Gaulish language

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Gaulish is the name given to the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul. The language is known from several hundred inscriptions on stone, on ceramic vessels and other artifacts, and on coins, and occasionally on metal (lead, and on one occasion zinc). They are found in the entire area of Roman Gaul, i.e., mostly in the area of the west of France, as well as parts of Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Belgium (Meid 1994).

Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian, Lepontic, and Galatian as Continental Celtic.

[edit] History

The earliest Continental Celtic inscriptions, dating to as early as the 6th century BC, are in Lepontic (sometimes considered a dialect of Gaulish), found in Gallia Cisalpina and were written in a form of the Old Italic alphabet. Inscriptions in the Greek alphabet from the 3rd century BC have been found in the area near the mouths of the Rhône, while later inscriptions dating to Roman Gaul are mostly in the Latin alphabet.

Gregory of Tours wrote in the 6th century that some people in his area could still speak Gaulish.

[edit] Phonology

• vowels:
  • short: a, e, i, o u
  • long ā, ē, ī, (ō), ū
• semivowels: w, y
• occlusives:
  • voiceless: p, t, k
  • voiced: b, d, g
• resonants
  • nasals: m, n
  • liquids r, l
• sibilant: s
• affricate: t^s

[χ] is an allophone of /k/ before /t/.

[edit] Orthography

RIG G-172 inscription ϹΕΓΟΜΑΡΟϹ ΟΥΙΛΛΟΝΕΟϹ ΤΟΟΥΤΙΟΥϹ ΝΑΜΑΥϹΑΤΙϹ ΕΙωΡΟΥ ΒΗΛΗ ϹΑΜΙ ϹΟϹΙΝ ΝΕΜΗΤΟΝ "Segomaros, son of Uillo, toutious (tribe leader) of Namausos, dedicated this sanctuary to Belesama"

The alphabet of Lugano used in Gallia Cisalpina for Lepontic:

AEIKLMNOPRSTΘUVXZ

The alphabet of Lugano does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced occlusives, i.e. P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /t/ or /d/, K for /g/ or /k/. Z is probably for /t^s/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished only in one early inscription. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/ (Lejeune 1971, Solinas 1985).

The Eastern Greek alphabet used in southern Gallia Transalpina:

αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρστυχω

χ is used for [χ], θ for /t^s/, ου for /u/, /ū/, /w/, η and ω for both long and short /e/, /ē/ and /o/, /ō/, while ι is for short /i/ and ει for /ī/. Note that the Sigma in the Eastern Greek alphabet looks like a C (lunate sigma). All Greek letters were used except phi and psi.

Latin alphabet (monumental and cursive) in use in Roman Gaul:

ABCDÐEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTUVXZ

abcdðefghiklmnopqrstuvxz

G and K are sometimes used interchangeably (especially after R). Ð/ð, ds and s may represent /t^s/. X, x is for [χ] or /ks/. Q is only used rarely (e.g. Sequanni, Equos) and may represent an archaism (a retained *k^w). Ð and ð are used here to represent the letter Tau Gallicum (the Gaulish dental affricate), which has not yet been added to Unicode. In contrast to the glyph for Ð, the central bar extends right across the glyph and also does not protrude outside it.

[edit] Sound laws

• Gaulish changed PIE voiceless labiovelars k^w to p (hence P-Celtic), a development also observed in Brythonic (as well as Greek and some Italic languages), while the other Celtic, 'Q-Celtic', retained the labiovelar. Thus the Gaulish word for "son" was mapos (Delmarre 2003: 216-217), contrasting with Primitive Irish maqi, which became mac in modern Irish. Similarly one Gaulish word for "horse" was epos while Old Irish has ech; all derived from Indo-European *eqos (Delmarre 2003: 163-164)

• Voiced labiovelar g^w became w, e. g. g^wediūmi > uediiumi "I pray" (cf. Old Irish guidiu "I pray", Welsh gweddi "to pray").

• PIE t^st became /t^s/, spelled ð, e.g. *nedz-tamo > neððamon (cf. Old Irish nessam "nearest", Welsh nesaf "next").

• PIE ew became ow, and later ō, e.g. *teutā > touta > tōta "tribe" (cf. Old Irish tuath, Welsh tud "people").

[edit] Grammar

There was some areal (or genetic, see Italo-Celtic) similarity to Latin grammar, and the French historian A. Lot argued that this helped the rapid adoption of Latin in Roman Gaul.

[edit] Cases

Gaulish has six or seven cases (Lambert 2003 pp.51-67). In common with Latin it has nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive and dative; where Latin has an ablative, Gaulish has an instrumental and may also have a locative. There is more evidence for common cases (nominative and accusative) and for common stems (-o- and -a- stems) than there is for cases less frequently used in inscriptions, or rarer stems such as -i-, -n- and occlusive. The following table summarizes the case endings which are most securely known. A blank means that the form is unattested.

In some cases a historical evolution is known, for example the dative singular of -a- stems is -ai in the oldest inscriptions, becoming first -e and finally -i.

