If you mean the ancient Britons who were native to the Roman province of Britannia, they did not speak Welsh. They spoke a Celtic language known today as Brythonic or Brittonic, and they were a people who called themselves Pritani or Britani probably from the early Bronze age onwards.
This language is the ancestor of Welsh and Cornish (Kernowek) but there are many linguistic differences.
When the Roman Empire withdrew its support for the province of Britannia and all military and political structure collapsed, the migrating Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Wends, Frisians, Franks and others who arrived on these shores gradually pushed many of the native population towards the west, into Wales and Cornwall.
Here their Brythonic language slowly evolved into Welsh and Cornish, but Welsh as a separate language did not exist before about 550 AD ("primitive welsh"), becoming Old Welsh by the 9th century AD.
So ancient Britons could not have spoken Welsh, since it did not exist at that time.
English...............................Brythonic.............................Welsh
river....................................abona.................................afon
water..................................dubro..................................dŵr
border.................................canto-.................................cant
fire.......................................taneto................................tân
journey...............................sent, hent...........................hynt
white...................................wen....................................gwyn
yew tree..............................ebor....................................efwr
The Welsh language emerged in the 6th century and is still in use.
Another answer:Currently over 20% say they can speak Welsh. Perhaps 12 per cent are fluent.Around 21.7% of the population
Yes, Welsh was spoken in England. Welsh is a very old language, and at the time the earliest examples we have were written, parts of what is now England were entirely Welsh. In fact there are Welsh communities, in which people speak Welsh, today.
The people that live in the United Kingdom are also known commonly as Britons. They are also called Britishers by some people.
Owain Glyndwr's native language was Welsh, but as a member of the Welsh nobility he had been well-educated and was multi-lingual, also speaking English, French and Latin.
Well, the Mabinogion or Mabinogi aren't a people. The Mabiniogion are the most famous Welsh Celtic stories, dating back several hundred years. If the question is actually "Are the Welsh the same as Britons" then the people who became Welsh (the Celts) were probably the original Britons.
The term Welsh descent refers to having ancestors who were Welsh.
The Welsh are in fact Britons the aboriginal inhabitants of Great Britain, the country (UK). The Britons arrived in the UK after the last Ice Age finished (about 10,000BC).
Katherine Jenkins can speak welsh
'crypopyn' i speak welsh;]
No, Ruth Jones does not speak Welsh. She pulls off a convincing accent when using Welsh and can probably hold some basic conversation, but speak it fluently she does not.
some are welsh speakers as a first language
She speaks fluent Icecubeish :) But yes, she does speak fluent Welsh, she says it's her mother tongue but he dad is from England, so I guess he doesn't speak Welsh.
welsh!
The Welsh language emerged in the 6th century and is still in use.
The Britons (Celts) His Descendants would most likely be Welsh If he existed at all that is
Another answer:Currently over 20% say they can speak Welsh. Perhaps 12 per cent are fluent.Around 21.7% of the population