Re: Hell(en)ish oddities

On Thu, 23 Nov 2000, Elliott Lash wrote:

>     And speaking of the Welsh, I'm sure most of you know that
> the Anglo-Saxons didn't bother with their real name (Cymri) and just called
> them the foreigners  or "Wealas"  (singular Wealh). Just a little tidbit.
Except that "wealas" does not mean "foreigners" generally; it was never
applied to people from other Germanic countries.  Outside Britain,
it was applied to Romance-speakers, and in Britain it was extended
to those of British/Brythonic/Welsh speech.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter