This article is about an extinct Celtic language spoken in ancient northwestern Iberia. For the currentRomance language, seeGalician language. For the extinct Celtic language of ancient central Anatolia, seeGalatian language.
Gallaecian orNorthwestern Hispano-Celtic is the name given to a pre-Roman Celtic language, spoken by the ancientGallaeci in northwesternIberia.[1][2][3] The linguistic situation of pre-Roman north-west Iberia is complex, as it includes inscriptions that contain clearlyCeltic linguistic features and others that do not and are probably related toLusitanian.[4] The region became theRoman province ofGallaecia, which is now divided between the Spanish regions ofGalicia, the western parts ofAsturias,León andZamora, and theNorte Region of Portugal.
As with theIllyrian,Ligurian andThracian languages, the surviving corpus of Gallaecian is composed of isolated words and short sentences contained in localLatin inscriptions or glossed by classical authors, together with a number of names –anthroponyms,ethnonyms,theonyms,toponyms – contained in inscriptions, or surviving as the names of places, rivers or mountains.[citation needed] Classical authorPomponius Mela wrote about the existence of Celtic populations from the lower reaches of theDouro River, north and then along Hispania's northern Atlantic coast as far as theCantabri.[5]
Indo-European*-ps- and*-ks- became*-xs- and were then reduced to -s-: place name AVILIOBRIS from*Awil-yo-brix-s < Proto-Celtic*Awil-yo-brig-s 'Windy hill (fort)',[6][7] modern place nameOsmo (Cenlle,Osamo 928 AD) from*Uχsamo- 'the highest one'.[8]
OriginalPIE*p has disappeared, having become a*φ sound before being lost completely:[9][10]
personal name LATRONIUS,[15] to*φlā-tro- 'place; trousers'
personal name ROTAMUS, to*φro-tamo- 'foremost';[16]
modern place namesBama (Touro,Vama 912) to*uφamā-[17] 'the lowest one, the bottom' (feminine form),Iñobre (Rianxo) to*φenyo-brix-s[18] 'Hill (fort) by the water',Bendrade (Oza dos Ríos) to*Vindo-φrātem 'White fortress', andBaiordo (Coristanco) to*Bagyo-φritu-, where the second element is proto-Celtic for 'ford'.[19] Galician-Portuguese appellative wordsleira 'flat patch of land' from*φlāryā,[20]lavego 'plough' from*φlāw-aiko-,[21]laxe/lage 'flagstone', from medieval lagena, from*φlagĭnā,[22]rega andrego 'furrow' from*φrikā.[23]
The frequent instances of preserved PIE /p/ are assigned by some authors, namely Carlos Búa[24] and Jürgen Untermann, to a single and archaic Celtic language spoken in Gallaecia, Asturia and Lusitania, while others (Francisco Villar, Blanca María Prósper, Patrizia de Bernado Stempel, Jordán Colera) consider that they belong to a Lusitanian or Lusitanian-like dialect or group of dialects spoken in northern Iberia along with (but different from) Western Hispano-Celtic:[25]
in Galicia: divinity names and epithets PARALIOMEGO, PARAMAECO, POEMANAE, PROENETIAEGO, PROINETIE, PEMANEIECO, PAMUDENO; place namesLapatia,Paramo,Pantiñobre if from*palanti-nyo-brig-s (Búa); Galician-Portuguese appellative wordslapa 'stone, rock' (cfr. Lat. lapis) andpala 'stone cavity', from*palla from*plh-sa (cfr.Germ. fels,O.Ir. All).
in Asturias the ethnic namePaesici; personal names PENTIUS, PROGENEI; divinity name PECE PARAMECO; in León and Bragança place names PAEMEIOBRIGENSE,Campo Paramo,Petavonium.
in other northwestern areas: place namesPallantia,Pintia,Segontia Paramica; ethnic namePelendones.
