While some recent scholarship (e.g. Eska 1998) has tended to consider Lepontic simply as an early outlying form of Gaulish and closely akin to other, later attestations of Gaulish in Italy (Cisalpine Gaulish), some scholars (notably Lejeune 1971) continue to view it as a distinct Continental Celtic language.[1][3][4] In this latter view, the earlier inscriptions found within a 50 km radius of Lugano are considered Lepontic, while the later ones, to the immediate south of this area, are considered Cisalpine Gaulish.[5][6]
Lepontic was assimilated first by Gaulish, with the settlement of Gallic tribes north of the River Po, and then by Latin, after the Roman Republic gained control over Gallia Cisalpina during the late 2nd and 1st century BC.
Some scholars view[4] (e.g. Lejeune 1971, Koch 2008) Lepontic as a distinct Continental Celtic language.[1][2] Other scholars (e.g. Evans 1992, Solinas 1995, Eska 1996, McCone 1996, Matasovic 2009)[7][8] consider it as an early form of Cisalpine Gaulish (or Cisalpine Celtic) and thus a dialect of Gaulish. An earlier view, prevalent for most of the 20th century and until about 1970, regarded Lepontic as a "para-Celtic" western Indo-European language, akin to but not part of Celtic, possibly related to Ligurian (Whatmough 1933 and Pisani 1964). However, Ligurian itself has been considered akin to, but not descended from, Common Celtic, see Kruta 1991 and Stifter 2008.[9][10]
Referring to linguistic arguments as well as archaeological evidence, Schumacher even considers Lepontic a primary branch of Celtic, perhaps even the first language to diverge from Proto-Celtic.[4] In any case, the Lepontic inscriptions are the earliest attestation of any form of Celtic.
Language
The alphabet
The alphabets of Este (Venetic), Magrè and Bolzano/Bozen-Sanzeno (Raetic), Sondrio (Camunic), Lugano (Lepontic)
The alphabet of Lugano, based on inscriptions found in northern Italy and Canton Ticino, was used to record Lepontic inscriptions, among the oldest testimonies of any Celtic language, in use from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. The alphabet has 18 letters, derived from the archaic Etruscan alphabet
The alphabet does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced occlusives, i.e. P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /t/ or /d/, and K for /g/ or /k/. Z is probably for /ts/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/. There are claims of a related script discovered in Glozel.
The grouping of all inscriptions written in the alphabet of Lugano into a single language is disputed. Indeed, it was not uncommon in antiquity for a given alphabet to be used to write multiple languages. And, in fact, the alphabet of Lugano was used in the coinage of other Alpine tribes, such as the Salassi, Salluvii, and Cavares (Whatmough 1933, Lejeune 1971).
While many of the later inscriptions clearly appear to be written in Cisalpine Gaulish, some, including all of the older ones, are said to be in an indigenous language distinct from Gaulish and known as Lepontic. Until the publication of Lejeune 1971, this Lepontic language was regarded as a pre-Celtic language, possibly related to Ligurian (Whatmough 1933, Pisani 1964). Following Lejeune 1971, the consensus view became that Lepontic should be classified as a Celtic language, albeit possibly as divergent as Celtiberian, and in any case quite distinct from Cisalpine Gaulish (Lejeune 1971, Kruta 1991, Stifter 2008).[9][10] Some have gone further, considering Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish essentially one and the same (Eska 1998). However, an analysis of the geographic distribution of the inscriptions shows that the Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions are later and from an area to the south of the earlier (Lepontic) inscriptions, with which they display significant differences as well as similarities.[10]
While the language is named after the tribe of the Lepontii, which occupied portions of ancient Rhaetia, specifically an Alpine area straddling modern Switzerland and Italy and bordering Cisalpine Gaul, the term is currently used by some Celticists (e.g. Eska 1998) to apply to all Celtic dialects of ancient Italy. This usage is disputed by those who continue to view the Lepontii as one of several indigenous pre-Roman tribes of the Alps, quite distinct from the Gauls who invaded the plains of Northern Italy in historical times.
The older Lepontic inscriptions date back to before the 5th century BC, the item from Castelletto Ticino being dated at the 6th century BC and that from Sesto Calende possibly being from the 7th century BC (Prosdocimi, 1991). The people who made these inscriptions are nowadays identified with the Golasecca culture, a Celtic culture in northern Italy (De Marinis 1991, Kruta 1991 and Stifter 2008).[9][10] The extinction date for Lepontic is only inferred by the absence of later inscriptions.
