Continental Celtic languages

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Continental Celtic
Geographic
distribution:		 Formerly continental Europe; Asia Minor
Linguistic classification: Indo-European
Subdivisions:

The Continental Celtic languages are the Celtic languages, now extinct, that were spoken on the continent of Europe, as distinguished from the Insular Celtic languages of the British Isles and Brittany. The Continental Celtic languages were spoken by the people known to Roman and Greek writers as Keltoi, Celtae, Galli and Galatae. These languages were spoken in an arc stretching across from Iberia in the west to the Balkans and Asia Minor in the east.

Linguistically, Continental Celtic is divided in Celtiberian and Gaulish. Gaulish can be further subdivided in Transalpine Gaulish, Cisalpine Gaulish, Galatian, Lepontic and Noric, with the precise relation between these subgroups being uncertain or unknown.

Even though Breton is spoken in continental Europe, and has been since at least the 6th century AD, it is not considered one of the Continental Celtic languages. It is a Brythonic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that there is a Gaulish substratum in the Vannetais dialect (Galliou and Jones 1991), and François Falc'hun considered Breton a descendant of Gaulish, but the historical and linguistic evidence shows otherwise.

Contents

Attested languages [edit]

Although it is likely that Celts spoke dozens of different languages and dialects across Europe in pre-Roman times, only five such languages are commonly said to be actually attested:

  • Lepontic (7th to 4th century BC)[1] was spoken on the southern side of the Alps. Lepontic is generally considered an early dialect of Gaulish, and Galatian may be a late one as well. It is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names.
  • Gaulish or Gallic (3rd century BC to 2nd (?) century AD)[2] was the main language spoken in greater Gaul. This is often considered to be divided into two dialects, Cisalpine (the Italian side) and Transalpine (the French side). It is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names and tribal names in writings of classical authors. It may have been a substratum to Breton, as noted below.
  • Galatian, spoken around Ankara. Classical writers say that the language is similar to that of Gaul. There is also evidence of invasion and settlement of the Ankara area by Celts from Europe.
  • Noric, which is the name given sometimes to the Celtic dialects spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. It was spoken in Austria and Slovenia; only two fragmentary texts are preserved and there are plenty of personal names and toponyms.
  • Celtiberian or Northeastern Hispano-Celtic (3rd to 1st century BC)[2] is the name given to the language in northeast Iberia, between the headwaters of the Douro, Tagus, Júcar and Turia rivers and the Ebro river. It is attested to by some 200 inscriptions as well as place names. It is distinct from the Iberian language. A Celtic language may also have been spoken by the Tartessian people in SW Iberia.[3] Tartessian is attested by 95 inscriptions with the longest having 82 readable signs.[4] Both attested languages have been grouped in Hispano-Celtic.[5][6]

Two other languages that may also be grouped as part of Hispano-Celtic:[6][7]

  • Gallaecian or Gallaic or Northwestern Hispano-Celtic known from a corpus of Latin inscriptions containing some linguistic features that are unmistakably Celtic forming a Celtic continuum of dialects, while others have archaic features similar to Lusitanian.[5]
  • Lusitanian was spoken in the area between the Douro and Tagus rivers in what is now Portugal and part of Spain. It is only attested by five inscriptions, together with various place names.[7] It is clearly an Indo-European language; some scholars have proposed that, given its archaic character, some Hispano-Celtic dialects of which they include Lusitanian as one, might be an early form of Celtic.[8] Others disagree with an early or proto Celtic designation but see affinities with Italic and Old European.[9][10]

Use of term [edit]

Celtic languages during the Iron Age and classical Antiquity

The modern term Continental Celtic is used in contrast to Insular Celtic. While many researchers agree that Insular Celtic is a distinct branch of Celtic (Cowgill 1975; McCone 1991, 1992; Schrijver 1995), having undergone common linguistic innovations, there is no evidence that the Continental Celtic languages can be similarly grouped. Instead, the group called Continental Celtic is polyphyletic and the term refers simply to non-Insular Celtic languages. Since little material has been preserved in any of the Continental Celtic languages, historical linguistic analysis based on the comparative method is difficult to perform. However, other researchers see the Brythonic languages and Gaulish as forming part of a sub-group of Celtic languages known as P-Celtic. The Continental languages are all P-Celtic, except for the Celtiberian language, which is Q-Celtic, and have had a definite influence on all the Romance languages.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Pierre-Yves Lambert, La langue gauloise, éditions errance 1994. p. 14.
  2. ^ a b LAMBERT 14
  3. ^ Koch, John T (2010). Celtic from the West Chapter 9: Paradigm Shift? Interpreting Tartessian as Celtic. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. pp. 292–293. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. 
  4. ^ Koch, John T (2011). Tartessian 2: The Inscription of Mesas do Castelinho ro and the Verbal Complex. Preliminaries to Historical Phonology. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. pp. 1–198. ISBN 978-1-907029-07-3. 
  5. ^ a b Cólera, Carlos Jordán (March 16, 2007). "The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula:Celtiberian". e-Keltoi 6: 749–750. Retrieved 16 June 2010. 
  6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Barry (2003). The Celts – A Very Short Introduction – see figure 7. Oxford University Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-19-280418-9. 
  7. ^ a b Wodtko, Dagmar S (2010). Celtic from the West Chapter 11: The Problem of Lusitanian. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. pp. 360–361. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. 
  8. ^ Ballester, X. (2004). "Paramo' o del problema del la */p/ en celtoide". Studi Celtici 3: 45–56. 
  9. ^ Indoeuropeos y no Indoeuropeos en la Hispania Prerromana, Salamanca: Universidad, 2000
  10. ^ The inscription of Cabeço das Fráguas revisited. Lusitanian and Alteuropäisch populations in the West of the Iberian Peninsula Transactions of the Philological Society vol. 97 (2003)

Bibliography [edit]

  • Ball M and Fife J (1993). The Celtic Languages.
  • Cowgill, Warren (1975). "The origins of the Insular Celtic conjunct and absolute verbal endings". In H. Rix (ed.). Flexion und Wortbildung: Akten der V. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Regensburg, 9.–14. September 1973. Wiesbaden: Reichert. pp. 40–70. ISBN 3-920153-40-5. 
  • Galliou, Patrick; Michael Jones (1991). The Bretons. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-16406-5. ISBN 063120105X. 
  • McCone, Kim (1991). "The PIE stops and syllabic nasals in Celtic". Studia Celtica Japonica 4: 37–69. 
  • McCone, Kim (1992). "Relative Chronologie: Keltisch". In R. Beekes, A. Lubotsky, and J. Weitenberg (eds.). Rekonstruktion und relative Chronologie: Akten Der VIII. Fachtagung Der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Leiden, 31. August–4. September 1987. Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck. pp. 12–39. ISBN 3-85124-613-6. 
  • Schrijver, Peter (1995). Studies in British Celtic historical phonology. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 90-5183-820-4. 
  • Stifter, David (2008), Old Celtic 2008 (classroom material), [1]
Continental Celtic
Insular Celtic
Uncertain
Mixed
Celtic-speaking areas
Immersive education
Italics indicate extinct languages
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