Indo-Europeansonorants between vowels,*n̥, and*m̥ have become an, am;*r̥, and*l̥ have become ri, li:[26] place nameBrigantia from*brig-ant-yā < Proto-Celtic*br̥g-n̥t-y-ā < post-Proto-Indo-European (post-PIE)*bʰr̥gʰ-n̥t-y-ā 'The towering one, the high one'; modern place names in Portugal and GaliciaBraga,Bragança,Berganzo,Berganciños,Bergaña;[27] ancient place names AOBRIGA, CALIABRIGA, CALAMBRIGA, CONIMBRIGA, CORUMBRIGA, MIROBRIGA, NEMETOBRIGA, COELIOBRIGA, TALABRIGA with second element *brigā < Proto-Celtic*br̥g-ā < post-PIE*bʰr̥gʰ-ā 'high place',[28] and AVILIOBRIS, MIOBRI, AGUBRI with second element*bris <*brix-s < Proto-Celtic*brig-s <*br̥g-s <PIE*bʰr̥gʰ-s 'hill (fort)';[29] cf. English cognateborough <Old Englishburg "fort" <Proto-Germanic*burg-s <PIE*bʰr̥gʰ-s.
Reduction of diphthong*ei to ē: theonym DEVORI, from*dēwo-rīg-ē < Proto-Celtic *deiwo-rēg-ei 'To the king of the gods'.[30]
Lenition of*m in the group*-mnV- to -unV-:[31][32] ARIOUNIS MINCOSEGAECIS, dative form from*ar-yo-uno-*menekko-seg-āk-yo- 'To the (deities of the) fields of the many crops' < Proto-Celtic*ar-yo-mno- ... .[33]
Assimilation*p .. kʷ >*kʷ .. kʷ: tribe nameQuerquerni from*kʷerkʷ- <PIE*perkʷ- 'oak, tree'.[34] Although this name has also been interpreted as Lusitanian by B. M. Prósper,[35] she proposed recently for that language a*p .. kʷ >*kʷ .. kʷ >*p .. p assimilation.[36]
Reduction of diphthong*ew to*ow, and eventually to ō:[37] personal names TOUTONUS / TOTONUS 'of the people' from*tout- 'nation, tribe' <PIE*teut-; personal names CLOUTIUS 'famous', but VESUCLOTI 'having good fame' < Proto-Celtic*Kleut-y-os,*Wesu-kleut(-y)-os;[38] CASTELLO LOUCIOCELO < PIE*leuk- 'bright'.[39] In Celtiberian the formstoutinikum/totinikum show the same process.[40]
Superlatives in -is(s)amo:[41] place names BERISAMO <*Berg-isamo- 'The highest one',[42] SESMACA <*Seg-isamā-kā 'The strongest one, the most victorious one'.[43] The same etymology has been proposed for the modern place namesSésamo (Culleredo) andSísamo (Carballo), from*Segisamo-;[44] modern place nameMéixamo from Magisamo- 'the largest one'.[45]
Syncope (loss) of unstressed vowels in the vicinity ofliquid consonants: CASTELLO DURBEDE, if from*dūro-bedo-.[46]
Reduction of Proto-Celtic*χt cluster to Hispano-Celtic*t:[47] personal names AMBATUS, from Celtic *ambi-aχtos, PENTIUS <*kwenχto- 'fifth'.
In contact with*e or*i,intervocalic consonant*-g- tends to disappear:[37] theonym DEVORI from*dēworīgē 'To the king of the gods'; adjective derived of a place name SESMACAE <*Seg-isamā-kā 'The strongest one, the most victorious one'; personal names MEIDUENUS <*Medu-genos 'Born of mead', CATUENUS <*Katu-genos 'Born of the fight';[48] inscription NIMIDI FIDUENEARUM HIC <*widu-gen-yā.[41] But Celtiberian place name SEGISAMA and personal namemezukenos show preservation of /g/.[49]
*-lw- and*-rw- become -lβ-, -rβ- (as in Irish):[9] MARTI TARBUCELI <*tarwo-okel- 'To Mars of the Hill of the Bull', but Celtiberian TARVODURESCA.
