Welsh
/wɛlʃ/noun
Relating to Wales, its people, or the Welsh language.
Did you know?The English word comes from a Germanic root meaning “foreigners” or “Romans,” the same root behind the old tribal name of the Volcae, so the label itself began as a way of marking people as “not us.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*walhaz
“a foreigner; especially a Romanized or Celtic person”
Old English
OE
wealh
“a foreigner, Roman, Briton; later a Welshman”
Old English
OE
wielisc
“foreign; Welsh”
Middle English
ME
Welshe
“Welsh; of Wales”
Modern English
English
Welsh
“relating to Wales or the Welsh language”