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84-486: Although known only from Roman contexts, the name Epona ('Great Mare') is from the Gaulish language ; it is derived from the inferred Proto-Celtic * ekʷos 'horse', which gives rise to modern Welsh ebol 'foal', together with the augmentative suffix -on frequently, although not exclusively, found in theonyms (for example Sirona , Matrona ) and the usual Gaulish feminine singular -a . In an episode preserved in

168-682: A "ten-night festival of ( Apollo ) Grannus ", decamnoctiacis Granni , is mentioned in a Latin inscription from Limoges . A similar formation is to be found in the Coligny calendar, in which mention is made of a trinox[...] Samoni "three-night (festival?) of (the month of) Samonios". As is to be expected, the ancient Gaulish language was more similar to Latin than modern Celtic languages are to modern Romance languages. The ordinal numerals in Latin are prīmus / prior , secundus / alter (the first form when more than two objects are counted,

252-470: A European branch of Indo-European dialects, termed "North-west Indo-European" and associated with the Beaker culture, may have been ancestral to not only Celtic and Italic, but also to Germanic and Balto-Slavic. Ellis Evans believes that Gallaecian - Lusitanian were one language (not separate languages) of the "P" Celtic variant. The Lusitanians were a people formed by several tribes that lived between

336-489: A Gaulish-language song called “Epona” as part of their Evocation II: Pantheon album, praising the goddess The probable date of c. 1380–550 BC ascribed to the giant chalk horse carved into the hillside turf at Uffington , in southern England, may be too early to be directly associated with Epona and may not actually represent a horse at all. The West Country traditional hobby-horse riders parading on May Day at Padstow , Cornwall and Minehead , Somerset, which survived to

420-758: A composite model, in which the Continental and Insular varieties are seen as part of a dialect continuum , with genealogical splits and areal innovations intersecting. Though Gaulish personal names written by Gauls in Greek script are attested from the region surrounding Massalia by the 3rd century BC, the first true inscriptions in Gaulish appeared in the 2nd century BC. At least 13 references to Gaulish speech and Gaulish writing can be found in Greek and Latin writers of antiquity. The word "Gaulish" ( gallicum ) as

504-572: A group of women (often thought to be a rival group of witches), but the exact meaning of the text remains unclear. The Coligny calendar was found in 1897 in Coligny , France, with a statue identified as Mars . The calendar contains Gaulish words but Roman numerals, permitting translations such as lat evidently meaning days, and mid month. Months of 30 days were marked matus , "lucky", months of 29 days anmatus , "unlucky", based on comparison with Middle Welsh mad and anfad , but

588-569: A language term is first explicitly used in the Appendix Vergiliana in a poem referring to Gaulish letters of the alphabet. Julius Caesar says in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico of 58 BC that the Celts/Gauls and their language are separated from the neighboring Aquitani and Belgae by the rivers Garonne and Seine / Marne , respectively. Caesar relates that census accounts written in Greek script were found among

672-655: A late survival in Armorica and language contact of some form with the ascendant Breton language ; however, it has been noted that there is little uncontroversial evidence supporting a relatively late survival specifically in Brittany whereas there is uncontroversial evidence that supports the relatively late survival of Gaulish in the Swiss Alps and in regions in Central Gaul. Drawing from these data, which include

756-572: A legal or magical-religious nature, the three longest being the Larzac tablet , the Chamalières tablet and the Lezoux dish . The most famous Gaulish record is the Coligny calendar , a fragmented bronze tablet dating from the 2nd century AD and providing the names of Celtic months over a five-year span; it is a lunisolar calendar trying to synchronize the solar year and the lunar month by inserting

840-691: A local celebration. She was incorporated into the imperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, as Epona Augusta or Epona Regina . The supposed autonomy of Celtic civilization in Gaul suffered a further setback with Fernand Benoît's study of the funereal symbolism of the horseman with the serpent-tailed ( "anguiforme" ) daemon, which he established as a theme of victory over death, and Epona; both he found to be late manifestations of Mediterranean-influenced symbolism, which had reached Gaul through contacts with Etruria and Magna Graecia . Benoît compared

