Dydh da, fatla genes?
Dolly Pentreath is said to be the last native Cornish speaker, she died on the 26th December in 1777.
By the nineteenth century, Cornish had died as a spoken community language, although records state that it was being spoken particularly at sea by Newlyn fishermen.
During this century there has been a revival of interest in Celtic culture which meant that Cornish attracted some academic attention. Plays of the middle Cornish period have been studied, and academics such as Edwin Norris and Whitley Stokes published them with commentaries and translations. It was not until early in the twentieth century that an attempt was made to revive the language.
During this century there has been a revival of interest in Celtic culture which meant that Cornish attracted some academic attention. Plays of the middle Cornish period have been studied, and academics such as Edwin Norris and Whitley Stokes published them with commentaries and translations. It was not until early in the twentieth century that an attempt was made to revive the language.
My Cornish great great grandmother was Jane Pentreath, born in Paul, not too far from Newlyn, Dolly Pentreath was Jane's great aunt and, as already mentioned, the last person to speak fluent Cornish. However, the only sentence my grandfather could say was "Can you pass me that bag of nails" which was no use whatsoever unless you were in a hardware shop!
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