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The Gaulish (also Gallic) language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 before the Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin is a blanket term covering the popular dialects and sociolects of the Latin which diverged from each other in the early Middle Ages, evolving into the Romance languages by the 9th century....
 of the late Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 became dominant in Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for 600 years....
. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian
Celtiberian language

Celtiberian is an extinct language Indo-European language of the Celtic languages branch spoken by the Celtiberians in an area of the Iberian Peninsula lying...
, Lepontic
Lepontic language

Lepontic is an extinct Celtic languages language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul between 700 BC and 400 BC. Sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic, it is considered a dialect of the Gaulish language and thus a Continental Celtic language ....
, and Galatian
Galatian language

Galatian is an extinct Celtic languages once spoken in Galatia in Asia Minor from the 3rd century BC up to the 4th century AD.Of the language only a few glosses and brief comments in classical writers and scattered names on inscriptions survive....
 as Continental Celtic. The Lepontic language is sometimes considered to be a dialect of Gaulish. Gaulish is a P-Celtic language.

The Gaulish language is known from several hundred inscriptions on stone
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
, on ceramic
Ceramic

File:Bridge from dental porcelain.jpgFile:Qing vase p1070256.jpgA ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetal solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling....
 vessels and other artifacts, and on coin
Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a Disk , and most often issued by a government....
s, and occasionally on metal (lead
Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
, and on one occasion zinc
Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
).






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The Gaulish (also Gallic) language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 before the Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin is a blanket term covering the popular dialects and sociolects of the Latin which diverged from each other in the early Middle Ages, evolving into the Romance languages by the 9th century....
 of the late Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 became dominant in Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for 600 years....
. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian
Celtiberian language

Celtiberian is an extinct language Indo-European language of the Celtic languages branch spoken by the Celtiberians in an area of the Iberian Peninsula lying...
, Lepontic
Lepontic language

Lepontic is an extinct Celtic languages language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul between 700 BC and 400 BC. Sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic, it is considered a dialect of the Gaulish language and thus a Continental Celtic language ....
, and Galatian
Galatian language

Galatian is an extinct Celtic languages once spoken in Galatia in Asia Minor from the 3rd century BC up to the 4th century AD.Of the language only a few glosses and brief comments in classical writers and scattered names on inscriptions survive....
 as Continental Celtic. The Lepontic language is sometimes considered to be a dialect of Gaulish. Gaulish is a P-Celtic language.

The Gaulish language is known from several hundred inscriptions on stone
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
, on ceramic
Ceramic

File:Bridge from dental porcelain.jpgFile:Qing vase p1070256.jpgA ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetal solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling....
 vessels and other artifacts, and on coin
Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a Disk , and most often issued by a government....
s, and occasionally on metal (lead
Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
, and on one occasion zinc
Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
). They are found in the entire area of Roman Gaul, which covered the west of modern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, as well as parts of Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, and Belgium
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 (Meid 1994).

History

The earliest Continental Celtic inscriptions, dating to as early as the sixth century BC, are in Lepontic
Lepontic language

Lepontic is an extinct Celtic languages language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul between 700 BC and 400 BC. Sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic, it is considered a dialect of the Gaulish language and thus a Continental Celtic language ....
, found in Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul was the Roman name for a geographical area , in the territory of modern-day northern Italy , inhabited by the Celts. Sometimes referred to as Gallia Citerior , Provincia Ariminum, or Gallia Togata ....
 and were written in a form of the Old Italic alphabet
Old Italic alphabet

Old Italic refers to several now extinct alphabet systems used on the Italian Peninsula in ancient times for various Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages....
. Inscriptions in the Greek alphabet
Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BCE....
 from the third century BC have been found in the area near the mouths of the Rhône
Rhône River

The Rhone, or the Rh?ne is one of the major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running from there through the south-eastern corner of France....
, while later inscriptions dating to Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for 600 years....
 are mostly in the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
.

Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours

Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman History and Bishops of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather....
 wrote in the sixth century AD that some inhabitants of his region could still speak Gaulish.