924-609: A mare and in due time the mare gave birth to a beautiful girl and they named her Epona. She is the goddess that is concerned with the protection of horses. So Agesilaüs in the third book of his Italian History. The tale was passed along in the context of unseemly man-beast coupling in Giambattista Della Porta 's edition of Magia naturalis (1589), a potpourri of the sensible and questionable, erroneously citing Plutarch's Life of Solon . It may represent some recollection of Indo-European horse sacrifice , such as

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1008-626: A remark of Pausanias , an archaic Demeter Erinys (Vengeful Demeter) too had also been a Great Mare, who was mounted by Poseidon in the form of a stallion and foaled Arion and the Daughter who was unnamed outside the Arcadian mysteries. Demeter was venerated as a mare in Lycosoura in Arcadia into historical times. Fernand Benoît found the earliest attestations of a religion of Epona in

1092-472: A seated Epona, flanked by an "extremely small" mare and stallion, was found in England. Lying on her lap and on the patera raised in her right hand are disproportionately large ears of grain; ears of grain also protrude from the mouths of the ponies, whose heads are turned toward the goddess. On her left arm she holds a yoke, which curves up above her shoulder, an attribute unique to this bronze statuette. In

1176-475: A second name linked to a locality such as Bandua Aetobrico, and Nabia , a goddess of rivers and streams. According to Strabo the Lusitanians were given to offering sacrifices; they practiced divination on the sacrificial offering by inspecting its vitals and veins. They also sacrificed human victims, prisoners of war, by striking them under coarse blankets and observing which way they fell. They cut off

1260-431: A special purpose, such as an imperative, emphasis, contrast, and so on. Also, the verb may contain or be next to an enclitic pronoun or with "and", "but", etc. According to J. F. Eska, Gaulish was certainly not a verb-second language, as the following shows: Whenever there is a pronoun object element, it is next to the verb, as per Vendryes' Restriction . The general Celtic grammar shows Wackernagel's rule , so putting

1344-621: A stop + s became ss , and a nasal + velar became ŋ + velar. The lenis plosives seem to have been voiceless, unlike in Latin, which distinguished lenis occlusives with a voiced realization from fortis occlusives with a voiceless realization, which caused confusions like Glanum for Clanum , vergobretos for vercobreto , Britannia for Pritannia . The alphabet of Lugano used in Cisalpine Gaul for Lepontic: The alphabet of Lugano does not distinguish voicing in stops: P represents /b/ or /p/ , T

1428-676: A thirteenth month every two and a half years. There is also a longish (11 lines) inscribed tile from Châteaubleau that has been interpreted as a curse or alternatively as a sort of wedding proposal. Many inscriptions are only a few words (often names) in rote phrases, and many are fragmentary. It is clear from the subject matter of the records that the language was in use at all levels of society. Other sources contribute to knowledge of Gaulish: Greek and Latin authors mention Gaulish words, personal and tribal names, and toponyms . A short Gaulish-Latin vocabulary (about 20 entries headed De nominib[us] Gallicis ) called " Endlicher's Glossary "

1512-591: A throne with her hands on the necks of her paired animals: her horses are substitutions for Cybele's lions. Epona is mentioned in The Golden Ass by Apuleius , where an aedicular niche with her image on a pillar in a stable has been garlanded with freshly picked roses. In his Satires , the Roman poet Juvenal also links the worship and iconography of Epona to the area of a stable. Small images of Epona have been found in Roman sites of stables and barns over

1596-594: A wide territory. Epona is indirectly referenced in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables through the name of the character Éponine. In The Legend of Zelda franchise, the main character Link's horse is named Epona . The horse is always shown as a brown or chestnut mare with a white mane. Artist Enya 's namesake album of 1987 contains a track titled Epona , as part of the soundtrack of the BBC documentary The Celts . In 2017, Swiss Folk Metal band Eluveitie released

1680-419: Is evidently an account or a calculation and contains quite different ordinals: Other Gaulish numerals attested in Latin inscriptions include * petrudecametos "fourteenth" (rendered as petrudecameto , with Latinized dative-ablative singular ending) and * triconts "thirty" (rendered as tricontis , with a Latinized ablative plural ending; compare Irish tríocha ). A Latinized phrase for

1764-517: Is fathered by the sea-god (cf Romano-Greek Poseidon , god of horses and the sea), are sometimes described as mare and foal Ronald Hutton is skeptical of connections claimed between Epona and Rhiannon; the latter is a much later, literary creation, though it also draws on oral traditions now lost. A south Welsh folk ritual called Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is still undertaken in December, which some folklorists likewise have held up as an apparent survival of

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1848-565: Is for /d/ or /t/ , K for /g/ or /k/ . Z is probably for /t / . U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished in only one early inscription. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/ (Lejeune 1971, Solinas 1985). The Eastern Greek alphabet used in southern Gallia Narbonensis . Latin alphabet (monumental and cursive) in use in Roman Gaul : G and K are sometimes used interchangeably (especially after R). Ꟈ / ꟈ , ds and s may represent /ts/ and/or /dz/ . X, x

1932-412: Is for [x] or /ks/ . Q is only used rarely ( Sequanni, Equos ) and may represent an archaism (a retained *k ), borrowings from Latin, or, as in Latin, an alternate spelling of -cu- (for original /kuu/ , /kou/ , or /kom-u/ ). Ꟈ is the letter tau gallicum , the Gaulish affricate. The letter ꟉꟉ / ꟊꟊ occurs in some inscriptions. Gaulish had some areal (and genetic, see Indo-European and

2016-610: Is not a verb-final language, it is not surprising to find other "head-initial" features: Lusitanians The Lusitanians were an Indo-European -speaking people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula , in present-day central Portugal and Extremadura and Castilla y Leon of Spain . After its conquest by the Romans , the land was subsequently incorporated as a Roman province named after them ( Lusitania ). Frontinus mentions Lusitanian leader Viriathus as

2100-572: Is preserved in a 9th-century manuscript (Öst. Nationalbibliothek, MS 89 fol. 189v). French now has about 150 to 180 known words of Gaulish origin , most of which concern pastoral or daily activity. If dialectal and derived words are included, the total is about 400 words. This is the highest number among the Romance languages . Gaulish inscriptions are edited in the Recueil des inscriptions gauloises (RIG), in four volumes, comprising text (in

2184-603: The Balkans and Anatolia . Their precise linguistic relationships are uncertain due to fragmentary evidence. The Gaulish varieties of central and eastern Europe and of Anatolia (called Noric and Galatian , respectively) are barely attested, but from what little is known of them it appears that they were quite similar to those of Gaul and can be considered dialects of a single language. Among those regions where substantial inscriptional evidence exists, three varieties are usually distinguished. The relationship between Gaulish and

2268-450: The Beaker culture . The Lusitanians worshiped various gods in a very diverse polytheism , using animal sacrifice . They represented their gods and warriors in rudimentary sculpture. Endovelicus was the most important god for the Lusitanians. He is considered a possible Basque language loan god by some, yet according to scholars like José Leite de Vasconcelos , the word Endovellicus

2352-634: The Celtiberian spoken in the Iberian Peninsula , Gaulish is a member of the geographic group of Continental Celtic languages . The precise linguistic relationships among them, as well as between them and the modern Insular Celtic languages , are uncertain and a matter of ongoing debate because of their sparse attestation . Gaulish is found in some 800 (often fragmentary) inscriptions including calendars, pottery accounts, funeral monuments, short dedications to gods, coin inscriptions, statements of ownership, and other texts, possibly curse tablets . Gaulish

2436-498: The Celtiberians . They threw their darts from some distance, yet often hit their marks and wounded their targets deeply. Being active and nimble warriors, they would pursue their enemies and decapitate them. "In a narrow pass 300 Lusitani faced 1000 Romans; as a result of the action 70 of the former and 320 of the latter died. When the victorious Lusitani retired and dispersed confidently, one of them on foot became separated, and

2520-602: The Danubian provinces and asserted that she had been introduced in the limes of Gaul by horsemen from the east. That suggestion has not been generally taken up. Although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are in Latin or, rarely, Greek . They were made not only by Celts , but also by Germans , Romans, and other inhabitants of the Roman Empire . An inscription to Epona from Mainz, Germany, identifies

2604-614: The English language , through the influence of Old French . It is estimated that during the Bronze Age , Proto-Celtic started splitting into distinct languages, including Celtiberian and Gaulish. Due to the expansion of Celtic tribes in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, closely related forms of Celtic came to be spoken in a vast arc extending from Britain and France through the Alpine region and Pannonia in central Europe, and into parts of

