Lusitanian language
| Lusitanian | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native to | Inland central-west Iberian Peninsula |
| Region | Beira Alta, Beira Baixa and Alto Alentejo Portugal and Extremadura and part of province of Salamanca Spain |
| Extinct | 2nd century AD |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xls |
|
Linguist list
|
xls |
| Glottolog | lusi1235[5] |
Lusitanian (so named after the Lusitani or Lusitanians) was a Paleohispanic language that apparently belonged to the Indo-European family. There has been support for either a connection with the ancient Italic languages[1][2] or Celtic languages.[3][4] It is known from only five sizeable inscriptions, dated from circa 1 CE, and numerous names of places (toponyms) and of gods (theonyms). The language was spoken in the territory inhabited by Lusitanian tribes, from the Douro to the Tagus rivers, territory that nowadays falls in Portugal, and Western Spain.[6]
Contents
Lusitanian is an Indo-European language but it was quite different from the Celtiberian languages of the Iberian Peninsula. It is not considered a Celtic language under existing definitions of linguistic Celticity.[6] The Lusitanian inscriptions retain Indo-European p in positions where Celtic languages would not, most unambiguously in PORCOM 'pig' in one inscription, PORGOM in another, a feature considered non-Celtic.[6] This feature is also present in Ancient Belgian (a Celtic or Para-Celtic language). Prósper, in her Lusitanian etymologies (2002; 2008), demonstrates that not only does Lusitanian not agree closely with the usual Celtic reflexes but that it is closer to Italic, in which case there were two well-differentiated branches of Indo-European in the Iberian Peninsula before the Romans, with Lusitanian belonging to the non-Celtic branch. Villar and Pedrero (2001) connect Lusitanian with the Italic languages. They base their finding on parallels in the names of deities and some lexical items, such as the Umbrian gomia, Lusitanian comaiam, and some grammatical elements.[2] Prósper also sees Lusitanian as predating the introduction of Celtic and shows that it retains elements of Old European, making its origins possibly even older.[7]
On the other hand, Koch says there is no unambiguous example of the reflexes of the Indo-European syllabic resonants *l̥, *r̥, *m̥, *n̥ and the voiced aspirate stops *bʱ, *dʱ, *ɡʱ.[6] Additionally, names in the inscriptions can be read as Celtic, such as AMBATVS, CAELOBRIGOI and VENDICVS.[6] Dagmar Wodtko argues that it is hard to identify Lusitanian personal or place-names that are without question not Celtic.[8] Some argue that the p- in PORCOM does not alone mark Lusitanian as not Celtic,[9] and that it could be classed as a Celtic dialect, but one that preserved Indo-European *p (or possibly an already phonetically weakened [ɸ], written P as an archaism).[6][10][11] This is based largely on numerous apparently Celtic personal, deity, and place names.[12][13]
Lusitanian possibly shows /p/ from Indo-European *kʷ in PVMPI, pronominal PVPPID from *kʷodkʷid,[14] and PETRANIOI derived from *kʷetwor- 'four', but this is a feature found in many Indo-European languages from various branches, and by itself has no bearing on the question of whether Lusitanian is Celtic.[15]
Geographical distribution
Inscriptions have been found in Arroyo de la Luz (in Cáceres), Cabeço das Fragas (in Guarda) and in Moledo (Viseu) and most recently in Ribeira da Venda. Taking into account Lusitanian theonyms, anthroponyms and toponyms, the Lusitanian sphere would include modern northeastern Portugal and adjacent areas in Spain, with the centre in Serra da Estrela.
Writing system
The most famous inscriptions are those from Cabeço das Fráguas and Lamas de Moledo in Portugal and Arroyo de la Luz in Spain. Ribeira da Venda is the most recently discovered (2008). All the known inscriptions are written in the Latin alphabet.
RUFUS ET
TIRO SCRIP
SERUNT
VEAMINICORI
DOENTI
ANGOM
LAMATICOM
CROUCEAI
MAGA
REAICOI PETRANIOI R[?]
