Gallaecian language
The Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, Gallaecian or Gallaic, is classified as a Q-Celtic language under the P-Q system and was closely related to Celtiberian.[1][2] It was spoken at the beginning of our era in the north-western quarter of the Iberian Peninsula, more specifically between the west and north Atlantic coasts and an imaginary line running north-south and linking Oviedo and Mérida.[3][4] Just like it is the case for Illyrian or Ligurian languages, its corpus its composed by isolated words and short sentences contained in local Latin inscriptions, or glossed by classic authors, together with a considerable number of names – anthroponyms, ethnonyms, theonyms, toponyms – contained in inscriptions, or surviving up to date as place, river or mountain names. Besides, many of the isolated words of Celtic origin preserved in the local Romance languages could have been inherited from these Celtic dialects.[5] Resemblance between the transliterated values of this onomastic inventory of short early Roman-period mixed language inscriptions from the north and west of the Iberian Peninsula and those of the Tartessian inscriptions has led to tentatively characterizing Tartessian as Old Western Hispano-Celtic or Old Callaecian.[6]
Characteristics
The main characteristic of this language, shared with Celtiberian and the other Celtic languages were:
- Loss of /p/:[7] place name C(ASTELLO) OLCA from *φolkā- 'Overturned', personal name ARCELTIUS, from *φari-kelt-y-os; place name ERCORIOBRI, from *φeri-kor-y-o-brigs 'Overshooting Hill-Fort'.
- Vocalization of inter-consonantic sonants: /n, m/ > /an, am/, /r, l/ > /ri, li/:[8] place name Brigantia from *Brg-nt-y-ā 'The towering one, the high one'.
- Reduction of diphthong /ei/ > /e:/: theonym DEVORI from *Deiwo-rēg-ei 'To the king of the gods'.[9]
- Lenition of /m/ in the group -mnV- > -unV-:[10][11] ARIOUNIS MINCOSEGAECIS, dative form from *ar-yo-mno- *menekko-seg-āk-yo- 'To the (divinities of the) fields of the many crops'.[12]
- Assimilation p .. kʷ > kʷ .. kʷ: tribe name Querquerni from *perkw- 'oak, tree'.
Some characteristics of this language not shared by Celtiberian:
- Reduction of diphthong /ew/ > /ow/, and eventually /o:/:[13] personal names TOUTONUS / TOTONUS.
- In contact with e or i intervocalic *-g- > 0:[14] theonym DEVORI from *Deiwo-rēg-ei 'To the king of the gods'.
- *-lw-, *-rw- > -lβ-, -rβ- (as in Goidelic): MARTI TARBUCELI < *tarwo- 'To Mars of the Hill of the Bull', DEO DURBEDICO < *Durwēd-ik- 'To the druidic god'.
- *φl- > βl- (as in Goidelic -Vbl-) and finally l-[15][16]: BLETISAM(AM), BLETIS(AMA), Ledesma < *φlétisamā, BLANIOBRENSI, Lañobre < *φlān-yo-bri.
- *wl- is conserved[17]: VLANA < *wl̥Hn-eh₂, while Celtiberian has l-: launi < *wl̥H-mn-ih₂ (?).
- *wo- > wa-[18]: VACORIA < *(d)wo-koryo- 'who has two armies', VAGABROBENDAM < *uφo-gabro-.
- Dative plural ending -bo < *bʰo, while Celtiberian had -bos[19]: LUGOUBU 'To (the three gods) Lug'.
See also
References
- ^ Prósper, Blanca María (2002). Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la península ibérica. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. pp. 422–427. ISBN 84-7800-818-7.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005). Estudios sobre la fonética y la morfología de la lengua celtibérica in Vascos, celtas e indoeuropeos. Genes y lenguas (coauthored with Villar, Francisco). Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 333-350. ISBN 84-7800-530-7.
- ^ Cólera, Carlos Jordán (March 16, 2007). "The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula:Celtiberian". e-Keltoi 6: 749–750. http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_17/jordan_6_17.pdf. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 481. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Celtic+Culture:+A+Historical+Encyclopedia&source=bl&ots=p_YAf9xs0E&sig=OAgjXR3_OC9DHv-PJ6g5VweueLw&hl=en&ei=XWMXTJWkHs2GkAWZx-yGCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=hispano-celtic&f=false.
- ^ Galician words such as crica 'vulva, ribbon', from proto-Celtic *kīkwā 'furrow', laxe 'stone slab' from proto-Celtic *φlagēnā 'broad spearhead', leira 'patch, field' from proto-Celtic *φlāryo- 'floor', or alboio 'shed, pen' from proto-Celtic *φare-bowyo- 'around-cows'.
- ^ Koch, John T (2011). Tartessian 2: The Inscription of Mesas do Castelinho ro and the Verbal Complex. Preliminaries to Historical Phonology. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. pp. 80. ISBN 978-1-907029-07-3. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/91450//Location/Oxbow.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 336.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 342.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 338.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 425-426.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 336.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 205-215.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 423.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 423.
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 427
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 345
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2002): 426
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 346
- ^ Prósper, B.M. (2005): 345