Hispano-Celtic languages explained

Hispano-Celtic
Region:	Iberian Peninsula
Familycolor:	Indo-European
Fam2:	Celtic
Fam3:	Continental Celtic

Hispano-Celtic is a term for all forms of Celtic spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans (c. 218 BC, during the Second Punic War).^{[1] [2]} In particular, it includes:

• A northeastern inland language attested at a relatively late date in the extensive corpus of Celtiberian. This variety, which Jordán Cólera proposed to name Northeastern Hispano-Celtic, has long been synonymous with the term Hispano-Celtic and is universally accepted as Celtic.
• A language in the northwest corner of the peninsula, with a northern and western boundary marked by the Atlantic Ocean, a southern boundary along the river Douro, and an eastern boundary marked by Oviedo, which Jordán Cólera has proposed to call Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, where there is a corpus of Latin inscriptions containing isolated words and sentences that are clearly Celtic.^{[3] [4]}

Western Hispano-Celtic continuum hypothesis

Western Hispano-Celtic is a term that has been proposed for a dialect continuum on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula, including Gallaecian in the north, Tartessian in the south (according to Koch, and others in between such as Lusitanian^[5] (which has sometimes been labelled "para-Celtic"), west of an imaginary line running north–south between Oviedo and Mérida.^{[1] [6]} According to Koch, the Western Celtic varieties of the Iberian Peninsula share with Celtiberian a sufficient core of distinctive features to justify Hispano-Celtic as a term for a linguistic subfamily, as opposed to a purely-geographical classification.^[7] In Naturalis Historia 3.13 (written 77–79 CE), Pliny the Elder says the Celtici of Baetica (now western Andalusia) descended from the Celtiberians of Lusitania since they shared common religions, languages and names for their fortified settlements.^[8]

Vettonian-Lusitanian sound changes

As part of the effort to prove the existence of a western Iberian Hispano-Celtic dialect continuum, there have been attempts to differentiate the Vettonian dialect from the neighboring Lusitanian language using the personal names of the Vettones to describe the following sound changes (Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Celtic):

• *ō > ā occurs in Enimarus.
• *ō > ū in final syllables, as indicated by the suffix of Abrunus, Caurunius.
• *ē > ī is attested in the genitive singular Riuei.
• *n̥ > an appears in Argantonius.
• *m̥ > am in names with Amb-.
• *gʷ > b is attested in names such as Bouius, derived from *gʷow- 'cow'.
• *kʷ in PIE *perkʷ-u- 'oak' appears in a lenited form in the name Erguena.
• *p > ɸ > 0 is attested in:

1. *perkʷ-u- > ergʷ- in Erguena (see above).
2. *plab- > lab- in Laboina.
3. *uper- > ur- in Uralus and Urocius.

• However, *p is preserved in Cupiena, a Vettonian name not attested in Lusitania; also in names like Pinara, while *-pl- probably developed into -bl- in names like Ableca.^[9]

Rejection of the Western Hispano-Celtic continuum hypothesis

The Western-Hispano Celtic continuum hypothesis received little support from linguists, who have widely rejected the Celtic interpretation of the Tartessian inscriptions and who generally have regarded Lusitanian as a non-celtic language.^[10] The more generally accepted non-celtic conclusion of Lusitanian studies has been confirmed by analysis of more recently discovered Lusitanian inscriptions, that clearly show that Lusitanian cannot be a celtic language and in fact approaches the Italic languages.^{[11] [12]}

See also

• Gallaecian language
• Celtic languages
• Celtiberian language
• Continental Celtic languages
• List of Galician words of Celtic origin
• List of Spanish words of Celtic origin
• Tartessian language
• Paleohispanic languages
• Portuguese vocabulary
• Proto-Italic language