^ abcSchumacher, Stefan; Schulze-Thulin, Britta; aan de Wiel, Caroline (2004). Die keltischen Primärverben. Ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon (in German). Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Kulturen der Universität Innsbruck. pp. 84–85. ISBN3-85124-692-6.
^Kruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. p. 55.
^Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages(PDF). p. 12.
^Pinault, Georges-Jean (2007). Gaulois et celtique continental (in French). Librairie Droz. p. 375. ISBN9782600013376.
^Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. pp. 13 & 16. ISBN9789004173361.
^ abcKruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 52–56.
^ abcdStifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages(PDF). pp. 24–37.
Sources
De Marinis, R.C. (1991). "I Celti Golasecchiani". In Multiple Authors, I Celti, Bompiani.
Eska, J. F. (1998). "The linguistic position of Lepontic". In Proceedings of the twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society vol. 2, Special session on Indo-European subgrouping and internal relations (February 14, 1998), ed. B. K. Bergin, M. C. Plauché, and A. C. Bailey, 2–11. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
Eska, J. F., and D. E. Evans. (1993). "Continental Celtic". In The Celtic Languages, ed. M. J. Ball, 26–63. London: Routledge. ISBN0-415-01035-7.
Gambari, F. M.; G. Colonna (1988). "Il bicchiere con iscrizione arcaica de Castelletto Ticino e l'adozione della scrittura nell'Italia nord-occidentale". Studi Etruschi. 54: 119–64.
Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
Lejeune, M. (1970–71). "Documents gaulois et para-gaulois de Cisalpine". Études Celtiques. 12 (2): 357–500. doi:10.3406/ecelt.1970.1433.
Lejeune, M. (1971). Lepontica. Paris: Société d'Éditions 'Les Belles Lettres'.
Lejeune, M. (1978). "Vues présentes sur le celtique ancien". Académie Royale de Belgique, Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques. 64: 108–21.
Lejeune, M. (1988). Recueil des inscriptions gauloises: II.1 Textes gallo-étrusques. Textes gallo-latins sur pierre. Paris: CNRS.
Pisani, V. (1964). Le lingue dell'Italia antica oltre il latino (2nd ed.). Turin: Rosenberg & Sellier.
Prosdocimi, A.L. (1991). "Lingua e scrittura dei primi Celti". In Multiple Authors, I Celti, pp. 50–60, Bompiani.
Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1978). "Ligure, leponzio e gallico". In Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica vi, Lingue e dialetti, ed. A. L. Prosdocimi, 129–208. Rome: Biblioteca di Storia Patria.
Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1981). "Le iscrizioni celtiche d'Italia". In I Celti d'Italia, ed. E. Campanile, 157–207. Pisa: Giardini.
Whatmough, J. (1933). The Prae-Italic Dialects of Italy, vol. 2, "The Raetic, Lepontic, Gallic, East-Italic, Messapic and Sicel Inscriptions", Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press
Stifter, D. 2020. Cisalpine Celtic. Language, Writing, Epigraphy. Aelaw Booklet 8. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza.
Stifter, D. 2020. «Cisalpine Celtic», Palaeohispanica 20: 335-365.
