Gallaecian language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, Gallaecian or Gallaic, is classified as a Q-Celtic language

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

under the P-Q system and was closely related to Celtiberian

Celtiberian

Celtiberian may refer to:*the Celtiberians, a Celtic people of the Iberian Peninsula*the Celtiberian language, a Celtic language...

. It was spoken at the beginning of our era in the north-western quarter of the Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

, more specifically between the west and north Atlantic coasts and an imaginary line running north-south and linking Oviedo and Mérida. Just like it is the case for Illyrian or Ligurian languages, its corpus its composed by isolated words and short sentences contained in local Latin inscriptions, or glossed by classic authors, together with a considerable number of names – anthroponyms, ethnonyms, theonyms, toponyms – contained in inscriptions, or surviving up to date as place, river or mountain names. Besides, many of the isolated words of Celtic origin preserved in the local Romance languages could have been inherited from these Celtic dialects. Resemblance between the transliterated values of this onomastic inventory of short early Roman-period mixed language inscriptions from the north and west of the Iberian Peninsula and those of the Tartessian inscriptions has led to tentatively characterizing Tartessian

Tartessian language

The Tartessian language is the extinct Paleohispanic language of inscriptions in the Southwestern script found in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula: mainly in the south of Portugal , but also in Spain . There are 95 of these inscriptions with the longest having 82 readable signs...

as Old Western Hispano-Celtic or Old Callaecian.

Characteristics

The main characteristic of this language, shared with Celtiberian and the other Celtic languages were:

Loss of /p/: place name C(ASTELLO) OLCA from *φolkā- 'Overturned', personal name ARCELTIUS, from *φari-kelt-y-os; place name ERCORIOBRI, from *φeri-kor-y-o-brigs 'Overshooting Hill-Fort'.
Vocalization of inter-consonantic sonants: /n, m/ > /an, am/, /r, l/ > /ri, li/: place name Brigantia from *Brg-nt-y-ā 'The towering one, the high one'.
Reduction of diphthong /ei/ > /e:/: theonym DEVORI from *Deiwo-rēg-ei 'To the king of the gods'.
Lenition of /m/ in the group -mnV- > -unV-: ARIOUNIS MINCOSEGAECIS, dative form from *ar-yo-mno- *menekko-seg-āk-yo- 'To the (divinities of the) fields of the many crops'.
Assimilation p .. kʷ > kʷ .. kʷ: tribe name Querquerni from *perkw- 'oak, tree'.

Some characteristics of this language not shared by Celtiberian:

Reduction of diphthong /ew/ > /ow/, and eventually /o:/: personal names TOUTONUS / TOTONUS.
In contact with e or i intervocalic *-g- > 0: theonym DEVORI from *Deiwo-rēg-ei 'To the king of the gods'.
*-lw-, *-rw- > -lβ-, -rβ- (as in Goidelic): MARTI TARBUCELI < *tarwo- 'To Mars of the Hill of the Bull', DEO DURBEDICO < *Durwēd-ik- 'To the druidic god'.
*φl- > βl- (as in Goidelic -Vbl-) and finally l-: BLETISAM(AM), BLETIS(AMA), Ledesma < *φlétisamā, BLANIOBRENSI, Lañobre < *φlān-yo-bri.
*wl- is conserved: VLANA < *wl̥Hn-eh₂, while Celtiberian has l-: launi < *wl̥H-mn-ih₂ (?).
*wo- > wa-: VACORIA < *(d)wo-koryo- 'who has two armies', VAGABROBENDAM < *uφo-gabro-.
Dative plural ending -bo < *bʰo, while Celtiberian had -bos: LUGOUBU 'To (the three gods) Lug'.

File:Latronius Celtiati.JPG|Anthropomorphic stele with Latin inscription, and local anthroponyms: LATRONIUS CELTIATI F(ilius) H(ic) S(itus) E(st)
File:Galician Celtic Stele - Estela Galaica .jpg|Stele with Latin inscription: APANA AMBOLLI F(ilia) CELTICA SVPERTAM(arica) [Castello] MIOBRI AN(norum) XXV H(ic) S(itus) E(st) APANVS FR(ater) F(aciendum) C(uravit).
File:Lucoubu arquien.jpg|Votive inscription to Lug

Lugh

Lug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...

: LUCOUBU ARQUIEN(obu) SILONIUS SILO EX VOTO
File:Cosou Daviniago.jpg|Votive inscription to the local deity Coso: COSOU DAVINIAGO Q(uintus) V C EX VOTO
File:Fonte do Ídolo Braga.jpg|Inscriptions in Braga

Braga

Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

, Portugal: [Ce]LICUS FRONTO ARCOBRIGENSIS AMBIMOGIDUS FECIT; and TONGOE NABIAGOI CELICUS FECIT FRONT[o]
File:VECIUS VEROBLII.JPG|Galician Latin inscription: VECIUS VEROBLII F(ilius) PRICE[ps ...] CIT(...) C(ASTELLO) CIRCINE AN(norum) LX [...]O VECI F(ilius) PRINCEPS CO[...]

Characteristics

See also