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Lepontic language

Lepontic is an extinct Alps|Alpine language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul (today's Northern Italy) between 550 BC and 100 BC. Its exact classification within the western Indo-European languages is disputed, although it is generally regarded as either a member of the Celtic languages|Celtic family or akin to it. Lepontic is known from around 140 inscriptions written in the alphabet of Lugano, one of five main Old Italic alphabet|Northern Italic alphabets derived from the Etruscan alphabet. These inscriptions were found in an area centered around Lugano, including Lake Como and Lake Maggiore. Similar scripts were used for writing the Raetic language|Rhaetic and Venetic languages and the Germanic languages|Germanic runic alphabets probably derive from a script belonging to this group. Three positions have been taken on Lepontic. Most recently, some authors (e.g. Eska 1998) have considered it simply an early form of Cisalpine Gaulish (or '''Cisalpine Celtic'''), thus a dialect of the Gaulish language. Earlier, others (e.g. Lejeune 1971) have viewed it as a distinct Continental Celtic language, thus not a Gaulish dialect. Others yet have regarded it as a "para-Celtic" language, akin to but not part of Celtic, and possibly related to Ligurian language (ancient)|Ligurian. This last view held sway for most of the 20th century and is still espoused by some. Lepontic was assimilated first by Gaulish language|Gaulish, with the settlement of Gaulish tribes north of the River Po, and then by Latin, after the Roman Republic gained control over Gallia Cisalpina during the late 2nd century BC|second and 1st century BC|first century BC.

The corpus

The grouping of all inscriptions written in the '''alphabet of Lugano''' into a single language is disputed. Indeed, it was not uncommon in antiquity for a given alphabet to be used to write multiple languages. And, in fact, the alphabet of Lugano was used in the coinage of other Alpine tribes, such as the Salassi, Salluvii, and Cavares (Whatmough 1933, Lejeune 1971). While many of the later inscriptions clearly appear to be written in Cisalpine Gaulish, some, including specifically all of the older ones, are said to be in a non-Celtic language related to Ligurian language (ancient)|Ligurian (Whatmough 1933, Pisani 1964). Under this view, which was the prevailing view until about 1970, '''Lepontic''' is the correct name for the non-Celtic language, while the later Celtic language is to be called '''Cisalpine Gaulish'''. Following Lejeune (1971), the consensus view became that Lepontic should be classified as a Celtic language, albeit possibly as divergent as Celtiberian language|Celtiberian, and in any case quite distinct from Cisalpine Gaulish. Only in recent years, there has been a tendency to identify Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish as one and the same language (Eska 1998). While the language is named after the tribe of the Lepontii, which occupied portions of ancient Rhaetia, specifically an Alps|Alpine area straddling modern Switzerland and Italy and bordering Cisalpine Gaul, the term is currently used by many Celticists to apply to all Celtic dialects of ancient Italy. This usage is disputed by those who continue to view the ''Lepontii'' as one of several indigenous pre-Roman tribes of the Alps, quite distinct from the Gauls who invaded the plains of Northern Italy in historical times. The older Lepontic inscriptions date back to before the 5th century BC, the item from Castelletto Ticino being dated at the 6th century BC and that from Sesto Calende possibly being from the 7th century BC (Prosdocimi, 1991). The people who made these inscriptions are nowadays identified with the Golasecca culture, a proto-historic pre-Celtic culture in northern Italy. (However, the Golasecca culture has recently been ascribed a Celtic identity in De Marinis, 1991.) The extinction date for Lepontic is only inferred by the absence of later inscriptions.

Sources

- De Marinis, R.C. (1991). "I Celti Golasecchiani". In Multiple Authors, ''I Celti'', Bompiani.
- Eska, J. F. (1998). "The linguistic position of Lepontic". In ''Proceedings of the twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society'' vol. 2, Special session on Indo-European subgrouping and internal relations (February 14, 1998), ed. B. K. Bergin, M. C. Plauché, and A. C. Bailey, 2–11. Berkeley, California|Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
- Eska, J. F., and D. E. Evans. (1993). "Continental Celtic". In ''The Celtic Languages'', ed. M. J. Ball, 26–63. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01035-7.
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- Prosdocimi, A.L. (1991). "Lingua e scrittura dei primi Celti". In Multiple Authors, ''I Celti'', pp. 50-60, Bompiani.
- Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1978). "Ligure, leponzio e gallico". In ''Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica'' vi, ''Lingue e dialetti'', ed. A. L. Prosdocimi, 129–208. Rome: Biblioteca di Storia Patria.
- Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1981). "Le iscrizioni celtiche d'Italia". In ''I Celti d'Italia'', ed. E. Campanile, 157–207. Pisa: Giardini.
- Whatmough, J. (1933). ''The Prae-Italic Dialects of Italy'', vol. 2, "The Raetic, Lepontic, Gallic, East-Italic, Messapic and Sicel Inscriptions", Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press Category:Continental Celtic languages Category:Languages of ancient Italy Category:Extinct Celtic languages

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