ADOM PORGOMIOUEA [or ...IOUEAI]
CAELOBRIGOI
Cabeço das Fráguas:[17]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />OILAM TREBOPALA
INDO PORCOM LAEBO
COMAIAM ICONA LOIM
INNA OILAM USSEAM
TREBARUNE INDI TAUROM
IFADEM REUE...
Translation:[13]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />A sheep [lamb?] for Trebopala
and a pig for Laebo,
[a sheep] of the same age for Iccona Loiminna,
a one year old sheep for
Trebaruna and a fertile bull...
for Reve...
Arroyo de la Luz (I & II):[citation needed]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />AMBATVS
SCRIPSI
CARLAE PRAISOM
SECIAS ERBA MVITIE
AS ARIMO PRAESO
NDO SINGEIETO
INI AVA INDI VEA
VN INDI VEDAGA
ROM TEVCAECOM
INDI NVRIM INDI
VDEVEC RVRSENCO
AMPILVA
INDI
LOEMINA INDI ENV
PETANIM INDI AR
IMOM SINTAMO
M INDI TEVCOM
SINTAMO
Arroyo de la Luz (III):[18]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />ISACCID·RVETI ·
PVPPID·CARLAE·EN
ETOM·INDI·NA.[
....]CE·IOM·
M·
Ribeira da Venda:[19]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />[- - - - - -] XX•OILAM•ERBAM
HARASE•OILA•X•BROENEIAE•H
OILA•X•REVE AHARACVI•T•AV[...]
IEATE•X•BANDI HARACVI AV[....]
MVNITIE CARIA CANTIBIDONE•
APINVS•VENDICVS•ERIACAINV[S]
OVOVIANI[?]
ICCINVI•PANDITI•ATTEDIA•M•TR
PVMPI•CANTI•AILATIO
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 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)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Anderson, J. M. 1985. «Pre-Roman Indo-European languages of the Hispanic Peninsula», Revue des Études Anciennes 87, 1985, pp. 319–326.
- ↑ Untermann, J. 1987. «Lusitanisch, Keltiberisch, Keltisch», in: J. Gorrochategui, J. L. Melena & J. Santos (eds.), Studia Palaeohispanica. Actas del IV Coloquio sobre Lenguas y Culturas Paleohispánicas (Vitoria/Gasteiz, 6-10 mayo 1985). (= Veleia 2-3, 1985–1986), Vitoria-Gasteiz ,1987, pp. 57–76.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Wodtko 2010, p.252
- ↑ Hübner, E. (ed.) Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum vol. II, Supplementum. Berlin: G. Reimer (1892)
- ↑ Untermann, J. Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum (1980–97)
- ↑ Villar, F. and Pedrero, R. La nueva inscripción lusitana: Arroyo de la Luz III (2001) (in Spanish)
- ↑ André Carneiro, José d'Encarnação, Jorge de Oliveira, Cláudia Teixeira "Uma Inscrição Votiva em Língua Lusitana", Palaeohispanica; 8 (2008) (in Portuguese) Their proposed translation was: For [...] twenty [...]. A pasture lamb to Harase. Ten lambs for Broineia H(arácua). Ten lambs for Reva Aharácuo. Ten T[?] AV[?] IEAT[?] to Banda Harácuo. AV[?]For Municia Caria Cantibidone. The shepherds Apino, Vendico, Eriacaino. Disclose your will through a sign. Let us record this prayer of joy.
Further reading
- Gorrochategui, Joaquín (1987): «En torno a la clasificación del lusitano», Actas del IV coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas paleohispanicas, pp. 2–3.
- Untermann, Jürgen (1997): «Lusitanisch, keltiberisch, keltisch», Veleia 2-3, pp. 57–76.
- Untermann, Jürgen (1997): Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften, Wiesbaden.
- Villar, Francisco (1996): Los indoeuropeos y los orígenes de Europa, Madrid.
- Villar, Francisco; Pedrero Rosa (2001): «La nueva inscripción lusitana: Arroyo de la Luz III», Religión, lengua y cultura prerromanas de Hispania, pp. 663–698.