Late preservation of*(-)φl- which becomes (-)βl- and only later is reduced to a simple (-)l- sound:[50][51] place names BLETISAM(AM), BLETIS(AMA),[52] modern Ledesma (Boqueixón) <*φlet-isamā 'widest'; BLANIOBRENSI,[53] medieval Laniobre <*φlān-yo-brigs 'hillfort on the plain'.[54] But Celtiberian place nameLetaisama.[55]
*wl- is maintained:[56] VLANA <PIE*wl̥Hn-eh₂ 'wool', while Celtiberian has l-: launi <PIE*wl̥H-mn-ih₂ 'woolly' (?).
Sometimes*wo- appears as wa-:[57] VACORIA <*(d)wo-kor-yo- 'who has two armies', VAGABROBENDAM <*uφo-gabro-bendā 'lower goat mountain' (see above).
Dative plural ending -bo <PIE*bʰo, while Celtiberian had -bos:[51] LUGOUBU/LUCUBO 'To (the three gods) Lug'.
Under theP/Q Celtic hypothesis, Gallaecian appears to be a Q-Celtic language, as evidenced by the following occurrences in local inscriptions: ARQVI, ARCVIVS, ARQVIENOBO, ARQVIENI[S], ARQVIVS, all probably from IE Paleo-Hispanic*arkʷios 'archer, bowman', retainingproto-Celtic*kʷ.[58][59] It is also noteworthy the ethnonymsEquaesi ( < PIE*ek̂wos 'horse'), a people from southern Gallaecia,[60] and theQuerquerni ( <*perkʷ- 'oak'). Nevertheless, some old toponyms and ethnonyms, and some modern toponyms, have been interpreted as showing kw / kʷ > p:Pantiñobre (Arzúa, composite of*kʷantin-yo- '(of the) valley' and*brix-s 'hill(fort)') andPezobre (Santiso, from*kweityo-bris),[61] ethnonym COPORI "the Bakers" from*pokwero- 'to cook',[62] old place namesPintia, in Galicia and among the Vaccei, from PIE*penkwtó- > Celtic*kwenχto- 'fifth'.[47][63]
Some local Roman inscriptions incorporating autochthonous names, appellatives, and phrases
Anthropomorphic stele with Latin inscription, and local anthroponyms (from Verín, Ourense, Galicia): LATRONIUS CELTIATI F(ilius) H(ic) S(itus) E(st)
There is a strong Celtophile sentiment in Galicia. In the 19th century a group of Romantic and Nationalist writers and scholars, among themEduardo Pondal andManuel Murguía,[64] based Galician identity on the ancient Celtic heritage of the region. Currently the Celticist movement is strongest inGalicia and extends intoAsturias, northern Portugal, and sometimes intoCantabria. Vincent F. Pintado, an amateur linguist, proposed to revive the pre-Roman Gallaecian language based on his reconstructions.[65]
^Prósper, B.M. (2005).Estudios sobre la fonética y la morfología de la lengua celtibérica inVascos, celtas e indoeuropeos. Genes y lenguas (coauthored with Villar, Francisco). Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 333–350.ISBN84-7800-530-7.
^Cólera, Carlos Jordán (2007-03-16)."Celtiberian".E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies.6 (1): 750.ISSN1540-4889.In the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and more specifically between the west and north Atlantic coasts and an imaginary line running north-south and linkingOviedo andMerida, there is a corpus of Latin inscriptions with particular characteristics of its own. This corpus contains some linguistic features that are clearly Celtic and others that in our opinion are not Celtic. The former we shall group, for the moment, under the labelnorthwestern Hispano-Celtic. The latter are the same features found in well-documented contemporary inscriptions in the region occupied by the Lusitanians, and therefore belonging to the variety known as LUSITANIAN, or more broadly as GALLO-LUSITANIAN. As we have already said, we do not consider this variety to belong to the Celtic language family.
