren’t willing to throw away national character in the name of soap and sponges. Richard Rich, remember, was willing to throw away his soul for Wales. So he at least was attracted to them!

No wonder St. Augustine of Canterbury and his monks were so welcome when he arrived in Kent in 597. Did he bring sponges?

Sources:

Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler
Mary Beard, various
A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt