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51-571: Cantabrians are well aware of the story of how the Roman Empire struggled to conquer them (see the Cantabrian Wars ). During that time, there would have been many warriors (male and female) who would have fought bravely to preserve their way of life and defend their people. Corocotta (or for some would be spelt Korokota, more similar to the neighbouring Basque language) would have been one of these warriors. The Cantabrian story says that he

102-471: A chain shift . The terms P-Celtic and Q-Celtic are useful for grouping Celtic languages based on the way they handle this one phoneme. But a simple division into P- / Q-Celtic may be untenable, as it does not do justice to the evidence of the ancient Continental Celtic languages . The many unusual shared innovations among the Insular Celtic languages are often also presented as evidence against

153-422: A P- vs Q-Celtic division, but they may instead reflect a common substratum influence from the pre-Celtic languages of Britain and Ireland, [1] , or simply continuing contact between the insular languages; in either case they would be irrelevant to the genetic classification of Celtic languages. Q-Celtic languages may also have /p/ in loan words, though in early borrowings from Welsh into Primitive Irish, /kʷ/

204-656: A date for Proto-Celtic as early as the 13th century BC, the time of the Canegrate culture , in northwest Italy, and the Urnfield culture in Central Europe, implying that the divergence may have already started in the Bronze Age. The phonological changes from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) to Proto-Celtic (PC) may be summarized as follows. The changes are roughly in chronological order, with changes that operate on

255-479: A hyena and a lion, though the term may also have been used for other similar animals. Dio himself refers to it, but says it is an "Indian species" like a "lioness and tiger combined". He does so in a section of his book about the reign of Severus and makes no connection to it when he discusses the Cantabrian bandit. Adolf Schulten argued in 1943 that the name Corocotta may be only accidentally similar to that of

306-528: A million sesterces to the man that should capture him alive; but later, when the robber came to him of his own accord, he not only did him no harm, but actually made him richer by the amount of the reward. According to Peter Michael Swan the main purpose of the story is to contrast the clemency of Augustus with the vindictiveness of Dio's bête noire , Septimius Severus . Thomas Grünewald says that Dio wished to stress that Augustus had "a strong sense of humour and unshakeable self-confidence", and to compare this with

357-454: A nickname indicative of his ferocity, a variant of crocotta , a word used to refer to a type of canine-like beast from Africa, most likely a hyena or jackal . In the words of Grünewald, "It can have been no accident that the infamous Corocotta shared his name with an exotic predator, well known to circus audiences as a terrifying beast." Pliny the Elder described the animal as a cross between

408-606: Is also believed that there were Cantabrian troops present in the Sertorian Wars . According to Julius Caesar's testimony, there were Cantabrians at the battle of Ilerda in 49 BC. With all these antecedents, the Cantabrians began to be known throughout the Roman Empire . Roman troops even lost one of their standards to them, an extremely grave event. Such were the disasters and the embarrassments that, although

459-474: Is believed that his act was intended to avoid any problems that could be created by the reward acting as a temptation for fellow Cantabrians to betray him or turning him in. Instead, Corocotta would take that vast sum of money (or his people would do for him after being killed) and distribute it amongst the people of Cantabria, who had suffered from years of war against the Romans. Such an act of bravery would affect

510-612: Is from the Celtic root *cotto "old". Schulten argued that he was more likely to have been an anti-Roman rebel than a simple bandit, and should be seen in the context of the Cantabrian wars (29–19 BC), the last stand of independent Spanish Celtic tribes against Roman control. He probably led a band of rebels who continued resistance to Roman power in northern Spain for some time after other leaders had given up. Schulten argues that he must have surrendered to Augustus at some time during

561-554: Is lost in PC, apparently going through the stages * ɸ (possibly a stage *[pʰ]) and * h (perhaps seen in the name Hercynia if this is of Celtic origin) before being completely lost word-initially and between vowels. Next to consonants, PC * ɸ underwent different changes: the clusters * ɸs and * ɸt became * xs and * xt respectively already in PC. PIE * sp- became Old Irish s ( f- when lenited, exactly as for PIE * sw- ) and Brythonic f ; while Schrijver 1995 , p. 348 argues there