[edit] Numerals

Ordinal numerals from the La Graufesenque graffiti

1. cintus (Welsh cyntaf, Breton kentañ, Old Irish céta, Modern Irish céad)
2. allos (Welsh ail, Breton eil, OIr aile 'other', Modern Irish eile)
3. tritios (Welsh trydydd, Breton trede, OIr treide, Modern Irish tríú)
4. qetwarios (Welsh pedwerydd, Breton pevare, OIr cethramad, Mod Ir ceathrú)
5. qinqetos (Welsh pumed, Breton pempet, OIr cóiced, Mod Ir cúigiú)
6. sueksos (maybe mistaken for suextos, Welsh chweched, Breton c'hwec'hved, OIr seissed, Mod Ir séú)
7. sectametos (Welsh seithfed, Breton seizhved, OIr sechtmad, Mod Ir seachtú)
8. octumetos (Welsh wythfed, Breton eizhved, OIr ochtmad, Mod Ir ochtú)
9. nametos (Welsh nawfed, Breton naved, OIr nómad, Mod Ir naoú)
10. decametos, decometos (Welsh degfed, Breton degvet, OIr dechmad, Celtiberian dekametam, Mod Ir deichniú)

The ancient Gaulish language was closer to Latin than modern Gaelic languages are to modern Romance languages. The ordinal numerals in Latin are prímus, secundus/alter, tertius, quártus, quíntus, sextus, septimus, octávus, nónus, decimus.

[edit] Corpus

The Gaulish corpus is edited in the Receuil des Inscriptions Gauloises (R.I.G.), in four volumes:

• Vol. 1: Inscriptions in the Greek alphabet, edited by Michel Lejeune (items G-1 –G-281)
• Vol. 2.1: Inscriptions in the Etruscan alphabet (Lepontic, items E-1 – E-6), and inscriptions in the Latin alphabet in stone (items l. 1 – l. 16), edited by Michel Lejeune
• Vol. 2.2: inscriptions in the Latin alphabet on instruments (ceramic, lead, glass etc.), edited by Pierre-Yves Lambert (items l. 18 – l. 139)
• Vol. 3: The calendars of Coligny (73 fragments) and Villards d'Heria (8 fragments), edited by Paul-Marie Duval and Georges Pinault
• Vol. 4: inscriptions on coins, edited by Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu and Brigitte Fischer (338 items)

The longest known Gaulish text was found in 1983 in L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac (43°58′N 3°12′E) in Aveyron. It is inscribed in Latin cursive script on two small sheets of lead. The content is a magical incantation, probably a curse (defixio), regarding one Severa Tertionicna and a group of women (often thought to be a rival group of witches), but the exact meaning of the text remains unclear.

The Coligny calendar was found in Coligny near Lyon, France with a statue identified as Apollo. The Coligny Calendar is a lunisolar calendar that divides the year into two parts with the months underneath. SAMON "summer" and GIAMON "winter". The date of SAMON- xvii is identified as TRINVX[tion] SAMO[nii] SINDIV.

Another major text is the lead tablet of Chamalières (l. 100), written on lead in Latin cursive script, in twelve lines, apparently a curse or incantation addressed to the god Maponos. It was deposited in a spring, much like defixiones often are.

The graffito of La Graufesenque, Millau ([1] 44°05′36″N, 3°05′33″E), inscribed in Latin cursive on a ceramic plate, is our most important source for Gaulish numerals. It was probably written in a ceramic factory, referring to furnaces numbered 1 to 10.

A number of short inscriptions are found on spindle whorls. They are among the latest testimonies of Gaulish. These whorls were apparently presented to young girls by their suitors, and bear inscriptions such as moni gnatha gabi / buððutton imon (l. 119) "my girl, take my kiss" and geneta imi / daga uimpi (l. 120) '"I am a young girl, good (and) pretty".

Inscriptions found in Switzerland are rare, but a lot of modern placenames are derived from Gaulish names as they are in the rest of Gaul. There is a statue of a seated goddess with a bear, Artio, found in Muri near Berne, with a Latin inscription DEAE ARTIONI LIVINIA SABILLINA, suggesting a Gaulish Artiyon- "bear goddess". A number of coins with Gaulish inscriptions in the Greek alphabet have been found in Switzerland, e.g. RIG IV Nrs. 92 (Lingones) and 267 (Leuci). A sword dating to the La Tène period was found in Port near Bienne, its blade inscribed with KORICIOC (Korisos), probably the name of the smith. The most notable inscription found in Helvetic parts is the Berne Zinc tablet, inscribed ΔΟΒΝΟΡΗΔΟ ΓΟΒΑΝΟ ΒΡΕΝΟΔΩΡ ΝΑΝΤΑΡΩΡ, and apparently dedicated to Gobannus, the Celtic god of smithcraft. Caesar relates that census accounts written in the Greek alphabet were found among the Helvetii.

[edit] References

• Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
• Lambert, Pierre-Yves (2003) La langue gauloise (2nd ed.) Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-224-4
• Lejeune, Michel (1971). Lepontica (Monographies linguistiques, 1). Paris: Société d’edition “les Belles Lettres”
• Meid, Wolfgang (1994) Gaulish Inscriptions. Budapest: Archaeolingua. ISBN 963-8046-06-6
• Recueil des inscriptions gauloises (XLVe supplément à «GALLIA»), ed. Paul-Marie Duval et al. 4 vols. Paris: CNRS, 1985-2002. ISBN 2-271-05844-9
• Solinas, Patrizia (1995). ‘Il celtico in Italia’. Studi Etruschi 60:311-408

[edit] See also

• Languages of France

[edit] External links

• L.A. Curchin, "Gaulish language"
• Gaulish language on TIED
• The Coligny Calendar
• All Saints Day: Coligny Calendar
• two sample inscriptions on TITUS
• Langues et écriture en Gaule Romaine by Hélène Chew of the Musée des Antiquites Nationale (in French)