Notes and References

1. Jordán Cólera. Carlos. The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula:Celtiberian. E-Keltoi. 16 March 2007. 6. 749–750. 16 June 2010. 24 June 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110624081159/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_17/jordan_6_17.pdf. dead.
2. Book: Koch, John T. . Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia . ABC-CLIO . 2005 . 481 . 978-1-85109-440-0 .
3. "In the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and more specifically between the west and north Atlantic coasts and an imaginary line running north-south linking Oviedo and Merida, there is a corpus of Latin inscriptions with particular characteristics of its own. This corpus contains some linguistic features that are clearly Celtic, and others that in our opinion are not Celtic. The former we shall group, for the moment, under the label northwestern Hispano-Celtic. The latter are the same features found in well-documented contemporary inscriptions in the region occupied by the Lusitanians, and therefore belonging to the variety known as LUSITANIAN, or more broadly as GALLO-LUSITANIAN. As we have already said, we do not consider this variety to belong to the Celtic language family." Jordán Cólera, Carlos (16 March 2007). The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula:Celtiberian (PDF). e-Keltoi 6: 749–750' http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_17/jordan_6_17.pdf
4. Book: Prósper, Blanca María. Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la península ibérica. 2002. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. 84-7800-818-7. 422–427.
5. Koch . John T. . Tartessian: Celtic from the South-west at the Dawn of History . Acta Palaeohispanica . 9 . 2009 . Institución Fernando el Católico . Zaragosa, Spain . 339–351 . 1578-5386 . 2010-05-17. . Journal renamed to Palaeohispanica: Revista sobre lenguas y culturas de la Hispania Antigua. This particular work has also been published in book form, and revised: Book: Koch, John T. . Tartessian: Celtic from the South-west at the Dawn of History . 2nd . 2013 . 2009 . Celtic Studies . 13 . Aberystwyth . David Brown Publishing.
6. Book: Wodtko, Dagmar S. . Chapter 11: The Problem of Lusitanian . Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature . Barry. Cunliffe . John T.. Koch . 2010 . Celtic Studies Publications . Oxbow Books . Oxford . 978-1-84217-410-4. Reissued in 2012 in softcover as .
7. Book: Koch, John T. . Chapter 9: Paradigm Shift? Interpreting Tartessian as Celtic . Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature . Barry. Cunliffe . John T.. Koch . 2010 . Celtic Studies Publications . Oxbow Books . Oxford . 978-1-84217-410-4 . 292–293. Reissued in 2012 in softcover as .
8. Book: Pliny the Elder . Pliny the Elder . . 3.13 . Latin: Celticos a Celtiberis ex Lusitania advenisse manifestum est sacris, lingua, oppidorum vocabulis, quae cognominibus in Baetica distinguntur. . Written 77–79 CE. Quoted in Koch (2010), pp. 292–293. The text is also found in online sources: https://books.google.com/books?id=8jUb_6Ses7YC&pg=PA247, https://books.google.com/books?id=OrJ0CgAAQBAJ&pg=RA5-PA173.
9. Lujan. E. . P.-Y.. Lambert . G.-J.. Pinault . Geneva . Librairie Droz. . L'onomastique des Vettons: analyse linguistique . Gaulois et Celtique Continental . 2007 . 245–275 . fr.
10. https://academic.oup.com/book/36477/chapter-abstract/321084624?redirectedFrom=fulltext Alejandro G. Sinner (ed.), Javier Velaza (ed.), Palaeohispanic Languages and Epigraphies, OUP, 2019: Chapter 11, p.304
11. https://www.academia.edu/50649582/The_Lusitanian_oblique_cases_revisited_new_light_on_the_dative_endings Blanca Maria Prósper, The Lusitanian oblique cases revisted: New light on the dative endings, 2021
12. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9d33/b2dc2558eae37421f91acb5f435da54c2978.pdf Eustaquio Sánchez Salor, Julio Esteban Ortega, Un testimonio del dios Labbo en una inscripción lusitana de Plasencia, Cáceres. ¿Labbo también en Cabeço das Fráguas?, 2021