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612-481: Is not always clear. Dio tells the story as part of an account of Augustus's forgiving nature. He writes that: Besides these traits of his, people also recalled that he did not get blindly enraged at those who had injured him, and that he kept faith even with those who were unworthy of it. For instance, there was a robber named Corocotta, who flourished in Spain, at whom he [Augustus] was so angry at first that he offered

663-459: Is possible to reconstruct a Proto-Celtic word for 'iron' (traditionally reconstructed as *īsarnom ) has long been taken as an indication that the divergence into individual Celtic languages did not start until the Iron Age (8th century BC to 1st century BC); otherwise, descendant languages would have developed their own, unrelated words for their metal. However, Schumacher and Schrijver suggest

714-567: Is the hero of Paul Naschy 's 1980 sword and sandal film Los cántabros (The Cantabrians), and has appeared as a resistance hero in several other works. In 1985 a statue identified as Corocotta was erected in Santander. The statue, by Ramón Ruíz Lloreda, officially represents the independent spirit of "the primitive Cantabrian" illustrating a line from Horace , "Cantabrum indoctum iuga ferre nostra" ("the Cantabrian, who has not been taught to bear our yoke"). In 2007 Alicia M. Canto argued that

765-440: Is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages , and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European . It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method . Proto-Celtic is generally thought to have been spoken between 1300 and 800 BC, after which it began to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the Urnfield culture and particularly with

816-642: Is too scanty to allow a secure reconstruction of syntax , though some complete sentences are recorded in the Continental Gaulish and Celtiberian . So, the main sources for reconstruction come from Insular Celtic languages with the oldest literature found in Old Irish and Middle Welsh , dating back to authors flourishing in the 6th century AD. Proto-Celtic is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age , ca. 1200–900 BC. The fact that it

867-526: The Hallstatt culture . Celtic languages share common features with Italic languages that are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlier Italo-Celtic linguistic unity. Proto-Celtic is currently being reconstructed through the comparative method by relying on later Celtic languages. Though Continental Celtic presents much substantiation for Proto-Celtic phonology , and some for its morphology , recorded material

918-598: The Mons Medullius (some scholars locate it at Las Médulas basing their opinions on Florus who specifically names the site in his history of Rome). The Roman legions besieged the mountain, building a fifteen-mile-long moat and ditch . According to Orosius , the Cantabri soldiers preferred to commit suicide with their own weapons and yew tree poison rather than surrender. Following the Battle of Mons Medullius,

969-477: The bipennis , a type of double-headed battle axe specific to the peoples of northern Hispania. There is no proof of their use of archery or slings , although it is quite probable that they knew and used them. The Cantabrian also used light cavalry , and some of their tactics would be adopted by the Roman army. Examples include the circulus cantabricus , a circular formation of javelin-throwing horsemen, and

1020-414: The cantabricus impetus , a massive frontal attack against enemy lines with the goal of breaching them, as described by Flavius Arrianus . The tenacity of the Cantabrian enemy was such that Augustus was obliged to deploy eight legions in the conflict: as well as various auxiliary units: These units totaled 50,000 soldiers (30,000 legionaries and 20,000 auxiliaries). The Roman navy was also sent to

1071-496: The yew tree , a plant with mythic significance for the Celts . Strabo said that they belittled death and pain, to the point of singing hymns of victory while being crucified . For them, according to Strabo, to die as soldiers and free men was a victory. The major fighting was completed in 19 BC, although there were minor rebellions until 16 BC. Rome, as was their practice with other territories, began to impose their reforms. Despite

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1122-676: The Cantabri lábaro . They would still be carrying this standard 300 years later. The Roman army also copied from the Cantabri the cavalry tactics circulus cantabricus and cantabricus impetus . Proto-Celtic language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Proto-Celtic , or Common Celtic ,

1173-490: The Cantabrian coast from Gallia Aquitania . It was an important factor in the Roman victory, since it completed the encirclement of the Cantabri begun by the ground forces. It is calculated that, in total, the Roman Army deployed 70,000 men, although these calculations vary amongst authors, because they used a figure of 5,000 men per legion. In reality, the figure should surpass 80,000 men counting auxiliaries since, through

