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Proto-Celtic language
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<p>Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral <a href="/facts/Proto-language/BkXHmE3J">proto-language</a> of all known <a href="/facts/Celtic_languages/edRrGrMF">Celtic languages</a>, and a descendant of <a href="/facts/Proto-Indo-European/cVLNoM3p">Proto-Indo-European</a>. It is not attested in writing but has been partly <a href="/facts/Linguistic_reconstruction/pj96pL59">reconstructed</a> through the <a href="/facts/Comparative_method/VKJAa3zy">comparative method</a>. Proto-Celtic is generally thought to have been spoken between 1300 and 800 BC, after which it began to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the <a href="/facts/Urnfield_culture/BUxYt9Sw">Urnfield culture</a> and particularly with the <a href="/facts/Hallstatt_culture/brpJ6dWw">Hallstatt culture</a>. Celtic languages share common features with <a href="/facts/Italic_languages/82W676n0">Italic languages</a> that are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlier <a href="/facts/Italo-Celtic/gU6JsBN9">Italo-Celtic</a> linguistic unity. </p><p>Proto-Celtic is currently being reconstructed through the comparative method by relying on later Celtic languages. Though <a href="/facts/Continental_Celtic/nw58apFS">Continental Celtic</a> presents much substantiation for Proto-Celtic <a href="/facts/Phonology/qWAsvnok">phonology</a>, and some for its <a href="/facts/Morphology_(linguistics)/fWkzsYE8">morphology</a>, recorded material is too scanty to allow a secure reconstruction of <a href="/facts/Syntax/6PxSV98p">syntax</a>, though some complete sentences are recorded in the Continental <a href="/facts/Gaulish/CAQo48pc">Gaulish</a> and <a href="/facts/Celtiberian_language/wvfcvTLH">Celtiberian</a>. So, the main sources for reconstruction come from <a href="/facts/Insular_Celtic_languages/GxWCv26A">Insular Celtic languages</a> with the oldest <a href="/facts/Literature/CmUDxokU">literature</a> found in <a href="/facts/Old_Irish/79xpaDv5">Old Irish</a> and <a href="/facts/Middle_Welsh/l7rvzqc1">Middle Welsh</a>, dating back to authors flourishing in the 6th century AD. </p>