External links
Lexicon Leponticum, by David Stifter, Martin Braun, Corinna Salomon, Michela Vignoli et al., University of Vienna – free online lexicon and corpus
"Languages and Cultures of Ancient Italy. Historical Linguistics and Digital Models", Project fund by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (P.R.I.N. 2017)
Francesca Ciurli (translation revised by Melanie Rockenhaus) (2008–2017). "Celtic, Lepontic - About 7th – 6th century B.C". Mnamon - Ancient Writing Systems in the Mediterranean. Scuola Normale Superiore. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
January 08, 2023
lepontic, language, lepontic, ancient, alpine, celtic, language, that, spoken, parts, rhaetia, cisalpine, gaul, northern, italy, between, lepontic, attested, inscriptions, found, area, centered, lugano, switzerland, including, lake, como, lake, maggiore, areas. Lepontic is an ancient Alpine Celtic language 1 2 that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul now Northern Italy between 550 and 100 BC Lepontic is attested in inscriptions found in an area centered on Lugano Switzerland and including the Lake Como and Lake Maggiore areas of Italy LeponticRegionCisalpine GaulEthnicityLepontiiEraattested 550 100 BCLanguage familyIndo European CelticLeponticWriting systemLugano alphabet a variant of Old Italic Language codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code xlp class extiw title iso639 3 xlp xlp a Linguist ListxlpGlottologlepo1240Lepontic inscription from Prestino borough of Como Italy Map showing the position of the Insubres and Lepontii in or near Gallia Transpadana While some recent scholarship e g Eska 1998 has tended to consider Lepontic simply as an early outlying form of Gaulish and closely akin to other later attestations of Gaulish in Italy Cisalpine Gaulish some scholars notably Lejeune 1971 continue to view it as a distinct Continental Celtic language 1 3 4 In this latter view the earlier inscriptions found within a 50 km radius of Lugano are considered Lepontic while the later ones to the immediate south of this area are considered Cisalpine Gaulish 5 6 Lepontic was assimilated first by Gaulish with the settlement of Gallic tribes north of the River Po and then by Latin after the Roman Republic gained control over Gallia Cisalpina during the late 2nd and 1st century BC Contents 1 Classification 2 Language 2 1 The alphabet 3 Corpus 4 See also 5 References 6 Sources 7 External linksClassification EditSome scholars view 4 e g Lejeune 1971 Koch 2008 Lepontic as a distinct Continental Celtic language 1 2 Other scholars e g Evans 1992 Solinas 1995 Eska 1996 McCone 1996 Matasovic 2009 7 8 consider it as an early form of Cisalpine Gaulish or Cisalpine Celtic and thus a dialect of Gaulish An earlier view prevalent for most of the 20th century and until about 1970 regarded Lepontic as a para Celtic western Indo European language akin to but not part of Celtic possibly related to Ligurian Whatmough 1933 and Pisani 1964 However Ligurian itself has been considered akin to but not descended from Common Celtic see Kruta 1991 and Stifter 2008 9 10 Referring to linguistic arguments as well as archaeological evidence Schumacher even considers Lepontic a primary branch of Celtic perhaps even the first language to diverge from Proto Celtic 4 In any case the Lepontic inscriptions are the earliest attestation of any form of Celtic Language EditThe alphabet Edit The alphabets of Este Venetic Magre and Bolzano Bozen Sanzeno Raetic Sondrio Camunic Lugano Lepontic The alphabet of Lugano based on inscriptions found in northern Italy and Canton Ticino was used to record Lepontic inscriptions among the oldest testimonies of any Celtic language in use from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC The alphabet has 18 letters derived from the archaic Etruscan alphabetThe alphabet does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced occlusives i e P represents b or p T is for t or d and K for g or k Z is probably for ts U u and V w are distinguished 8 is probably for t and X for g There are claims of a related script discovered in Glozel Corpus EditLepontic is known from around 140 inscriptions written in the alphabet of Lugano one of five main Northern Italic alphabets derived from the Etruscan alphabet Similar scripts were used for writing the Rhaetic and Venetic languages and the Germanic runic alphabets probably derive from a script belonging to this group The grouping of all inscriptions written in the alphabet of Lugano into a single language is disputed Indeed it was not uncommon in antiquity for a given alphabet to be used to write multiple languages And in fact the alphabet of Lugano was used in the coinage of other Alpine tribes such as the Salassi Salluvii and Cavares Whatmough 1933 Lejeune 1971 While many of the later inscriptions clearly appear to be written in Cisalpine Gaulish some including all of the older ones are said to be in an indigenous language distinct from Gaulish and known as Lepontic Until the publication of Lejeune 1971 this Lepontic language was regarded as a pre Celtic language possibly related to Ligurian Whatmough 1933 Pisani 1964 Following Lejeune 1971 the consensus view became that Lepontic should be classified as a Celtic