Tau gallicum (majuscule:Ꟈ(), minuscule: ꟈ()) is a letter that was used to write the Gaulish language.[1] It is a D with the horizontal bar from the Greek letter Θ.[1] It likely represented a /t͡s/ or /st/ sound.[1]
The Latin phrase tau gallicum literally means "Gallictau". The only known mention of the letter is found in Catalepton, a set of epigrams attributed to Virgil and collected after his death in Appendix Vergiliana.[2] The second epigram contains the following text:
Corinthiorum amator iste uerborum, iste iste rhetor, namque quatenus totus Thucydides, tyrannus Atticae febris: tau Gallicum, min et sphin ut male illisit, ita omnia ista uerba miscuit fratri.
— Virgil, Catalepton II
It is not known, however, whether the sound described by Virgil is the same as that for which the term is currently used.
Letter
After using the Greek alphabet, the Gauls adopted the Latin alphabet to transcribe their language. However, they keep a few letters from the previous alphabet to note sounds unknown to the second. Tau gallicum is said to have been inspired by the Greek letter Θ (theta). Its spelling is very variable: one meets among others a crossed out D, resembling Đ but where the horizontal bar crosses completely the letter, as well as a form similar to the lowercase eth ð. The character then evolves to a double or single s crossed out, ss, then to one or two single s.
The letter can be found in the initial of the name of the Celtic goddess Sirona, whose name is written as: Sirona, Ꟈirona or Thirona, highlighting the difficulty of noting the initial sound in the Latin alphabet.
The letter is also present in the lead of Chamalières, a lead tablet discovered in 1971 in Chamalières and written in the Gallic language with Latin cursive letters: snIeꟈꟈdic, aꟈꟈedillI.
Pronunciation
The precise value of the sound transcribed by the Gallic tau is not known. It is supposed that it denotes the dental affricate consonant group /t͡s/, in free variation with [st] in the initial position.
^Frank, Tenney (1935). "Tau Gallicum, Vergil, Catalepton II, 4". The American Journal of Philology. 56 (3): 254–256. doi:10.2307/289677. ISSN 0002-9475. JSTOR 289677.
January 10, 2023
gallicum, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, november, 2020, l. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Tau gallicum news newspapers books scholar JSTOR November 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Tau gallicum majuscule Ꟈ minuscule ꟈ is a letter that was used to write the Gaulish language 1 It is a D with the horizontal bar from the Greek letter 8 1 It likely represented a t s or st sound 1 The name ARAꟇꟇOVNA on a Gallic tomb This article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA Contents 1 Name 2 Letter 3 Pronunciation 4 Use on computers 5 ReferencesName EditThe Latin phrase tau gallicum literally means Gallic tau The only known mention of the letter is found in Catalepton a set of epigrams attributed to Virgil and collected after his death in Appendix Vergiliana 2 The second epigram contains the following text Corinthiorum amator iste uerborum iste iste rhetor namque quatenus totusThucydides tyrannus Atticae febris tau Gallicum min et sphin ut male illisit ita omnia ista uerba miscuit fratri Virgil Catalepton II It is not known however whether the sound described by Virgil is the same as that for which the term is currently used Letter EditAfter using the Greek alphabet the Gauls adopted the Latin alphabet to transcribe their language However they keep a few letters from the previous alphabet to note sounds unknown to the second Tau gallicum is said to have been inspired by the Greek letter 8 theta Its spelling is very variable one meets among others a crossed out D resembling Đ but where the horizontal bar crosses completely the letter as well as a form similar to the lowercase eth d The character then evolves to a double or single s crossed out ss then to one or two single s The letter can be found in the initial of the name of the Celtic goddess Sirona whose name is written as Sirona Ꟈirona or Thirona highlighting the difficulty of noting the initial sound in the Latin alphabet The letter is also present in the lead of Chamalieres a lead tablet discovered in 1971 in Chamalieres and written in the Gallic language with Latin cursive letters snIeꟈꟈdic aꟈꟈedillI Pronunciation EditThe precise value of the sound transcribed by the Gallic tau is not known It is supposed that it denotes the dental affricate consonant group t s in free variation with st in the initial position Use on computers EditCharacter information Preview Ꟈ ꟈUnicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAY LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAYEncodings decimal hex dec hexUnicode 42951 U A7C7 42952 U A7C8UTF 8 234 159 135 EA 9F 87 234 159 136 EA 9F 88Numeric character reference amp 42951 wbr amp xA7C7 wbr amp 42952 wbr amp xA7C8 wbr References Edit a b c Proposal for the addition of four Latin characters to the UCS Michael Everson and Chris Lilley 2019 Frank Tenney 1935 Tau Gallicum Vergil Catalepton II 4 The American Journal of Philology 56 3 254 256 doi 10 2307 289677 ISSN 0002 9475 JSTOR 289677 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tau gallicum amp oldid 1131326214, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