1224-611: The Legates Gaius Antistius Vetus and Gaius Firmius waged further wars against resisting Oppida in the densely forested regions of western Gallaecia. According to the Roman historian Dio Cassius , the Cantabri used guerrilla warfare tactics, avoiding direct attacks on Roman forces because of their inferior numbers. Their better knowledge of the difficult and mountainous terrain allowed them to conduct quick surprise strikes with ranged weapons , with ambushes followed by quick retreats, causing great damage to

1275-542: The Roman columns and supply lines. According to what remains from representations on coins and Cantabrian stelae , the Cantabri were skilled in light arms. Lucan referred to this when he wrote, Cantaber exiguis et longis Teutonus armis (The Cantabrian with his short weapons and the Teuton with his long ones). They were equipped with short swords , daggers , short spears and javelins , lances , round or oval shields of wood, and leather chest protection. They also used

1326-552: The Roman historians justified the campaigns as retribution for Cantabrian incursions into the Roman-controlled Meseta Central , there must have been a certain lust after Asturian gold and Cantabrian iron as well. The Astures entered the historical record in the late 3rd century BC, being listed among the Iberian mercenaries of Hasdrubal Barca ’s army at the battle of Metaurus River in 207 BC. After

1377-562: The Roman morale, and the Cantabrians were well known for coming up with very creative and efficient warfare techniques, like singing hymns of victory from the Roman crosses that crucified them or cavalry and infantry moves in which they used the Cantabrian labarum as a flag to signal army manoeuvres, a tactic later copied by the Romans themselves. The story sometimes ends by saying that the Roman Emperor, bemused by Corocotta's bravery, let him go with his life and his money, but this ending

1428-575: The Second Punic War, their history is less clear. Rarely mentioned in the sources regarding the Lusitanian , Celtiberian or Roman Civil Wars of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, they re-emerged from a relative obscurity just prior to the outbreak of the first Astur-Cantabrian war in the late 1st century BC. The Gallaeci faced the very first Roman incursion into their territory by consul Decimus Junius Brutus, whose campaign reached as far as

1479-469: The animal. He interpreted it as a Celtic name. *Cor(i)o- was a common element in Continental Celtic personal and place names (perhaps meaning "shot, launch" or "army"; comparing Celtic – or Lusitanian ("Para-Celtic") – personal names such as Corogeni , Coroturetis , Coroneri , Corobulti , Coromarae , Corolamus , Corogennates , et al.) Leonard Curchin proposes that the second element

1530-596: The brutality that was the product of Severus' insecurity, represented by his vicious treatment of a similar "noble bandit" called Bulla Felix . Whether Corocotta was a bandit or a leader of local resistance to Roman occupation has been a matter of dispute. Cassius Dio simply describes him as a bandit (Greek: leistes ), but as Grünewald notes, the Greek term leistes can be used in a range of roles wider than English "bandit" or "robber" would indicate, including "rebel, rival, avenger". The name "corocotta" has been interpreted as

1581-579: The camp of Augustan Asturica, to the Brigaeci as a reward for their help. Additionally, he shared land in the plains to the allies. His general Publius Carisius attacked the Astur armies (probably commanded by Gausón ), forcing them to take refuge in the hillfort of Lancia, the most important Astures Cismontani fort according to Florus . Once Lancia was besieged, the forces of the Astures took refuge in

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1632-825: The contemporary Roman historian Florus in his Epitome of Roman History , the forces of the Astures Transmontani came down from their snow-covered mountains (which is perfectly possible in the Picos de Europa in spring) and assembled near the Astura River, preparing to attack the three Roman winter camps. However, the Brigaecini people of the Astures Cismontani in the Benavente region informed Augustus of these plans. Augustus gave Brigantum,

