Gaulish language
Gaulish is the name given to the
Celtic language that was spoken in
Gaul before the
Vulgar Latin of the late
Roman Empire became dominant in
Roman Gaul. The language is known from several hundred inscriptions on
stone, on
ceramic vessels and other artefacts, and on
coins, and occasionally on metal (
lead, and on one occasion
zinc). They are found in the entire area of Roman Gaul, i.e., mostly in the area of modern
France, as well as parts of
Switzerland,
Italy,
Germany and
Belgium (Meid 1994).
Gaulish is
paraphyletically grouped with
Celtiberian,
Lepontic, and
Galatian as
Continental Celtic.
The earliest Continental Celtic inscriptions, dating to as early as the 6th century BC, are in
Lepontic (sometimes considered a dialect of Gaulish), found in
Gallia Cisalpina and were written in a form of the
Old Italic alphabet. Inscriptions in the
Greek alphabet from the
3rd century BC have been found in the area near the mouths of the
Rhône, while later inscriptions dating to
Roman Gaul are mostly in the
Latin alphabet.
Gregory of Tours wrote in the
6th century that some people in his area could still speak Gaulish.
*vowels:
**short: a, e, i, o u
**long ā, ", ī, (ō), ū
*semivowels: w, y
*occlusives:
**voiceless: p, t, k
**voiced: b, d, g
*resonants
**nasals: m, n
**liquids r, l
*sibilant: s
*affricate: t
s[χ] is an allophone of /k/ before /t/.
Orthography
 |
RIG G-172 inscription ϹΕ"ΟΜΑΡΟϹ ΟΥΙΛΛΟΝΕΟϹ ΤΟΟΥΤΙΟΥϹ ΝΑΜΑΥϹΑΤΙϹ ΕΙωΡΟΥ 'ΗΛΗ ϹΑΜΙ ϹΟϹΙΝ ΝΕΜΗΤΟΝ "Segomaros, son of Uillo, toutious (tribe leader) of Namausos, dedicated this sanctuary to Belesama" |
The alphabet of
Lugano used in
Gallia Cisalpina for
Lepontic::AEIKLMNOPRSTΘUVXZ
The alphabet of Lugano does not distinguish
voiced and unvoiced
occlusives, i.e. P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /t/ or /d/, K for /g/ or /k/.Z is probably for /t
s/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished only in one early inscription. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/ (Lejeune 1971, Solinas 1985).
The
Eastern Greek alphabet used in southern
Gallia Transalpina::αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρστυχω
χ is used for [χ], θ for /t
s/, ου for /u/, /ū/, /w/, η and ω for both long and short /e/, /"/ and /o/, /ō/, while ι is for short /i/ and ει for /ī/. Note that the
Sigma in the Eastern Greek alphabet looks like a C (lunate sigma). All Greek letters were used except
phi and
psi.
Latin alphabet (monumental and cursive) in use in
Roman Gaul::ABCDÐEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTUVXZ
abcdðefghiklmnopqrstuvxzG and K are sometimes used interchangeably (especially after R).
Ð/
ð,
ds and
s may represent /t
s/. X,
x is for [χ] or /ks/. Q is only used rarely (e.g.
Sequanni,
Equos) and may represenet an archaism (a retained *k
w). Ð and ð are used here to represent the letter
Tau Gallicum (the Gaulish dental affricate), which has not yet been added to Unicode. In contrast to the
glyph for Ð, the central bar extends right across the glyph and also does not protrude outside it.
Sound laws
*Gaulish changed
PIE voiceless labiovelars kw to
p (hence
P-Celtic), a development also observed in
Brythonic (as well as
Greek and some
Italic languages), while the other Celtic, 'Q-Celtic', retained the labiovelar. Thus the Gaulish word for "son" was
mapos (Delmarre 2003: 216-217), contrasting with
Primitive Irish maqi, which became
mac in modern Irish. Similarly one Gaulish word for "horse" was
epos while
Old Irish has
ech; all derived from
Indo-European *eqos (Delmarre 2003: 163-164)
*Voiced labiovelar
gw became
w, e. g.
gwediūmi >
uediiumi "I pray" (cf. Old Irish
guidiu "I pray", Welsh
gweddi "to pray").