Phonology

  • vowels:
    • short: a, e, i, o u
    • long: a, e, i, (o), u
    • diphthongs: ai, ei, oi, au, eu, ou
  • semivowels: w, y
  • occlusives:
    • voiceless: p, t, k
    • voiced: b, d, g
  • resonants
    • nasals: m, n
    • liquids r, l
  • sibilant: s
  • affricate: ts


[?] is an allophone of /k/ before /t/.

The diphthongs all transformed over the course of the historical period. Ai and oi collapsed into long i; eu merged with ou, both becoming long o. Ei became long e early on. In general, long diphthongs became short diphthongs and then collapsed into long vowels.

Other transformations include the transformation of unstressed i into e. Ln became ll, a stop + s became ss, and a nasal + velar became /ng/ + velar.

The occlusives also seem to have been both lenis, as compared to Latin which distinguished voiced occlusives with a lenis realization from voiceless occlusives with a fortis
Fortis

Fortis may refer to:*Fortis , a linguistic term*Fortis , a financial services company, based in Belgium and the Netherlands*Fortis Healthcare Limited, a chain of hospitals based in India...
 realization, hence confusions like Glanum for Clanum, vergobretos for vercobreto, Britannia for Pritannia.

Orthography


The alphabet of Lugano
Lugano

Lugano is a town in the south of Switzerland, in the Linguistic geography of Switzerland cantons of Switzerland of Ticino, which borders Italy....
 used in Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul was the Roman name for a geographical area , in the territory of modern-day northern Italy , inhabited by the Celts. Sometimes referred to as Gallia Citerior , Provincia Ariminum, or Gallia Togata ....
 for Lepontic:
AEIKLMNOPRSTTUVXZ


The alphabet of Lugano does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced occlusives, i.e. P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /d/ or /t/, K for /g/ or /k/. Z is probably for /ts/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished only in one early inscription. T is probably for /t/ and X for /g/ (Lejeune 1971, Solinas 1985).

The Eastern Greek alphabet used in southern Gallia Transalpina:
aß?de??????µ???p?st???


? is used for [?], ? for /ts/, ?? for /u/, /u/, /w/, ? and ? for both long and short /e/, /e/ and /o/, /o/, while ? is for short /i/ and e? for /i/. Note that the Sigma in the Eastern Greek alphabet looks like a C (lunate sigma). All Greek letters were used except phi
PHI

PHI is a three-letter acronym or abbreviation that can refer to:* Post-Polio Health International* Protected Health Information as part of the HIPAA regulations...
 and psi
Psi (letter)

Psi is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and has a Greek numerals value of 700. In both Classical Greek and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ ....
.

Latin alphabet (monumental and cursive) in use in Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for 600 years....
:
ABCDÐEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTUVXZ
abcdðefghiklmnopqrstuvxz


G and K are sometimes used interchangeably (especially after R). Ð/ð, ds and s may represent /ts/. X, x is for [?] or /ks/. Q is only used rarely (e.g. Sequanni, Equos) and may represent an archaism (a retained *kw) or a local Q-dialect. Ð and ð are used here to represent the letter Tau Gallicum (the Gaulish dental affricate), which has not yet been added to Unicode. In contrast to the glyph
Glyph

A glyph is an element of writing. Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol, whether interchangeable or context-dependent, are called allographs; the abstract unit they are variants of is called a grapheme or character ....
 for Ð, the central bar extends right across the glyph and also does not protrude outside it.

Sound laws

  • Gaulish changed PIE
    Proto-Indo-European language

    The Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, linguistic reconstruction common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans....
     voiceless labiovelars
    Labiovelar consonant

    The term labiovelar is ambiguous. It may mean Labial-velar consonant , or it may mean labialization velar consonant .When the manner of articulation is a stop consonant, nasal consonant, or fricative consonant, these are quite different....
     kw to p (hence P-Celtic
    Proto-Celtic language

    The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. Its lexis can be confidently reconstructed on the basis of the comparative method of historical linguistics....
    ), a development also observed in Brythonic
    Brythonic languages

    The Brythonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Wales Celtic studies Sir John Rhys from the Welsh language word Brython, meaning an indigenous Brython as opposed to an Anglo-Saxons or Gaels....
     (as well as Greek
    Greek language

    Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
     and some Italic languages
    Italic languages

    The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European languages language family's Centum branch. It includes the Romance languages derived from Latin , and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian language, Oscan language, and the aforementioned Latin....
    ), while the other Celtic, 'Q-Celtic', retained the labiovelar. Thus the Gaulish word for "son" was mapos (Delmarre 2003: 216-217), contrasting with Primitive Irish
    Primitive Irish language

    Primitive Irish is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages, known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Great Britain up to about the 6th century....
     *maqqas (attested in the genitive, maqqi), which became mac (genitive mic) in modern Irish. In modern Welsh the word map (mab) (or its contracted form ap(ab)) is used to mean "son of". Similarly one Gaulish word for "horse" was epos (in Southern Gaulish eqos) while Old Irish
    Old Irish language

    Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language, or, rather, the Goidelic languages, for which extensive written texts are possessed....
      has ech, Modern Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) each, Manx egh; all derived from Indo-European
    Proto-Indo-European language

    The Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, linguistic reconstruction common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans....
     *eqwos (Delmarre 2003: 163-164)


  • Voiced labiovelar gw became w, e. g. gwediumi > uediiumi "I pray" (cf. Old Irish guidiu "I pray", Welsh gweddi "to pray").


  • PIE tst became /ts/, spelled ð, e.g. *nedz-tamo > neððamon (cf. Old Irish nessam "nearest", Welsh nesaf "next", Irish neasa [now only used as a girl's name]).


  • PIE eu became ou, and later o, e.g. *teuta > touta > tota "tribe" (cf. Old Irish tuath, Welsh tud "people").


  • Additionally, intervocalic /st/ became the affricate [ts] (alveolar stop + voiceless alveolar stop) and intervocalic /sr/ became [ðr] and /str/ became [þr]. Finally, when a labial or velar stop came before either a /t/ or /s/ the two sounds merged into the fricative [x].


Morphology

There was some areal (or genetic, see Italo-Celtic
Italo-Celtic

In historical linguistics, Italo-Celtic refers to the observation that the Italic languages and the Celtic languages share a number of common features unique to these two groups....
) similarity to Latin grammar, and the French historian A. Lot argued that this helped the rapid adoption of Latin in Roman Gaul.

Noun cases

Gaulish has six or seven cases
Declension

In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
 (Lambert 2003 pp.51-67). In common with Latin it has nominative
Nominative case

The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
, vocative
Vocative case

The vocative case is the declension used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence....
, accusative
Accusative case

The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions....
, genitive
Genitive case

In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
, and dative
Dative case

The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave a book to Mary"....
; where Latin has an ablative
Ablative case

In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to grammatical case in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ....
, Gaulish has an instrumental
Instrumental case

The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action....
 and may also have a locative
Locative case

Locative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases together with the lative case and separative case case....
. There is more evidence for common cases (nominative and accusative) and for common stems (-o- and -a- stems) than there is for cases less frequently used in inscriptions, or rarer stems such as -i-, -n- and occlusive. The following table summarizes the case endings which are most securely known. A blank means that the form is unattested.


In some cases a historical evolution is known, for example the dative singular of -a- stems is -ai in the oldest inscriptions, becoming first -e and finally -i.