1683-486: The emperor's visit to the area c. 26–25 BC. Schulten's version allowed Corocotta to be appropriated in Spain as a patriotic hero of resistance to Roman rule, comparable to the status of the Lusitanian anti-Roman resistance leader Viriatus in Portugal. Peter Michael Swan quotes F. Diego Santos describing him as "a Cantabrian guerrilla leader; his surrender possibly belongs to Augustus’ sojourn in Spain ca. 15–14 B.C." He

1734-734: The final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania , in what today are the provinces of Cantabria , Asturias and León in northwestern Spain . During the reign of Emperor Augustus , Rome waged a bloody conflict against the Cantabri , the Astures and the Gallaeci still resisting Roman occupation, the last independent Celtic nations of Hispania . These warlike peoples fiercely resisted Roman domination; ten years of war and eight legions with their auxiliary troops – more than 50,000 soldiers in total – were needed to subdue

1785-432: The following evidence: Proto-Indo-European (PIE) voiced aspirate stops * bʰ , * dʰ , * gʰ/ǵʰ , merge with * b , * d , * g/ǵ in PC. The voiced aspirate labiovelar * gʷʰ did not merge with * gʷ , though: plain * gʷ became PC * b , while aspirated * gʷʰ became * gʷ . Thus, PIE * gʷen- 'woman' became Old Irish and Old Welsh ben , but PIE * gʷʰn̥- 'to kill, wound' became Old Irish gonaid and Welsh gwanu . PIE * p

1836-520: The mass deaths, local resistance was such that the Romans had to station two legions ( X Gemina and IV Macedonica ) there for seventy more years. Through the Cantabrian War and the surrender of the Cantabri to Rome (it would be inexact to state that the Astures ever surrendered; Augustus refused the common victory celebration in his return to Rome), the Roman legions adopted from them the solar symbol of twin crosses and lunar symbols, such as

1887-510: The other being the one against the Illyrians from 35 to 33 BC. In this conflict, unusually, the Romans chose not to take prisoners. Moreover, there was a tradition among the Celts of preferring suicide to slavery. They did this by sword, by fire, or, primarily, by poisoning themselves with potions made for the purpose. According to Silius Italicus they used a concoction made from the seeds of

1938-667: The outcome of earlier ones appearing later in the list. These changes are shared by several other Indo-European branches. The following sound changes are shared with the Italic languages in particular, and are cited in support of the Italo-Celtic hypothesis. One change shows non-exact parallels in Italic: vocalization of syllabic resonants next to laryngeals depending on the environment. Similar developments appear in Italic, but for

1989-872: The parent language. Proto-Celtic is believed to have had nouns in three genders , three numbers and five to eight cases. The genders were masculine, feminine and neuter; the numbers were singular, plural and dual. The number of cases is a subject of contention: while Old Irish may have only five, the evidence from Continental Celtic is considered rather unambiguous despite appeals to archaic retentions or morphological leveling . These cases were nominative , vocative , accusative , dative , genitive , ablative , locative and instrumental . Nouns fall into nine or so declensions, depending on stem. There are * o -stems, * ā -stems, * i -stems, * u -stems, dental stems, velar stems, nasal stems, * r -stems and * s -stems. However, Celtiberian shows -o- stem genitives ending in -o rather than -ī : aualo "[son] of Avalos". Also note that

2040-499: The reforms of Gaius Marius , the legion had about 6,000 soldiers. However, in Augustus' time, although a legion was officially composed of 6,200 men, for various reasons, the number usually oscillated between 5,000 and 8,000. The Astures joined the Cantabri in a common defense. In spring 25 BC, there were three Roman legions established near the Astura River (modern Esla River ), with troops from Hispania Tarraconensis . According to

2091-491: The region. Augustus moved to Segisama (modern Sasamon , Burgos ) in 26 BC to supervise the campaign in person. The major fighting was completed in 19 BC, although there were minor rebellions until 16 BC and the Romans had to station two legions there for seventy more years. Sub occasu pacata erat fere omnis Hispania, nisi quam Pyrenaei desinentis scopulis inhaerentem citerior adluebat Oceanus. Hic duae validissimae gentes, Cantabri et Astures, inmunes imperii agitabant. ("In