*PIE
tst became /t
s/, spelled
ð, e.g.
*nedz-tamo >
neððamon (cf. Old Irish
nessam "nearest", Welsh
nesaf "next").
*PIE
ew became
ow, and later
ō, e.g.
*teutā >
touta >
tōta "tribe" (cf. Old Irish
tuath, Welsh
tud "people").
There was some areal (or genetic, see
Italo-Celtic) similarity to Latin grammar, and the French historian A. Lot argued that this helped the rapid adoption of Latin in Roman Gaul.
Cases
Gaulish has six or seven
cases (Lambert 2003 pp.51-67). In common with Latin it has
nominative,
vocative,
accusative,
genitive and
dative; where Latin has an
ablative, Gaulish has an
instrumental and may also have a
locative. There is more evidence for common cases (nominative and accusative) and for common stems (-o- and -a- stems) than there is for cases less frequently used in inscriptions, or rarer stems such as -i-, -n- and occlusive. The following table summarizes the case endings which are most securely known. A blank means that the form is unattested.
Singular| Case | -a stem! -o stem |
|---|
| Nominative | Epona | Maponos |
| Vocative | Epona | Mapone |
| Accusative | Eponin | Maponon |
| Genitive | Eponias | Maponi |
| Dative | Eponai | Maponu |
| Instrumental | Eponia | Maponu |
| Locative | | Mapone |
Plural| Case | -a stem! -o stem |
|---|
| Nominative | Eponias | Maponi |
| Vocative | | |
| Accusative | Eponas | Maponus |
| Genitive | Eponanon | Maponon |
| Dative | Eponabo | Maponobo |
| Instrumental | | Maponus |
| Locative | | |
In some cases a historical evolution is known, for example the dative singular of -a- stems is -ai in the oldest inscriptions, becoming first -e and finally -i.
Numerals
Ordinal numerals from the
La Graufesenque graffiti#
cintus (Welsh
cyntaf, Breton
kentañ, Old Irish
céta, Modern Irish
céad)#
allos (Welsh
ail, Breton
eil, OIr
aile 'other', Modern Irish
eile)#
tritios (Welsh
trydydd, Breton
trede, OIr
treide, Modern Irish
tríú)#
qetwarios (Welsh
pedwerydd, Breton
pevare, OIr
cethramad, Mod Ir
ceathrú)#
qinqetos (Welsh
pumed, Breton
pempet, OIr
cóiced, Mod Ir
cúigiú)#
sueksos (maybe mistaken for
suextos, Welsh
chweched, Breton
c'hwec'hved, OIr
seissed, Mod Ir
séú)#
sectametos (Welsh
seithfed, Breton
seizhved, OIr
sechtmad, Mod Ir
seachtú)#
octumetos (Welsh
wythfed, Breton
eizhved, OIr
ochtmad, Mod Ir
ochtú)#
nametos (Welsh
nawfed, Breton
naved, OIr
nómad, Mod Ir
naoú)#
decametos,
decometos (Welsh
degfed, Breton
degvet, OIr
dechmad, Celtiberian
dekametam, Mod Ir
deichniú)
The ancient Gaulish language was closer to
Latin than modern Gaelic languages are to modern Romance languages. The ordinal numerals in Latin are
prímus, secundus/alter, tertius, quártus, quíntus, sextus, septimus, octávus, nónus, decimus.