Numerals

Ordinal numerals from the La Graufesenque
La Graufesenque

La Graufesenque is an archaeological site 2km from Millau, Aveyron, France at the junction of the Tarn river and Dourbie river rivers. As Condatomagus it was famous in the Gallo-Roman period for the production of high quality dark red terra sigillata pottery, which was made in vast quantities and exported over much of the western part of the...
 graffiti
Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is sometimes regarded as a form of art and other times regarded as unsightly damage or unwanted....
  1. cintus, cintuxos (Welsh cyntaf "first", Breton kent "in front", Old Irish céta, Modern Irish céad "first")
  2. allos (Welsh ail, Breton eil, OIr aile 'other', Modern Irish eile)
  3. tritios (Welsh trydydd, Breton trede, OIr treide, Modern Irish treas)
  4. petuarios (Welsh pedwerydd, Breton pevare, OIr cethramad, Modern Irish ceathrú)
  5. pinpetos (Welsh pumed, Breton pempet, OIr cóiced, Modern Irish cúigiú)
  6. suexos (maybe mistaken for suextos, Welsh chweched, Breton c'hwec'hved, OIr seissed, Modern Irish séú)
  7. sextametos (Welsh seithfed, Breton seizhved, OIr sechtmad, Modern Irish seachtú)
  8. oxtumetos (Welsh wythfed, Breton eizhved, OIr ochtmad, Modern Irish ochtú)
  9. nametos (Welsh nawfed, Breton naved, OIr nómad, Modern Irish naoú)
  10. decametos, decometos (Welsh degfed, Breton degvet, OIr dechmad, Modern Irish deichniú, Celtiberian dekametam)


The ancient Gaulish language was more similar to Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 than modern Celtic languages are to modern Romance languages. The ordinal numerals in Latin are prímus, secundus/alter, tertius, quártus, quíntus, sextus, septimus, octávus, nónus, decimus.

Syntax


Word order

The majority of Gaulish sentences are SVO (subject-verb-object). However, other surface variations are attested: verb-initial, verb-medial, and verb-final. Verb-initial sentences can nonetheless be evaluated as pro-drop or imperative. Gaulish was certainly not a verb-second
V2 word order

Verb-second word order, in syntax, is the rule in some languages that the second Constituent of declarative main clauses is always a verb, while this is not necessarily the case in other types of clauses....
 language, as evidenced by:

  • ratin briuatiom | frontu tarbetisonios | ie(i)uru
  • NP.Acc.Sg. | NP.Nom.Sg. | V.3rd Sg.
    • "Frontus Tarbetisonios dedicated the board of the bridge."


Whenever a clitic pronominal object is present, it must be syntactically hosted (i.e., adjacent) to the verb, as per Vendryes' Restriction. Since Wackernagel's Law was strongly grammaticalized in Celtic, this had the effect of ensuring that the verb occupied clause-initial position. In such cases, the verb occupies absolute initial position in the clause or is preceded only by a null-position, semantically empty, sentential connective, the original purpose of which was to host the clitic phonologically.

  • sioxt-i | albanos | panna(s) | extra tuð(on) | CCC
  • V-Pro.Neut. | NP.Nom.Sg. | NP.Fem.Acc.Pl. | PP | Num.
    • "Albanos added them, vessels beyond the allotment (in the amount of) 300."


  • to-me-declai obalda natina
  • Conn.-Pro.1st.Sg.Acc.-V.3rd.Sg. | NP.Nom.Sg. | Appositive
    • Obalda, (their) dear daughter, set me up."


Vendryes' Restriction is believed to have played a large role in the development of Insular Celtic VSO word order.

Considering that Gaulish is not a verb-final language, it is not surprising to find other head-intitial features.
  • Genitives follow their head nouns
    • atom teuoxtonion
      • "The border of gods and men."
  • The unmarked position for adjectives is after their head nouns
    • toutious namausatis
      • "citizen of Nîmes"
  • Prepositional phrases are headed by the preposition
    • in alixie
      • "in Alesia"
  • Passive clauses
    • uatiounui so nemetos commu escengilu
      • "To Vatiounos this shrine (was dedicated) by Commos Escengilos


Subordination

Subordinate clauses follow their head and are characterized by the presence of an uninflected particle (jo) which is attached to the initial verb of the subordinate clause.
  • gobedbi | dugijonti-jo | ucuetin | in alisija
  • NP.Dat/Inst.Pl. | V.3rd.Pl.- Pcl. | NP.Acc.Sg. | PP
    • "to the smiths who serve Ucuetis in Alisia"


This particle is used in relative clauses and to construct the equivalent of THAT-clauses
  • scrisu-mi-jo | uelor
  • V.1st.Sg.-Pro.1st Sg.-Pcl. | V.1st Sg.
    • "I wish that I spit"


This particle is found residually in the Insular Languages, thus:
  • Welsh
    • Middle Welsh yssyd, modern sydd "which is" from *esti-jo
    • vs. Welsh yd "is" from *esti


