The Celtic
Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions are frequently combined with the
Lepontic inscriptions under the term ''Celtic language remains in northern Italy''. While it is possible that the Lepontii were autochthonous to
Northern Italy since the end of the 2nd millennium BC, it is known from ancient sources that the Gauls invaded the regions north of the river Po in several waves since the 5th century BC. They apparently took over the art of writing from the Lepontii, including some of the orthographic peculiarities. There are 20 Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions, five of them longer than just one or two words. The inscriptions stem largely from the area south of the Lepontians.
There is an ongoing debate whether Cisalpine Gaulish is a dialect of
Gaulish
Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
(e.g. Schumacher 2004),
or a historical or dialectical continuation of
Lepontic (e.g. Eska 2010). In the latter case, the term Cisalpine Celtic refers to the two together, contrasting with ''Transalpine Celtic'' (traditionally ''Transalpine Gaulish'') for the Celtic language on the other side of the Alps.
Lepontic compared to Cisalpine Gaulish
Common features (not in Transalpine Gaulish)
* ''nn'' rather than Transalpine Gaulish ''*nd'': *ande- > -ane-, *and(e)-are- > an-are-, ?*and-o-kom- > ano-Ko-
* ''
nt'' rather than Transalpine Gaulish ''*nt'': *kom-bog(i)yos > -Ko-PoKios, Quintus → KuiTos, *- > arKaTo-, *longam > loKan
* ''s(s)'' rather than Transalpine Gaulish ''*χs'': *eχs > es in es-aneKoti, es-oPnos
[
]
Differences between Cisalpine Gaulish and Lepontic
* Endings in *-m# instead of Gaulish -n#: TeuoχTonion, loKan vs. Lep. Pruiam, Palam, uinom naśom (but also Cisalpine-Gaulish PoiKam, aTom r: atoś? and the varying use of *-m# and *-n# throughout the history of Gaulish).
* word formation: ending of 3rd person sg./pl. preterite
The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...
in -u, cp. ''karnitu(s)'' (Gaulish ''karnitou''), versus Lepontic ''KariTe, KaliTe'' (but also Transalpine Gaulish ''dede'')
* Gaulish patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Patronymics are used, b ...
suffix is typically ''-'' vs. Lepontic -alo-, -ala-, -al (but also mixed in Late (?) Lepontic)[
]
See also
* Lepontic language
* Gaulish language
Gaulish is an extinct Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerl ...
* Continental Celtic languages
* Ancient peoples of Italy
This list of ancient peoples living in Italy summarises the many different Italian populations that existed in antiquity. Among them, the Romans succeeded in Romanizing the entire Italian peninsula following the Roman expansion in Italy, which ...
* Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul (, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited by Celts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy.
Afte ...
* Cisalpine Celtic
References
Bibliography
* 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
*
, Project fund by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (P.R.I.N. 2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cisalpine Gaulish
Continental Celtic languages
Languages of ancient Italy
Extinct Celtic languages
Extinct languages of Europe
Gaulish language