The Gaulish corpus is edited in the
Receuil des Inscriptions Gauloises (R.I.G.), in four volumes:
*Vol. 1: Inscriptions in the
Greek alphabet, edited by Michel Lejeune (items G-1 –G-281)
*Vol. 2.1: Inscriptions in the
Etruscan alphabet (
Lepontic, items E-1 – E-6), and inscriptions in the Latin alphabet in stone (items l. 1 – l. 16), edited by Michel Lejeune
*Vol. 2.2: inscriptions in the Latin alphabet on instruments (ceramic, lead, glass etc.), edited by Pierre-Yves Lambert (items l. 18 – l. 139)
*Vol. 3: The
calendars of Coligny (73 fragments) and
Villards d'Heria (8 fragments), edited by Paul-Marie Duval and Georges Pinault
*Vol. 4: inscriptions on coins, edited by Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu and Brigitte Fischer (338 items)
The longest known Gaulish text was found in
1983 in
L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac () in
Aveyron. It is inscribed in Latin
cursive script on two small sheets of
lead. The content is a
magical incantation, probably a
curse (
defixio), regarding one Severa Tertionicna and a group of women (often thought to be a rival group of witches), but the exact meaning of the text remains unclear.
The
Coligny calendar was found in Coligny near
Lyon,
France with a statue identified as
Apollo. The
Coligny Calendar is a
lunisolar calendar that divides the year into two parts with the months underneath. SAMON "summer" and GIAMON "winter". The date of SAMON- xvii is identified as TRINVX[tion] SAMO[nii] SINDIV.
Another major text is the lead tablet of
Chamalières (l. 100), written on lead in Latin cursive script, in twelve lines, apparently a
curse or incantation addressed to the god
Maponos. It was deposited in a spring, much like defixiones often are.
The graffito of La Graufesenque,
Millau ([
1] ), inscribed in Latin cursive on a ceramic plate, is our most important source for Gaulish numerals. It was probably written in a ceramic factory, referring to
furnaces numbered 1 to 10.
A number of short inscriptions are found on spindle
whorls. They are among the latest testimonies of Gaulish. These whorls were apparently presented to young girls by their suitors, and bear inscriptions such as
moni gnatha gabi / buððutton imon (l. 119) "my girl, take my kiss" and
geneta imi / daga uimpi (l. 120) '"I am a young girl, good (and) pretty".
Inscriptions found in
Switzerland are rare, but a lot of modern placenames are derived from Gaulish names as they are in the rest of Gaul. There is a statue of a seated goddess with a
bear,
Artio, found in
Muri near
Berne, with a Latin inscription DEAE ARTIONI LIVINIA SABILLINA, suggesting a Gaulish
Artiyon- "bear goddess". A number of coins with Gaulish inscriptions in the Greek alphabet have been found in Switzerland, e.g. RIG IV Nrs. 92 (
Lingones) and 267 (
Leuci). A sword dating to the
La Tène period was found in
Port near
Bienne, its blade inscribed with KORICIOC (Korisos), probably the name of the smith. The most notable inscription found in
Helvetic parts is the
Berne Zinc tablet, inscribed "Ο'ΝΟΡΗ"Ο "Ο'ΑΝΟ 'ΡΕΝΟ"ΩΡ ΝΑΝΤΑΡΩΡ, and apparently dedicated to
Gobannus, the
Celtic god of
smithcraft. Caesar relates that census accounts written in the Greek alphabet were found among the Helvetii.
* Delamarre, X. (2003).
Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-287772-237-6
* Lambert, Pierre-Yves (2003)
La langue gauloise (2nd ed.) Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-224-4
* Lejeune, Michel (1971).
Lepontica (Monographies linguistiques, 1). Paris: Société d'edition "les Belles Lettres"
* Meid, Wolfgang (1994)
Gaulish Inscriptions. Budapest: Archaeolingua. ISBN 963-846-06-6
*
Recueil des inscriptions gauloises (XLVe supplément à «GALLIA»), ed. Paul-Marie Duval et al. 4 vols. Paris: CNRS, 1985-2002. ISBN 2-271-05844-9
* Solinas, Patrizia (1995). ‘Il celtico in Italia'.
Studi Etruschi 60:311-408
*
Languages of France*
L.A. Curchin, "Gaulish language"*
Gaulish language on TIED *
The Coligny Calendar*
All Saints Day: Coligny Calendar*
two sample inscriptions on TITUS*
Langues et écriture en Gaule Romaine by Hélène Chew of the Musés des Antiquites Nationale (in French)