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2688-590: The Helvetii . He also notes that as of 53 BC the Gaulish druids used the Greek alphabet for private and public transactions, with the important exception of druidic doctrines, which could only be memorised and were not allowed to be written down. According to the Recueil des inscriptions gauloises nearly three quarters of Gaulish inscriptions (disregarding coins) are in the Greek alphabet. Later inscriptions dating to Roman Gaul are mostly in Latin alphabet and have been found principally in central France. Latin

2772-547: The Italic languages ; based on the names of Lusitanian deities with other grammatical elements of the area. The Lusitanian language may in fact have been basal Italo-Celtic , a branch independent from Celtic and Italic , and splitting off early from Proto-Celtic and Proto-Italic populations who spread from Central Europe into western Europe after new Yamnaya migrations into the Danube Valley. Alternatively,

2856-625: The La Tène period, was found in Port , near Biel/Bienne , with its blade inscribed with ΚΟΡΙϹΙΟϹ ( Korisios ), probably the name of the smith. The diphthongs all transformed over the historical period. Ai and oi changed into long ī and eu merged with ou , both becoming long ō . Ei became long ē . In general, long diphthongs became short diphthongs and then long vowels. Long vowels shortened before nasals in coda . Other transformations include unstressed i became e , ln became ll ,

2940-651: The Latin , Greek , and Etruscan alphabets ) written on public monuments, private instrumentum , two calendars, and coins. The longest known Gaulish text is the Larzac tablet , found in 1983 in l'Hospitalet-du-Larzac , France. It is inscribed in Roman cursive on both sides of two small sheets of lead. Probably a curse tablet ( defixio ), it clearly mentions relationships between female names, for example aia duxtir adiegias [...] adiega matir aiias (Aia, daughter of Adiega... Adiega, mother of Aia) and seems to contain incantations regarding one Severa Tertionicna and

3024-462: The Turdetani ( Celtic , pre-Celtic Indo-European , or Iberians ) and came from the south. The name Turduli Veteres (older or ancient Turduli), a tribe that dwelt in today's Aveiro District , seems to indicate they came from the north and not from the south (contrary to what is assumed on the map). Several Turduli peoples were possibly Callaeci tribes that initially came from the north, towards

3108-554: The Vedic ashvamedha and the Irish ritual described by Giraldus Cambrensis , both of which have to do with kingship. In the Celtic ritual, the king mates with a white mare thought to embody the goddess of sovereignty. Sculptures of Epona fall into five types, as distinguished by Benoît: riding, standing or seated before a horse, standing or seated between two horses, a tamer of horses in

3192-414: The 'good goddess')", Catona 'of battle', noble and good Vovesia . However, Olmsted's interpretation has not been generally accepted by other scholars; Meid interprets the same inscription as an invocation of Dibona in vulgar Greek for aid in a romantic dispute. Epona's feast day in the Roman calendar was given as December 18 on a rustic calendar from Guidizzolo , Italy, although this may have been only

3276-522: The Celtic god of metalwork . Furthermore, there is a statue of a seated goddess with a bear , Artio , found in Muri bei Bern , with a Latin inscription DEAE ARTIONI LIVINIA SABILLINA , suggesting a Gaulish Artiū "Bear (goddess)". Some coins with Gaulish inscriptions in the Greek alphabet have also been found in Switzerland, e.g. RIG IV Nos. 92 ( Lingones ) and 267 ( Leuci ). A sword, dating to

3360-632: The Gaulish language. Spindle whorls were apparently given to girls by their suitors and bear such inscriptions as: A gold ring found in Thiaucourt seems to express the wearers undying loyalty to her lover: Inscriptions found in Switzerland are rare. The most notable inscription found in Helvetic parts is the Bern zinc tablet , inscribed ΔΟΒΝΟΡΗΔΟ ΓΟΒΑΝΟ ΒΡΕΝΟΔΩΡ ΝΑΝΤΑΡΩΡ ( Dobnorēdo gobano brenodōr nantarōr ) and apparently dedicated to Gobannus ,

3444-484: The Gaulish t-preterit, formed by merging an old third-person singular imperfect ending -t - to a third-person singular perfect ending -u or -e and subsequent affixation to all forms of the t-preterit tense. Similarly, the s-preterit is formed from the extension of -ss (originally from the third person singular) and the affixation of -it to the third-person singular (to distinguish it as such). Third-person plurals are also marked by addition of -s in

