Galatian language

Galatian
Spoken in
Language extinction	4th century AD
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Continental Celtic Galatian
Language codes
ISO 639-1	None
ISO 639-2	cel
ISO 639-3	xga
Linguasphere
Map showing the Roman province of Galatia.

Galatian is an extinct Celtic language once spoken in Galatia in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) from the 3rd century BC up to the 4th century AD.

Of the language only a few glosses and brief comments in classical writers and scattered names on inscriptions survive. Altogether they add up to about 120 words, mostly personal names ending in -riks (cf. Gaulish -rix/-reix, Old Irish ri, Gothic language -reiks, Old Frankish rik, Latin rex) "king", some ending in -marus, dative -mari (cf. Gaulish -maros, Old Irish mor, Welsh mawr) "great", and tribal names like Ambitouti (Old Irish imm- "around", Old Irish tuath "tribe"), and a lexical item drunaimeton "place of assembly" (cf. Old Irish drui "druid", Old Irish neimed "holy place"). Galatian is a Continental Celtic language contemporary and closely related to the Gaulish language.

Sources

• Freeman, Philip (2001). The Galatian Language: A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor. Lewiston, New York: Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-7480-3. 
• Weisgerber, L. (1931). Galatische Sprachreste. In Natalicium Johannes Geffcken zum 70. Geburtstag 2. Mai 1931 gewidmet von Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern, 151–75. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.