Lusitanian language
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Lusitanian (so named after the Lusitani or Lusitanians) was a paleo-Iberian Indo-European language known by five inscriptions and numerous names of places (toponyms) and of gods (theonyms). The language was spoken before the Roman conquest of Lusitania, in the territory inhabited by Lusitanian tribes, from Douro to the Tagus rivers in Portugal.
History
The Lusitanians were the most numerous people in the western area of the Iberian peninsula, and there are those who consider that they came from the Alps; others believe the Lusitanians were a Iberian tribe. In any event, it is known that they were established in the area by the 6th century BC.
Circa 150 BC, Lusitania began being conquered by the Roman Empire. Like all other Iberian languages, except for the Basque language, the Lusitanian language succumbed to the pressure and prestige of Latin over time.
Classification and related languages
Lusitanian appears to have been an Indo-European language which was quite different from the languages spoken in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It would be more archaic than the Celtiberian language.
The filiation of the Lusitanian language is still in debate. There are those who endorse that it is a Celtic language. This Celtic theory is largely based upon the historical fact that the only Indo-European tribes that are known to have existed in Portugal at that time were Celtic tribes. The apparent "Celticity" of most of the lexicon — the anthroponyms and toponyms — may also support a Celtic affiliation.
There is a substantial problem in the Celtic theory however: the preservation of initial /p/, as can be seen in PORCOM. The Celtic languages had lost that initial /p/ in their evolution: comparing with athir / orc (Gaelic) and pater / porcum (Latin) meaning "father" and "pig", respectively. However, the presence of this /p/ does not necessarily preclude the possibility of Lusitanian being Celtic: Lusitanian could have split off from the other Celtic languages before the loss of /p/, or when /p/ had become /ɸ/ (before shifting to /h/ and then being lost); the letter P could be used to represent either sound.
A second theory, defended by Francisco Villar and Rosa Pedrero, relates Lusitanian with the Italic languages. The theory is based on parallels in the names of deities (Latin Consus / Lusitanian Cossue, Latin Seia / Lusitanian Segia, Marrucinian Iovia / Lusitanian Iovea(i)) and other lexical items (Umbrian gomia / Lusitanian comaiam), with some other grammatical elements.
Finally, Ulrich Schmoll proposed a new branch which he called "Galician-Lusitanian".
No Lusitanian text of sufficient length, however, has surfaced in order for its affiliation to be clearly determined, one way or the other.
Geographical distribution
Inscriptions have been found in Arroyo de la Luz (in Cáceres), Cabeço das Fragas (in Guarda) and in Moledo (Viseu). Taking into account Lusitanian theonyms, anthroponyms and toponyms, the Lusitanian sphere would include modern northeastern Portugal and adjacent areas in Spain, with the centre in Serra da Estrela.
There are fundamental suspicions that the area of the Gallaecian tribes (North of Portugal and Galicia), Asturian and, probably, Vetonian; that is, all the northwestern area of the Iberian peninsula, spoke related languages with the Lusitanian and not with Celtic language, as it is commonly believed.
Writing system
The most famous inscriptions are those from Cabeço de Fraguas and Lamas de Moledo in Portugal. All the known inscriptions are written in the Latin alphabet.
| Lamas de Moledo: | Cabeço das Fraguas: | Arroyo de la Luz (I & II): | Arroyo de la Luz (III): |
|
RUFUS ET TIRO SCRIP SERUNT VEAMINICORI DOENTI ANGOM LAMATICOM CROUCEAO MACA REAICOI PETRANOI R(?) ADOM PORCOM IOUEAS(?) CAELOBRICOI |
OLIAM TREBOPALA INDO PORCOM LAEBO COMAIAM ICONA LOIM INNA OILAM USSEAM TREBARUNE INDI TAUROM IFADEM REUE... |
AMBATVS SCRIPSI CARLAE PRAISOM SECIAS ERBA MVITIE AS ARIMO PRAESO NDO SINGEIETO INI AVA INDI VEA VN INDI VEDAGA ROM TEVCAECOM INDI NVRIM INDI VDEVEC RVRSENCO AMPILVA INDI LOEMINA INDI ENV PETANIM INDI AR IMOM SINTAMO M INDI TEVCOM SINTAMO |
ISACCID·RVETI · PVPPID·CARLAE·EN ETOM·INDI·NA.[ ....CE·IOM· M· |
External links
- [Lusitanian] in [LINGVÆ·IMPERII] (Spanish)
- [Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)]
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