  • Irish
    • Old Irish 3rd plural relative cartae "loves" from *caront-jo


Clitics

Gaulish has a number of clitic pronominals, such as the object pronominals:
  • to-so-ko-te
  • Conn. - Pro.3rd Sg.Acc - PerfVZ - V.3rd Sg
    • "he gave it"


Subject pronominals also exist: mi, tu, id, which function like the emphasizing particles known as notae augentes in the Insular Celtic languages.
  • dessu-mii-iis
  • V.1st.Sg. | Emph.-Pcl.1st Sg.Nom. | Pro.3rd Pl.Acc.
    • "I prepare them"
  • buet-id
  • V.3rd Sg.Pres.Subjunc.-Emph.Pcl.3rd Sg.Nom.Neut.
    • "it should be"


Clitic doubling is also found (along with left dislocation), where a neuter pronominal doubles an instrinsically inanimate but grammatically animate nominal, a construction which is also attested in Old Irish.

Corpus

The Gaulish corpus is edited in the Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises (R.I.G.), in four volumes:
  • Vol. 1: Inscriptions in the Greek alphabet
    Greek alphabet

    The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BCE....
    , edited by Michel Lejeune (items G-1 –G-281)
  • Vol. 2.1: Inscriptions in the Etruscan alphabet (Lepontic, items E-1 – E-6), and inscriptions in the Latin alphabet in stone (items l. 1 – l. 16), edited by Michel Lejeune
  • Vol. 2.2: inscriptions in the Latin alphabet on instruments (ceramic, lead, glass etc.), edited by Pierre-Yves Lambert (items l. 18 – l. 139)
  • Vol. 3: The calendars of Coligny (73 fragments) and Villards d'Heria (8 fragments), edited by Paul-Marie Duval and Georges Pinault
  • Vol. 4: inscriptions on coins, edited by Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu and Brigitte Fischer (338 items)


The longest known Gaulish text was found in 1983 in L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac
L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac

L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac is a Communes of France in the Aveyron Departments of France in southern France....
  in Aveyron
Aveyron

Aveyron is a departments of France in southern France named after the Aveyron River....
. It is inscribed in Latin cursive script on both sides of two small sheets of lead
Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
. Probably curse tablet
Curse tablet

A curse tablet or binding spell is a type of curse found throughout the Graeco-Roman world, in which someone would ask the gods to do harm to others....
s (defixio), they contain magical
Magic (paranormal)

Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control or predict the nature through Mysticism, paranormal or supernatural means....
 incantation
Incantation

An incantation or incantations are the words spoken during a ritual, either a hymn or prayer invoking or praising a deity, or in magic , occultism, witchcraft with the intention of casting a Spell or an object or a person....
s regarding one Severa Tertionicna and 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
Coligny calendar

The Gaulish Coligny Calendar was found in Coligny, Ain, Ain, France near Lyon in 1897, along with the head of a bronze statue of a youthful male figure....
 was found in Coligny near Lyon
Lyon

||-||}Lyon, also known as Lyons in English, is a city in east-central France. Its name is pronounced in French language and Franco-Proven?al language, and or in English language....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 with a statue identified as Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
. The Coligny Calendar is a lunisolar calendar
Lunisolar calendar

A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moo...
 that divides the year into two parts with the months underneath. SAMON "summer" and GIAMON "winter". The date of SAMON- xvii is identified as TRINVX[tion] SAMO[nii] SINDIV.

Another major text is the lead tablet of Chamalières
Chamalières

Chamali?res is a town and Communes of France in France, in the third-largest in the Puy-de-D?me Departments of France. It is about 150 miles from Lyon....
 (l. 100), written on lead in Latin cursive script, in twelve lines, apparently a curse
Curse

A curse is any manner of adversity thought to be inflicted by any supernatural power, such as a spell , a prayer, an imprecation, an execration, magic , witchcraft, a god, a natural force, or a spiritual being....
 or incantation addressed to the god Maponos
Maponos

In Celtic polytheism, Maponos or Maponus was a god of youth known mainly in northern Ancient Britain but also in Gaul. In Roman Britain times he was equated with Apollo....
. It was deposited in a spring, much like defixiones often are.