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2142-478: The rest of the Gallaecian resistance was hunted relentlessly and eventually subdued by 19 BC. A year after his arrival, Augustus had to retire to Tarragona , presumably because of illness. The conflict, however, lasted more than ten years; it serves as a reference that the Romans conquered all of Gaul in less than seven years. It was one of only two campaigns directed personally by Augustus against barbarians,

2193-536: The river Limia . Later in 61-60 BC the propraetor of Hispania Ulterior Julius Caesar faced the Gallaeci in a combined sea-and-land battle at Brigantium (also designated Carunium; Betanzos – La Coruña), where the Gallaeci were forced to swear nominal fealty to Rome. However, this did not stop several of the Gallaecian tribes to wage war on Rome alongside the rest of the Celtic resistance, and were only finally subdued when

2244-683: The same exception occurred again in the High German consonant shift .) In Gaulish and the Brittonic languages , the Proto-Indo-European * kʷ phoneme becomes a new * p sound. Thus, Gaulish petuar[ios] , Welsh pedwar "four", but Old Irish cethair and Latin quattuor . Insofar as this new /p/ fills the gap in the phoneme inventory which was left by the disappearance of the equivalent stop in PIE, we may think of this as

2295-586: The syllabic nasals *m̩, *n̩, the result is Proto-Italic *əm, *ən (> Latin em ~ im , en ~ in ). The following consonants have been reconstructed for Proto-Celtic (PC): Eska has recently proposed that PC stops allophonically manifest similarly to those in English . Voiceless stop phonemes /t k/ were aspirated word-initially except when preceded by /s/, hence aspirate allophones [tʰ kʰ]. And unaspirated voiced stops /b d ɡ/ were devoiced to [p t k] word-initially. This allophony may be reconstructed to PC from

2346-476: The text of Dio does not justify placing Corocotta in the context of Cantabrian resistance to Rome. She suggests that Corocotta was merely a bandit, and surmises that he was probably of North African origin on the basis that the crocotta was said by most authors to come from Africa. Cantabrian Wars The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) ( Bellum Cantabricum ), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars ( Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum ), were

2397-571: The west almost all Spain had been subjugated, except that part which adjoins the cliffs where the Pyrenees end and is washed by the nearer waters of the ocean. Here two powerful nations, the Cantabrians and the Asturians, lived in freedom from the rule of Rome.") The Cantabri first appear in history during earlier wars in Iberia , where they served as mercenaries on various sides. In this way, in

2448-578: The years preceding the wars in Cantabria and Asturias, the Roman military became familiar with the warlike characteristics of the peoples of northern Hispania. There are accounts, for instance, of Cantabrians in the army of Hannibal during the Second Punic War . Additionally, there is evidence that they fought alongside the Vaccaei in 151 BC, and helped break the Roman siege of Numantia . It

2499-466: Was an intermediate stage * sɸ- (in which * ɸ remained an independent phoneme until after Proto-Insular Celtic had diverged into Goidelic and Brythonic), McCone 1996 , pp. 44–45 finds it more economical to believe that * sp- remained unchanged in PC, that is, the change * p to * ɸ did not happen when * s preceded. (Similarly, Grimm's law did not apply to * p, t, k after * s in Germanic , and

2550-452: Was probably a respected chief or warrior of some of the Cantabrian tribes and that such was the Romans anger towards him, that they set an enormously high price on his head. In response to this, Corocotta turned himself in to the Roman Emperor with the purpose of claiming the big financial reward himself and he willingly offering his life (head) in exchange. This decision by Corocotta is viewed by Cantabrians as an act of self-sacrifice and it

2601-631: Was used by sound substitution due to a lack of a /p/ phoneme at the time: Gaelic póg "kiss" was a later borrowing (from the second word of the Latin phrase osculum pacis "kiss of peace") at a stage where p was borrowed directly as p , without substituting c . The PC vowel system is highly comparable to that reconstructed for PIE by Antoine Meillet . The following monophthongs are reconstructed: The following diphthongs have also been reconstructed: The morphological (structure) of nouns and adjectives demonstrates no arresting alterations from

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