IN reply to Tony Kelly’s letter (HAS, Nov 28) the Gaelic language originated during the Neolithic Period as an artificial language used by traders, a sort of Esperanto of its time. Its origin as an artificially created language is made clear within numerous Irish Annals. All of which would explain why Gaelic is so vastly different from languages such as English.

Many books point to many migrations to the British Isles since that time such as the Belgae, the Celts around 1,000 BC, the English during the 5th Century AD etc. each bringing with them a different language, culture and beliefs which over thousands of years have all played a part in forming the present British and Irish identities Archaeological, genetic and other evidence shows that the first Irish inhabitants became the common ancestor of both the British and the Irish.

However since languages change overtime and are influenced by incoming groups, then it doesn’t automatically follow the first inhabitants would speak the same language as their distant descendant or call it by the same name.

Overall, such discoveries have profound implications on how we view our culture, history, society and most of all ourselves.

CT Riley, Spennymoor.