Brief explanation of some Celtic terms

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there are 6 modern celtic languages spoken today, which can be divided into 2 branches: goidelic/gaelic and brittonic/brythonic.

the goidelic/gaelic languages:

• gaeilge / gaeilg / gaeilic / gaelainn / irish / irish gaelic / gaelic*
• gàidhlig / scottish gaelic / scots gaelic / gaelic**
• gaelg / manx

*irish has a number of different regional names for it in irish

**scottish gaelic can just be called gaelic, which helps distinguish it from scots (a germanic language related to english with different varieties spoken in scotland and ulster). scots is not a celtic language so it isn't related to scottish gaelic, but nevertheless people still get them confused with each other.

the brittonic/brythonic languages:

• cymraeg / welsh
• brezhoneg / breton
• kernewek / kernowek / kernûak / cornish***

*** modern revived cornish has a number of different orthographies

other points:

• the celtic nations refers to the places where these 6 modern celtic languages are spoken: ireland, scotland, the isle of man, wales, brittany, and cornwall.
• celtic identity is very tied to the presence of a modern celtic language. there is nothing that all of the celtic nations have in common that isn't also shared by some other cultures, except for a celtic language. places without a modern celtic language are not celtic. a large part of europe and parts of west asia were celtic-speaking in the past, but it does not make them celtic now. there is no such thing as a "culturally celtic but not celtic-speaking" country/region.
• (also the hallstatt and la tène archaeological cultures and their spread cannot be reliably linked 1:1 with the spread of celtic cultures, nor can their art reliably be labelled as "celtic art")
• celtic languages and the cultures and histories attached to them are not interchangeable with each other. there is no one singular "celtic culture".
• gaelic does not mean the same thing as celtic. welsh, breton, and cornish are celtic languages, but they are not gaelic languages. "welsh gaelic" is not a thing.

along with scots and ulster scots, there are a number of non-celtic minority languages that are spoken in the celtic nations, including british sign language, irish sign language, shelta, angloromani, welsh kalá, scots-romani, and gallo (in brittany). and near-by on the channel islands, there's also guernésiais, jèrriais, and sercquiais. historically, auregnais was also spoken on the channel island alderney; norn in the shetland and orkney islands; and yola and fingallian in ireland.