language albeit possibly as divergent as Celtiberian and in any case quite distinct from Cisalpine Gaulish Lejeune 1971 Kruta 1991 Stifter 2008 9 10 Some have gone further considering Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish essentially one and the same Eska 1998 However an analysis of the geographic distribution of the inscriptions shows that the Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions are later and from an area to the south of the earlier Lepontic inscriptions with which they display significant differences as well as similarities 10 While the language is named after the tribe of the Lepontii which occupied portions of ancient Rhaetia specifically an Alpine area straddling modern Switzerland and Italy and bordering Cisalpine Gaul the term is currently used by some Celticists e g Eska 1998 to apply to all Celtic dialects of ancient Italy This usage is disputed by those who continue to view the Lepontii as one of several indigenous pre Roman tribes of the Alps quite distinct from the Gauls who invaded the plains of Northern Italy in historical times The older Lepontic inscriptions date back to before the 5th century BC the item from Castelletto Ticino being dated at the 6th century BC and that from Sesto Calende possibly being from the 7th century BC Prosdocimi 1991 The people who made these inscriptions are nowadays identified with the Golasecca culture a Celtic culture in northern Italy De Marinis 1991 Kruta 1991 and Stifter 2008 9 10 The extinction date for Lepontic is only inferred by the absence of later inscriptions See also EditCisalpine Celtic Glozel tabletsReferences Edit a b c LinguistList Lepontic a b John T Koch ed Celtic culture a historical encyclopedia ABC CLIO 2005 ISBN 978 1 85109 440 0 Koch 2006 1142 a b c Schumacher Stefan Schulze Thulin Britta aan de Wiel Caroline 2004 Die keltischen Primarverben Ein vergleichendes etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon in German Innsbruck Institut fur Sprachen und Kulturen der Universitat Innsbruck pp 84 85 ISBN 3 85124 692 6 Kruta Venceslas 1991 The Celts Thames and Hudson p 55 Stifter David 2008 Old Celtic Languages PDF p 12 Pinault Georges Jean 2007 Gaulois et celtique continental in French Librairie Droz p 375 ISBN 9782600013376 Matasovic Ranko 2009 Etymological Dictionary of Proto Celtic Brill pp 13 amp 16 ISBN 9789004173361 a b c Kruta Venceslas 1991 The Celts Thames and Hudson pp 52 56 a b c d Stifter David 2008 Old Celtic Languages PDF pp 24 37 Sources EditDe Marinis R C 1991 I Celti Golasecchiani In Multiple Authors I Celti Bompiani Eska J F 1998 The linguistic position of Lepontic In Proceedings of the twenty fourth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society vol 2 Special session on Indo European subgrouping and internal relations February 14 1998 ed B K Bergin M C Plauche and A C Bailey 2 11 Berkeley Berkeley Linguistics Society Eska J F and D E Evans 1993 Continental Celtic In The Celtic Languages ed M J Ball 26 63 London Routledge ISBN 0 415 01035 7 Gambari F M G Colonna 1988 Il bicchiere con iscrizione arcaica de Castelletto Ticino e l adozione della scrittura nell Italia nord occidentale Studi Etruschi 54 119 64 Koch John T 2006 Celtic Culture A Historical Encyclopedia ABC CLIO Lejeune M 1970 71 Documents gaulois et para gaulois de Cisalpine Etudes Celtiques 12 2 357 500 doi 10 3406 ecelt 1970 1433 Lejeune M 1971 Lepontica Paris Societe d Editions Les Belles Lettres Lejeune M 1978 Vues presentes sur le celtique ancien Academie Royale de Belgique Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques 64 108 21 Lejeune M 1988 Recueil des inscriptions gauloises II 1 Textes gallo etrusques Textes gallo latins sur pierre Paris CNRS Pisani V 1964 Le lingue dell Italia antica oltre il latino 2nd ed Turin Rosenberg amp Sellier Prosdocimi A L 1991 Lingua e scrittura dei primi Celti In Multiple Authors I Celti pp 50 60 Bompiani Tibiletti Bruno M G 1978 Ligure leponzio e gallico In Popoli e civilta dell Italia antica vi Lingue e dialetti ed A L Prosdocimi 129 208 Rome Biblioteca di Storia Patria Tibiletti Bruno M G 1981 Le iscrizioni celtiche d Italia In I Celti d Italia ed E Campanile 157 207 Pisa Giardini Whatmough J 1933 The Prae Italic Dialects of Italy vol 2 The Raetic Lepontic Gallic East Italic Messapic and Sicel Inscriptions Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press Stifter D 2020 Cisalpine Celtic Language Writing Epigraphy Aelaw Booklet 8 Zaragoza Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza Stifter D 2020 Cisalpine Celtic Palaeohispanica 20 335 365 External links EditLexicon Leponticum by David Stifter Martin Braun Corinna Salomon Michela Vignoli et al University of Vienna free online lexicon and corpus Languages and Cultures of Ancient Italy Historical Linguistics and Digital Models Project fund by the Italian Ministry of University and Research P R I N 2017 Francesca Ciurli translation revised by Melanie Rockenhaus 2008 2017 Celtic Lepontic About 7th 6th century B C Mnamon Ancient Writing Systems in the Mediterranean Scuola Normale Superiore Retrieved 15 October 2018 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lepontic language amp oldid 1091356929, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
