Breizh–Kernow: cooperation is taking shape

Bretaigne DAO is continuing to develop its historical, cultural and linguistic relations with Cornwall.

Following the first exchanges initiated with Cornwall Council / Konsel Kernow, direct contact has now been established with the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter to explore possible research and cooperation around the historical relations between Brittany and Cornwall.

At the same time, our proposal to Akademi Kernewek, the reference institution for the Cornish language, was reviewed by its Board. The Board responded favourably to identifying concrete avenues for cooperation.

We have therefore made direct contact with the people responsible for three areas that are particularly important to our programme: historical and linguistic research — Dr Ken George; terminology — Maureen Pierce; toponymy and place names — Jan Edmondson.

Potential joint work will focus in particular on the historical relations between Brittany and Cornwall, older vocabulary in Breton and Cornish, comparative terminology, archival sources and texts, place names and their historical forms, linguistic corpora and digital humanities, the interoperability of historical data, and the circulation of people, texts and traditions between the two territories.

Akademi Kernewek has also offered access to several datasets released under CC0 / public domain, including data on place names and the Cornish–English bilingual corpus.

Our objective remains the same: to recover sources, cross-check and document them, and progressively reconnect Brittany’s archives with other Celtic and European territories.

After centuries in which documents have been dispersed between Nantes, Rennes, London, Madrid, Turin, Brussels, Rome and now Cornwall, the documentary network is gradually being rebuilt.

Breizh 🤝 Kernow
Brittany 🤝 Cornwall