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3528-477: The Roman conquest. They ruled the Lusitanians (before Viriathus ) for some time, leading the tribes in the resistance against Roman attempts of conquest, and were successful. The known Lusitanian tribes were: It remains to be known if the Turduli Veteres , Turduli Oppidani , Turduli Bardili , and Turduli were Lusitanian tribes (coastal tribes), were related Celtic peoples, or were instead related to

3612-401: The authors meant by those terms), though at first these only concerned the upper classes. For Galatia (Anatolia), there is no source explicitly indicating a 5th-century language replacement: Despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture, the Gaulish language is held to have survived and coexisted with spoken Latin during the centuries of Roman rule of Gaul. The exact time of

3696-668: The controversial Italo-Celtic hypothesis) similarity to Latin grammar, and the French historian Ferdinand Lot argued that this helped the rapid adoption of Vulgar Latin in Roman Gaul. Gaulish had seven cases : the nominative , vocative , accusative , genitive , dative , instrumental and the locative case . Greater epigraphical evidence attests common cases (nominative and accusative) and common stems (-o- and -a- stems) than for cases less frequently used in inscriptions or rarer -i-, -n- and -r- stems. The following table summarises

3780-529: The dedicator as Syrian. A long Latin inscription of the first century BC, engraved in a lead sheet and accompanying the sacrifice of a filly and the votive gift of a cauldron, was found in 1887 at Rom, Deux-Sèvres , the Roman Rauranum. Olmsted reads the inscription as invoking the goddess with an archaic profusion of epithets: Eponina 'dear little Epona', Atanta 'horse-goddess', Potia 'powerful Mistress' (compare Greek Potnia ), Dibonia (Latin,

3864-450: The difference between -n and -m relies on the length of the preceding vowel, with longer vowels taking -m over -n (in the case of -anom this is a result of its innovation from -a-om ). Gaulish verbs have present, future, perfect, and imperfect tenses; indicative, subjunctive, optative and imperative moods; and active and passive voices. Verbs show a number of innovations as well. The Indo-European s-aorist became

3948-411: The final language death of Gaulish is unknown, but it is estimated to have been about the sixth century AD. The language shift was uneven in its progress and shaped by sociological factors. Although there was a presence of retired veterans in colonies, these did not significantly alter the linguistic composition of Gaul's population, of which 90% was autochthonous; instead, the key Latinizing class

4032-511: The inherited genitive singular -as is attested but was subsequently replaced by -ias as in Insular Celtic. The expected genitive plural -a-om appears innovated as -anom (vs. Celtiberian -aum ). There also appears to be a dialectal equivalence between -n and -m endings in accusative singular endings particularly, with Transalpine Gaulish favouring -n , and Cisalpine favouring -m . In genitive plurals

4116-704: The language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine ). In a wider sense, it also comprises varieties of Celtic that were spoken across much of central Europe (" Noric "), parts of the Balkans , and Anatolia (" Galatian "), which are thought to have been closely related. The more divergent Lepontic of Northern Italy has also sometimes been subsumed under Gaulish. Together with Lepontic and

4200-838: The leader of the Celtiberians , in their war against the Romans. The Greco-Roman historian Diodorus Siculus likened them to another Celtic tribe: "Those who are called Lusitanians are the bravest of all similar to the Cimbri ". The Lusitanians were also called Belitanians, according to the diviner Artemidorus . Strabo differentiated the Lusitanians from the Iberian tribes and thought of them as being Celtiberians who had been known as Oestriminis in ancient times. However, based on archeological findings, Lusitanians and Vettones seem to have been largely pre-Celtic Indo-European populations that adopted Celtic cultural elements by proximity. On

4284-556: The leader of the Lusitanians, and severely damaged the Roman rule in Lusitania and beyond. In 139 BC, Viriathus was betrayed and killed in his sleep by three of his companions (who had been sent as emissaries to the Romans), Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus , bribed by Marcus Popillius Laenas (although they were Viriathus warrior companions they were not Lusitanians themselves, they seem to have been Turdetanians , or from other people that

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4368-666: The manner of potnia theron , and the symbolic mare and foal. In the Equestrian type, common in Gaul , she is depicted sitting side-saddle on a horse or (rarely) lying on one; in the Imperial type (more common outside Gaul) she sits on a throne flanked by two or more horses or foals. In distant Dacia , she is represented on a stela (now at the Szépmüvézeti Museum, Budapest) in the format of Cybele , seated frontally on