The graffito of La Graufesenque, Millau
Millau

Millau is a Communes of France in the Aveyron Departments of France in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn River and Dourbie rivers....
 ( ), inscribed in Latin cursive on a ceramic plate, is our most important source for Gaulish numerals. It was probably written in a ceramic factory, referring to furnace
Furnace

File:Piec krepa.JPGA furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven. The earliest furnace was excavated at Balakot, a site of the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to its mature phase ....
s numbered 1 to 10.

A number of short inscriptions are found on spindle whorl
Whorl

Whorl is a type of spiral pattern.Other meanings of whorl include:* Whorl , a single, complete 360? turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell...
s and are among the most recent finds in the Gaulish language. Spindle whorls were apparently given to young girls by their suitors and bear such inscriptions as:
  • moni gnatha gabi / buððutton imon (l. 119) "my girl, take my kiss"
  • geneta imi / daga uimpi (l. 120) '"I am a young girl, good (and) pretty".


Inscriptions found in Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 are rare, but many modern Swiss placenames are derived from Gaulish names as they are in the rest of Gaul. There is a statue of a seated goddess with a bear
Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
, Artio
Artio

In Gallo-Roman religion, Artio was a goddess of the bear, and was worshipped at Berne, which actually means "bear"....
, found in Muri
Muri bei Bern

Muri bei Bern is a Municipalities of Switzerland in the district of Bern in the Cantons of Switzerland of Bern in Switzerland.The municipality is clearly divided into two parts, each with about 6,000 people....
 near Berne
Berne

The city of Berne or Bern is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland and, with 128,041 people , the fifth most populous city in Switzerland ....
, with a Latin inscription DEAE ARTIONI LIVINIA SABILLINA, suggesting a Gaulish Artiyon- "bear goddess". A number of coins with Gaulish inscriptions in the Greek alphabet have been found in Switzerland, e.g. RIG IV Nrs. 92 (Lingones
Lingones

Lingones were a Celtic tribe that originally lived in Gaul in the area of the headwaters of the Seine and Marne rivers. Some of the Lingones migrated across the Alps and settled near the mouth of the Po River in Cisalpine Gaul of northern Italy around 400 BCE....
) and 267 (Leuci
Leuci

The Leuci were an ancient Gallic tribe, traditionally considered to have lived the southern part of what is now Lorraine . They are mentioned by Julius Caesar as forming part of the people supplying wheat to the Roman army in 58 BC....
). A sword dating to the La Tène
La Tène culture

The La T?ne culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La T?ne, Marin-Epagnier on the north side of Lake Neuch?tel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
 period was found in Port
Port, Berne

Port is a Municipalities of Switzerland in the Cantons of Switzerland of Bern in Switzerland, located in the district of Nidau .The town lies on the Nidau-B?ren canal, which links Lake Biel with the Orbe River....
 near Bienne, its blade inscribed with KORICIOC (Korisos), probably the name of the smith. The most notable inscription found in Helvetic
Helvetii

The Helvetii were a Celts tribe and the main occupants of the Swiss plateau in the 1st century BC. They are prominently featured in Julius Caesar Commentarii de Bello Gallico....
 parts is the Berne Zinc tablet
Berne zinc tablet

The Berne zinc tablet was found in the 1980s in Berne. It is inscribed with an apparently Gaulish inscription, consisting of the four words, each on its own line, the letter formed by little dots impressed onto the metal:...
, inscribed ????????? G????? ??????O? ??????O?, and apparently dedicated to Gobannus
Gobannus

Gobannus was a Roman Gaul god, whose name, denoting "the smith", is normally taken to identify him as patron of Smith s.A number of statues dedicated to him are preserved, found together with a bronze cauldron dedicated to Deus Cobannos, in the late 1980s and illegally exported to the USA, now in the Getty Museum in the Getty Center, i...
, the Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic god of smithcraft. Caesar relates that census accounts written in the Greek alphabet were found among the Helvetii.

See also

  • Languages of France


External links

  • by Hélène Chew of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales (in French)