Did Scotland ever have its own language like neighbouring countries Ireland and Wales, or has it always shared the English language with England?

Trooper2196

Yes. Gaelic, a descendant of the Goidelic branch of Celtic and closely related to Irish, is the traditional language of the Scotti or Gaels, and became the historical language of the majority of Scotland after it replaced Cumbric, Pictish and Norse. It is not clear how long Gaelic has been spoken in what is now Scotland; it has lately been proposed that it was spoken in Argyll before the Roman period, but no consensus has been reached on this question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic Jan 16 08, 3:43 PM

screef

they spoke gaelic http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/gaelic.html it didn't originate from scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_language Jan 16 08, 3:43 PM

purcy

More than a thousand years ago the majority of the Scottish people spoke Gaelic. Today this language is mainly spoken in the Highlands and Islands. After Gaelic became less popular Scots was the main language of Scotland Scots was spoken and written for about 400 years. http://www.scotland.com/culture/language Jan 16 08, 3:48 PM

Baloo55th

A form of Welsh was spoken in Southern Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_Ogledd Any hold Gaelic had in the Lowlands was short-lived, as it was replaced by the early forms of Scots. It was used mainly in the Highlands, while on the northern coasts and islands forms of Norse were in use. Jan 16 08, 4:13 PM

author

Pictish was spoken until the 9th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictish_language Here is a complete list of Scotland's languages. It also includes Brithonic. http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/specialfocus/scots/what/languages.asp In addition to traditional Norse there was the Norn language, traditionally spoken in Shetland and the Orkneys + some places in North Scotland and Caithness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norn_language About Brithonic or Brythonic Celtic: In Britain (including Scotland), Brythonic Celtic predates Gaelic by almost 1000 years or so. Being spoken from Kent up to Glasgow and across to Wales. Some people even suggest that Brythonic was spoken in Ireland before Gaelic, but this notion begs the question... Where did Gaelic come from and when? But that's another story. Pictish (possibly Celtic) would probably predate even brythonic. http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/2_5.html As you will see from this language tree it is related to Breton, Cornish and Welsh. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=92090 Jan 16 08, 8:30 PM

Baloo55th

Gaelic came in from Ireland, and largely replaced Brythonic and Pictish languages. Jan 17 08, 4:00 PM