This article is about an extinct language spoken in ancient northwestern Iberia. For the currentRomance language, seeGalician language. For the extinct Celtic language of ancient central Anatolia, seeGalatian language.
Iberia in 300 BC. Callaecia is shown as a mixture of Celtic and pre-Celtic Indo-European influences.
Callaecian is the name given to the pre-Roman language, or languages, spoken by the ancientCallaeci in northwesternIberia. The region became theRoman province ofCallaecia, which is now divided between the Spanish regions ofGalicia, the western parts ofAsturias,León andZamora, and theNorte Region of Portugal.[1][2][3] The linguistic situation of pre-Roman Callaecia is complex, as it combines linguistic materials that resembleCeltic features and others that do not, probably related toLusitanian.[4]
Classical authorsPomponius Mela,Pliny the Elder, andStrabo wrote about the existence of Celtic[5] and non-Celtic populations inCallaecia. Most linguists consider Callaecia to be part of a common dialect continuum withLusitania. There is controversy over the classification of theLusitanian language. Although most scholars regard it as a non-Celtic Indo-European language, some argue that it is a Celtic language with archaic features. Apart from the Lusitanian-like elements, Celtic linguistic records abound in Callaecia as they do in Lusitania.
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 Callaecia, 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, Callaecian 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 Callaecia,[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]
^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 linking Oviedo and Merida, 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 label northwestern 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.
^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)
Media related toGallaecian language at Wikimedia Commons