4452-725: The mapping of substrate vocabulary as evidence, Kerkhof argues that we may "tentatively" posit a survival of Gaulish speaking communities "at least into the sixth century" in pockets of mountainous regions of the Central Massif , the Jura , and the Swiss Alps . According to Recueil des inscriptions gauloises more than 760 Gaulish inscriptions have been found throughout France, with the notable exception of Aquitaine , and in northern Italy. Inscriptions include short dedications, funerary monuments, proprietary statements, and expressions of human sentiments, but also some longer documents of

4536-499: The meaning could here also be merely descriptive, "complete" and "incomplete". The pottery at La Graufesenque is the most important source for Gaulish numerals. Potters shared furnaces and kept tallies inscribed in Latin cursive on ceramic plates, referring to kiln loads numbered 1 to 10: The lead inscription from Rezé (dated to the 2nd century, at the mouth of the Loire , 450 kilometres (280 mi) northwest of La Graufesenque )

4620-490: The medieval Welsh collection of stories known as the Mabinogion , the regal figure of Rhiannon rides a white horse, whose slow, effortless gait supernaturally outpaces all pursuit. Wrongly accused of killing her offspring, Rhiannon has to play the role of horse for seven years as punishment, offering to carry travellers to the court and telling them her story; she also wears the work-collar of an ass. She and her son, who

4704-507: The mid-20th century, despite Morris dances having been forgotten, was thought by folklorists through the 20th Century to have deep roots in the veneration of Epona, as may the British aversion to eating horsemeat. At Padstow, at the end of the festivities, the hobby-horse was formerly ritually submerged in the sea. However, there is no firm evidence of the festival before the 18th century. A provincial, small (7.5 cm high) Roman bronze of

4788-497: The other Celtic languages is also debated. Most scholars today agree that Celtiberian was the first to branch off from other Celtic. Gaulish, situated in the centre of the Celtic language area, shares with the neighboring Brittonic languages of Britain, as well as the neighboring Italic Osco-Umbrian languages , the change of the Indo-European labialized voiceless velar stop /kʷ/ > /p/ , while both Celtiberian in

4872-832: The other hand, Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela distinguished the Lusitanians from neighboring Celtic groups like the Artabrians in their geographical writings. The original Roman province of Lusitania briefly included the territories of Asturia and Gallaecia , but these were soon ceded to the jurisdiction of the Provincia Tarraconensis in the north, while the south remained the Provincia Lusitania et Vettones . Later, Gallaecia would become its own province (taking much of modern Galicia and Northern Portugal). After this, Lusitania's northern border

4956-549: The plural instrumental had begun to encroach on the dative plural (dative atrebo and matrebo vs. instrumental gobedbi and suiorebe ), and in the modern Insular Languages , the instrumental form is known to have completely replaced the dative. For o-stems, Gaulish also innovated the pronominal ending for the nominative plural -oi and genitive singular -ī in place of expected -ōs and -os still present in Celtiberian ( -oś, -o ). In a-stems,

5040-654: The prestige language of their urban literate elite. Bonnaud maintains that Latinization occurred earlier in Provence and in major urban centers, while Gaulish persisted longest, possibly as late as the tenth century with evidence for continued use according to Bonnaud continuing into the ninth century, in Langres and the surrounding regions, the regions between Clermont , Argenton and Bordeaux , and in Armorica . Fleuriot, Falc'hun, and Gvozdanovic likewise maintained

5124-424: The preterit. Most Gaulish sentences seem to consist of a subject–verb–object word order: Some, however, have patterns such as verb–subject–object (as in living Insular Celtic languages) or with the verb last. The latter can be seen as a survival from an earlier stage in the language, very much like the more archaic Celtiberian language . Sentences with the verb first can be interpreted, however, as indicating

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5208-650: The reconstructed endings for the words * toṷtā "tribe, people", * mapos "boy, son", * ṷātis "seer", * gutus "voice", and * brātīr "brother". In some cases, a historical evolution is attested; for example, the dative singular of a-stems is -āi in the oldest inscriptions, becoming first * -ăi and finally -ī as in Irish a -stem nouns with attenuated ( slender ) consonants: nom. lámh "hand, arm" (cf. Gaul. lāmā ) and dat. láimh (< * lāmi ; cf. Gaul. lāmāi > * lāmăi > lāmī ). Further,