^Pomponius, Mela.Chorographia, III.7–9 (in Latin). pp. 7, 9.Among them the Praestamarci, Supertamarci, Nerii, Artabri, and in general all people living by the seashore except for the Grovi of southern Galicia and northern Portugal: 'Totam Celtici colunt, sed a Durio ad flexum Grovi, fluuntque per eos Avo, Celadus, Nebis, Minius et cui oblivionis cognomen est Limia. Flexus ipse Lambriacam urbem amplexus recipit fluvios Laeron et Ullam. Partem quae prominet Praesamarchi habitant, perque eos Tamaris et Sars flumina non longe orta decurrunt, Tamaris secundum Ebora portum, Sars iuxta turrem Augusti titulo memorabilem. Cetera super Tamarici Nerique incolunt in eo tractu ultimi. Hactenus enim ad occidentem versa litora pertinent. Deinde ad septentriones toto latere terra convertitur a Celtico promunturio ad Pyrenaeum usque. Perpetua eius ora, nisi ubi modici recessus ac parva promunturia sunt, ad Cantabros paene recta est. In ea primum Artabri sunt etiamnum Celticae gentis, deinde Astyres.
^Prósper, Blanca María. "El topónimo hispano–celta Bletisama: Una aproximación desde la lingüística". In: I. Sastre y F. J. Sánchez Palencia (eds.).El bronce de Pino del Oro Valladolid. 2010. pp. 217–23.
^Abad, Rubén Abad. (2008). "La divinidad celeste/solar en el panteón céltico peninsular". In:Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie II, Historia Antigua, 21: 101.
^Cf. Vallejo 2005: 321, who wrongly assign them to theAstures.
^de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (2009)."El nombre -¿céltico?- de la "Pintia vaccea""(PDF).BSAA Arqueología: Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arqueología (75). Retrieved14 March 2014.
Búa, Carlos (2007)O Thesaurus Paleocallaecus, inKremer, Dieter, ed. (2007).Onomástica galega : con especial consideración da situación prerromana : actas do primeiro Coloquio de Trier 19 e 20 de maio de 2006. Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.ISBN978-84-9750-794-3.
DCECH = Coromines, Joan (2012). Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico. Madrid: Gredos.ISBN978-84-249-3654-9.
Delamarre, Xavier (2012).Noms de lieux celtiques de l'Europe ancienne (−500 / +500): dictionnaire. Arles: Errance.ISBN978-2-87772-483-8.
Jordán Cólera, Carlos (March 16, 2007)."Celtiberian"(PDF).E-Keltoi.6. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 24 June 2011. Retrieved16 June 2010.
Koch, John T. (2011).Tartessian 2 : The inscription of Mesas do Castelinho ro and the verbal complex preliminaries to historical phonology. Aberystwyth: University of Wales, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies.ISBN978-1-907029-07-3.
Prósper, Blanca María (2002).Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la península ibérica. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. pp. 422–427.ISBN84-7800-818-7.
Prósper, Blanca María and Francisco Villar (2005).Vascos, Celtas e Indoeuropeos: Genes y lenguas. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.ISBN978-84-7800-530-7.
Vallejo Ruiz, José María (2005).Antroponimia indígena de la Lusitania romana. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Univ. del País Vasco [u.a.]ISBN8483737469.
Wodtko, Dagmar S. (2010). "The Problem of Lusitanian". In Cunliffe, Barry; Koch, John T. (eds.).Celtic from the West. Oxford, UK: Oxbow books.ISBN978-1-84217-475-3.
![Stele with Latin inscription (from Mera town, Lugo, Galicia): APANA AMBOLLI F(ilia) CELTICA SVPERTAM(arica) [Castello] MIOBRI AN(norum) XXV H(ic) S(itus) E(st) APANVS FR(ater) F(aciendum) C(uravit).](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGalician_Celtic_Stele_-_Estela_Galaica.jpg)
![Inscriptions in Braga, Portugal: [Ce]LICUS FRONTO ARCOBRIGENSIS AMBIMOGIDUS FECIT; and TONGOE NABIAGOI CELICUS FECIT FRONT[o]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aFonte_do_%25C3%258Ddolo_Braga.jpg)
![Galician Latin inscription (from Lugo city, Galicia): VECIUS VEROBLII F(ilius) PRICE[ps ...] CIT(...) C(ASTELLO) CIRCINE AN(norum) LX [...]O VECI F(ilius) PRINCEPS CO[...]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aVECIUS_VEROBLII.JPG)
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