| Galatian | |
|---|---|
| Region | Galatia |
| Ethnicity | Galatians |
| Extinct | 4th century AD (possibly 6th century AD) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xga |
xga | |
| Glottolog | gala1252 |
.svg) The Roman province of Galatia | |
Galatian is an extinctCeltic language once spoken by theGalatians inGalatia, in centralAnatolia (Asian part of modernTurkey), from the 3rd century BC up to at least the 4th century AD. Some sources suggest that it was still spoken in the 6th century.[1] Galatian was contemporary with, and closely related to,Gaulish.[2][3][4]
The Galatian language, based ononomastic evidence (as no texts written in Galatian have yet been discovered), seems to have closely resembledGaulish of western and central Europe.[1] The language was introduced toAnatolia in the 3rd century BC, when Celtic tribes – notably theTectosages,Trocmii, andTolistobogii – migrated south from the Balkans. According to the Greek historianStrabo, the Tectosages of Anatolia were related to theVolcae Tectosages ofGaul; the parent tribe of both branches, theVolcae, originally lived in central Europe.
Sometime in AD 48–55,the Apostle Paul wrote hisEpistle to the Galatians inGreek, the medium of communication in the eastern parts of theRoman Empire. This may mean that Galatians at the time were already bilingual in Greek, as St. Jerome later reports. However, scholars are divided as to whether Paul was writing to Greek Galatians or to theHellenized descendants of the Celtic Galatians.[5][6]
Lucian of Samosata recorded in circa AD 180 that the prophetAlexander of Abonoteichus was able to find Celtic-speaking interpreters for his oracles inPaphlagonia (immediately northeast of Galatia).[7][8]
The physicianGalen of Pergamon in the late 2nd century AD complained that the commonly spoken Greek of his day was being corrupted by borrowings of foreign words from languages such as Galatian.[9][10]
In the 4th century,St. Jerome (Hieronymus) wrote in a comment toPaul the Apostle'sEpistle to the Galatians that "apart from the Greek language, which is spoken throughout the entire East, theGalatians have their own language, almost the same as theTreveri". The capital of the Treveri wasTrier, where Jerome had settled briefly after studying in Rome.[11][12]
In the 6th century AD,Cyril of Scythopolis suggested[13] that the language was still being spoken in his own day when he related a story that a monk from Galatia was temporarily possessed bySatan and unable to speak; when he recovered from the "possession", he could respond to the questioning of others only in his native Galatian tongue.[14]
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, including place and personal names. Scattered vocabulary terms mentioned by Greek authors include ἀδάρκα (adarka), a type of plant; αδες (ades), "feet"; βαρδοί (bardoi), "singing poets, bards"; μάρκα (marka), "horse" and τριμαρκισία (trimarkisia), "three-horse battle group".[15][16]
Only three common nouns are certainly attested, and only two of them of Celtic origin. All are attested in Greek sources and are declined as if Greek.[1]
Bothtaskos anddroungos are given byEpiphanius of Salamis in hisPanarion in an effort to elucidate the name of the gnostic sect of theTascodrugites. Although he has the correct meaning ofdroungos, he givestaskos as meaning "peg". It almost certainly means "badger".[17] The wordhus is not of Celtic origin, but was borrowed into Galatian from another language.[1]
The attested Galatian personal names are similar to those found elsewhere in the ancient Celtic-speaking world. Many are compound names containing common Celtic roots such as*brog-, "country, territory" (cf.Old Irishmruig,Welsh andBretonbro; cognate withLatinmargo andGothicmarka),*epo-, "horse" (Old Irishech, Welsheb- [inebol "pony" and the compoundebrwydd "swift"], Bretonebeul, foal),*māro- (cf. Gaulish-māros, Old Irishmór, Welshmawr, Bretonmeur) "great", and*rig(o)-, "king" (cf.Gaulish-rīx/-reix, Irishrí, Welshrhi; cognate with Gothic-reiks, Latinrēx). Examples include:[18]
Tribal names includeAmbitouti (Old Irishimm-, Welsham "around"; Old Irishtuath, Welshtut, "tribe"), Ριγόσαγες (Rigosages, "King-Seekers"; cf. Old Irishsaigid "goes towards, seeks out", Welshhaeddu, verbal suffix-ha- "seeking"), and Τεκτόσαγες (Tectosages, cf. the relatedVolcae Tectosages tribe of Gaul, "Travel-seekers"; Old Irishtecht, "going, proceeding", Welshtaith, "journey, voyage").
Attested divine names include βουσσουριγίος (Bussurīgios) and Σουωλιβρογηνός (Suolibrogēnos), both identified with theGreek king of the godsZeus, and Ούινδιεινος (Uindieinos),[19] perhaps thetutelary god of theTolistobogian town Ούινδια (Uindia).[20][21]
Attested place names includeAcitorīgiāco ("[Settlement of]Acitorīx"; compareAcitodunum in Gaul), Άρτικνιακόν (Articniācon, "[Settlement of]Articnos" ["Bear-son"]), Δρυνέμετον (Drunemeton; <Proto-Celtic*dru- "oak" and, by extension, "great"; cf. Old Irishdruí, Welshdryw [<*dru-wid-s], "druid, wise man" [literally "greatly wise"], Old Irishneimed, Welshnyfed "holy place, [sacred] grove"), the meeting place of the Galatiantetrarchs and judges, and Ούινδια (Uindia "Fair/White/Holy Place"; Old Irishfinn, Welshgwyn [masc.],gwen [fem.] "fair, white; holy").[22]
One of the foremost features of the Galatian culture ... according to the documentary and literary evidence, is its Celtic language. ... we are dealing here not with an independent member of the mainland Celtic family, ... but rather with a variant of Gaulish.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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