Prepared by Dr. Brian Stowell. Manx is a Celtic language.
Scholars divide the six modern Celtic languages into two main groups.
These are the British or Brythonic group and the Gaelic or Goidelic group. The British group consists of Welsh, Breton and Cornish, while the Gaelic group comprises Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx. Before the rise of the Roman Empire and the subsequent pre-eminence of Latin, Celtic languages were spoken over most of Europe and into Asia Minor. Following the long period of dominance by Rome, Celtic survived strongly only in the extreme west, in the British Isles and Ireland, where Latin had made little or no impression on the local populations. It is likely that, at this time, people in the Isle of Man spoke this same British language.