According to Oxford University Press, “Welsh” means “to not do something you promised to do” or “to fail to pay a debt”. American dictionaries essentially state the same and lead us to believe that the word also means “foreigner” in old English. These are baseless lies, propaganda, and politically motivated statements in order insult our people or trick them into abadoning their history, culture, and identity. How such prejudice and libel has been sanctioned and spread to insult a group of people, even by the highest levels of “academia”, ought to be studied.
In truth, “Welsh” is a word to describe a Romano-Briton, or a Roman citizen. A “King of Wales” or a “King of the Welsh” is ergo a King of Romano-Britons, or a King of Romans (i.e., a Roman Emperor). According to English jurists, the Welsh are the true Britons. However, this narrow view overlooks the Britishness of multiple other groups, and the complexity of Welsh or British identity. It is likely held because the Welsh flag, “Y Ddraig Goch” is the ancient flag of the Britons. The banner has the honour of claiming to be the eldest in Europe, possibly the world.
Welsh: Middle English Walsche, Welsse, from Walisch, Welisch, adjective, Welsh, from Old English Wælisc, Welisc foreign, British, Welsh, from Old English Wealh foreigner, Briton, Welshman, of Celtic origin; akin to the source of Latin Volcae, a Celtic people of southeastern Gaul
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Welsh 3 OCT 2024
“It would appear that “Welsh” meant not so much foreigners as peoples who had been Romanized; other versions of the word may be found along the borders of the Empire-the Wallons of Belgium, the Welsh of the Italian Tyrol and the Vlachs of Romania-and the Welschness, the walnut, was the nut of the Roman lands.”
John Davies , “A History of Wales” Penguin Group Publishing, London (2007) page 69
‘The title ‘Briton’ is to-day borne by many peoples in many lands, few of whom, probably realise that, strictly speaking, it is the Welshman alone who is entitled to that name’.
Wales; Her Origins, Struggles and Later History, Institutions and Manners (1915) Gilbert Stone, London. Stone was an English judge and Liberal Party politician.
‘The Dragon, the draco standards of the Imperial legions, ‘a huge creature of barbaric aspect, inflated with air, fastened to the top of a spear’, remains after all these centuries, the emblem of Wales and perhaps the oldest of the flags of the European nations. Maelgwn Gwynedd, Cunedda’s great-grandson, was called by St. Gildas, Insularis Draco, wielding the authority of the Dux Britanniae with his dragon standard, and in the seventh century the red dragon of King Cadwaladr the Blessed asserted the Roman and Christian prerogative of the last descendant of Cunedda who runs as in a position to attempt its enforcement with the sword.’
“The Monarchy of Britain” Edwards, Charles (1948) Volume 29, No. 336, pp. 127-132
‘Walenses enim a prima Britonum prosapia continua sanguinis successione deducti, tocius Britannie dominium sibi de iure deberi iactitant.’‘The stock of a continuous succession of blood, from the first of the Britons, the Welsh had brought on their way, and the whole of Britain, which is due to put it of the ownership of the right to contract.”
Letters of Arnulf of Lisieux, ed. Frank Barlow (Camden, 3rd Ser., LXI, I939), no. 42, pp. 77-8; Gerald Camhrensis: The Invectionibus, 51, Pp. 84-5. Hubert’s letter is calendared in Episcopal Acts ed. Davies, i. 308 (D. 308).
‘It could be, then, that the abandonment of ‘Britannia’ as a word to denote ‘Wales’ was related to a belief that ‘Britannia’ should henceforth be used for the WHOLE island which was the rightful inheritance of the Welsh, as the heirs of the Britons.’
Huw Pryce, “British or Welsh? National Identity in Twelfth-Century Wales”, The English Historical Review , Sep., 2001, Vol. 116, No. 468 (Sep., 2001), pp. 775-801 Oxford University Press