Celtic language of Wales.
Besieged for centuries by the English language, Welsh continues to be spoken by 18–20% of the population of Wales, or more than half a million people, though estimates of the actual number of first-language speakers vary widely. Welsh is traditionally divided into three periods: Old Welsh (с 800–1150), attested mainly in glosses and short textual passages; Middle Welsh (с 1150–1500), with a rich medieval literature including poetic texts originally composed much earlier; and Modern Welsh (from с 1500). Modern literary Welsh was largely fixed by William Salesbury 's Bible translation. Vernacular Welsh, split along dialectal lines, has long been diverging from literary Welsh; many modern speakers cannot write or easily understand the traditional written language. The issue of an acceptable modern standard remains unresolved.