5292-497: The rest of the Romanised Iberian peninsula , eventually gained the status of "Citizens of Rome". Categorising Lusitanian culture generally, including the language, is proving difficult and contentious. Some believe it was essentially a pre-Celtic Iberian culture with substantial Celtic influences, while others argue that it was an essentially Celtic culture with strong indigenous pre-Celtic influences associated with

5376-789: The rider with most of the riders imaged around the Mediterranean shores. Perceptions of native Celtic goddesses had changed under Roman hegemony : only the names remained the same. As Gaul was Romanized under the early Empire, Epona's sovereign role evolved into a protector of cavalry. The cult of Epona was spread over much of the Roman Empire by the auxiliary cavalry, alae , especially the Imperial Horse Guard or equites singulares augustii recruited from Gaul , Lower Germany , and Pannonia . A series of their dedications to Epona and other Celtic, Roman, and German deities

5460-596: The right hands of their captives, which they offered to the gods. The Lusitanian language was a Paleohispanic language that clearly belongs to the Indo-European family. The precise affiliation of the Lusitanian language inside the Indo-European family is still in debate: there are those who endorse that it is a para-Celtic language with an obvious Celticity to most of the lexicon, over many anthroponyms and toponyms. A second theory relates Lusitanian with

5544-404: The rivers Douro and Tagus , in most of today's Beira and Estremadura regions of central Portugal, and some areas of the Extremadura region (Spain). They were a tribal confederation, not a single political entity; each tribe had its own territory and was independent, and was formed by smaller clans . However, they had a cultural sense of unity and a common name for the tribes. Each tribe

5628-406: The second form only when two, alius , like alter means "the other", the former used when more than two and the latter when only two), tertius, quārtus, quīntus, sextus, septimus, octāvus, nōnus , and decimus . An inscription in stone from Alise-Sainte-Reine (first century AD) reads: A number of short inscriptions are found on spindle whorls and are among the most recent finds in

5712-556: The similarly named chieftain). According to Livy , Lusitanian and Celtiberian cavalry performed raids in the north of Italy whenever the terrain was too rough for Hannibal's famed Numidian cavalry . Since 193 BC, the Lusitanians had been fighting the Romans in Hispania. In 150 BC, they were defeated by Praetor Servius Galba: springing a treacherous trap, he killed 9,000 Lusitanians and later sold 20,000 more as slaves in Gaul (modern France ). This massacre would not be forgotten by Viriathus , who three years later (147 BC) would become

5796-459: The south along the coast and then migrated inland along the Tagus and the Anas ( Guadiana River ) valleys. If there were more Lusitanian tribes, their names are unknown. The Lusitanians were considered by historians to be particularly adept at guerrilla warfare . The strongest amongst them were selected to defend the populace in mountainous sites. They used hooked javelins or saunions made of iron, and wielded swords and helmets like those of

5880-471: The south and Goidelic in Ireland retain /kʷ/ . Taking this as the primary genealogical isogloss , some scholars divide the Celtic languages into a " q-Celtic " group and a " p-Celtic " group, in which the p-Celtic languages Gaulish and Brittonic form a common "Gallo-Brittonic" branch. Other scholars place more emphasis on shared innovations between Brittonic and Goidelic and group these together as an Insular Celtic branch. Sims-Williams (2007) discusses

5964-400: The upper midwest. The "Feast of Epona" involves the blessing of horses and other animals by a local churchman. Epona is also worshipped today by neo-druids and other pagans and polytheists. Gaulish language Gaulish is an extinct Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire . In the narrow sense, Gaulish was

6048-484: The veneration of Epona, but again there is no firm evidence to support the age, origins or purpose of the practice. On Mackinac Island , Michigan, Epona is celebrated each June with stable tours, a blessing of the animals and the Epona and Barkus Parade. Mackinac Island does not permit personal automobiles; the primary source of transportation remains the horse, so celebrating Epona has special significance on this island in

6132-538: The verb at the beginning of the clause or sentence. As in Old Irish and traditional literary Welsh, the verb can be preceded by a particle with no real meaning by itself but originally used to make the utterance easier. According to Eska's model, Vendryes' Restriction is believed to have played a large role in the development of Insular Celtic verb-subject-object word order. Other authorities such as John T. Koch , dispute that interpretation. Considering that Gaulish

6216-643: Was along the Douro River, while its eastern border passed through Salmantica and Caesarobriga to the Anas ( Guadiana ) river. Lusitanian mercenaries fought for Carthage between the years 218 and 201 BC, during the Second Punic War against Rome. Silius Italicus describes them as forming a combined with the Gallaeci and being led both by a commander named Viriathus (not to be confused with

6300-466: Was first written in Greek script in southern France and in a variety of Old Italic script in northern Italy. After the Roman conquest of those regions, writing shifted to Latin script . During his conquest of Gaul, Caesar reported that the Helvetii were in possession of documents in the Greek script, and all Gaulish coins used the Greek script until about 50 BC. Gaulish in Western Europe

6384-917: Was found in Rome, at the Lateran. Her cult is said to have been "widespread also in Carinthia and Styria ". As Epane she is attested in Cantabria , northern Spain, on Mount Bernorio, Palencia; as Iccona Loiminna in Portugal on the Lusitanian inscription of Cabeço das Fráguas . A euhemeristic account of Epona's origin occurs in the Parallela Minora , which were traditionally attributed to Plutarch (but are now classed as "Pseudo-Plutarch"): Fulvius Stellus hated women and used to consort with

6468-491: Was not Lusitanian). However, when the three returned to receive their reward from the Romans, the Consul Quintus Servilius Caepio ordered their execution, declaring, "Rome does not pay traitors". After the death of Viriathus, the Lusitanians kept fighting under the leadership of Tautalus , but gradually acquired Roman culture and language; the Lusitanian cities, in a manner similar to those of

6552-458: Was originally Celtic , Andevellicos . Endovelicus is compared with Welsh and Breton names, giving him the meaning of "Very Good God", the same epithet of the Irish god Dagda . Even the Romans worshiped him for his ability to protect. His cult eventually spread across the Iberian peninsula and beyond, to the rest of the Roman Empire and his cult was maintained until the fifth century; he

6636-455: Was quickly adopted by the Gaulish aristocracy after Roman conquest to maintain their elite power and influence, trilingualism in southern Gaul being noted as early as the 1st century BC. Early references to Gaulish in Gaul tend to be made in the context of problems with Greek or Latin fluency until around AD 400, whereas after c.  450 , Gaulish begins to be mentioned in contexts where Latin has replaced "Gaulish" or "Celtic" (whatever

6720-534: Was ruled by its own tribal aristocracy and chief. Many members of the Lusitanian tribal aristocracy were warriors as happened in many other pre-Roman peoples of the Iron Age . Only when an external threat occurred did the different tribes politically unite, as happened at the time of the Roman conquest of their territory when Viriathus became the single leader of the Lusitanian tribes. Punicus , Caucenus and Caesarus were other important Lusitanian chiefs before

6804-499: Was supplanted by Vulgar Latin . It is thought to have been a living language well into the 6th century. The legacy of Gaulish may be observed in the modern French language and the Gallo-Romance languages , in which 150–400 words , mainly referring to pastoral and daily activities, are known to be derived from the extinct Continental Celtic language. Following the 1066 Norman Conquest , some of these words have also entered

6888-537: Was surrounded by a detachment of pursuing cavalry. The lone warrior pierced the horse of one of the riders with his spear, and with a blow of his sword cut off the Roman’s head, producing such terror among the others that they prudently retired under his arrogant and contemptuous gaze." In times of peace, they had a particular style of dancing, which required great agility and nimbleness of the legs and thighs. In times of war, they marched in time, until they were ready to charge

6972-516: Was the coopted local elite, who sent their children to Roman schools and administered lands for Rome. In the fifth century, at the time of the Western Roman collapse, the vast majority (non-elite and predominantly rural) of the population remained Gaulish speakers, and acquired Latin as their native speech only after the demise of the Empire, as both they and the new Frankish ruling elite adopted

7056-419: Was the god of public health and safety. The goddess Ataegina was especially popular in the south; as the goddess of rebirth (spring), fertility, nature, and cure, she was identified with Proserpina during the Roman era. Lusitanian mythology was heavily influenced by or related to Celtic mythology . Also well attested in inscriptions are the names Bandua (one of the variants of Borvo ) often with

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