Galatian language

Galatian is a dead Celtic language spoken anciently in Galatia, in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), until the IV.

History

From the 8th century B.C. C. and the V a. C., the Celts spread from their original Central European core throughout much of Europe, arriving a people originally from Gaul, the Galatians, from the east to the territory of present-day Turkey, settling in the Anatolian region of Galacia.

According to the Greek historian and geographer of the II century, Pausanias, in the year 279 B.C. C., some tribes of Gauls headed towards Greece through the Balkans, coming to attack Delphi and the sanctuary of Apollo, finally being defeated, Brennos, their commander, falling dead.

After this defeat, this tribe headed towards Thrace, where they confronted the forces of Antiochus I of Syria, being defeated again, despite which, under cover of this frustrated invasion, small independent States were formed that would leave consolidating during the reigns of the successor kings of Antiochus.

Later, due to the continuous looting in the region by the Galatians, the king of Pergamum Eumenes I confronted them, repelling them with the help of his large army of mercenaries. Shortly afterwards new detachments arrived from the jungles of Germania and attacked again, but were again repulsed at Pergamum and the great cities on the coast of Asia Minor by Eumenes's successor, King Attalus I. Historians think that these These rejections were beneficial to the trajectory of Hellenistic culture that might otherwise have been cut short.

As a result of this they settled in the center of the Anatolian peninsula, and their territory would later form the province of Galatia. Around the fifth century AD. C. we have testimonies that the Galatians, even having adopted a typically Greek culture and way of life, retained their language. Thus Paul in the letter to the Galatians clearly Celtic names appear and Saint Jerome recorded in his writings that the language of the Galatians was similar to the Gallic dialect of Trier.

Since the origin of the Galatians was in Gaul it is quite possible that Galatian was in fact originally a Gaulish dialect.

Linguistic features

There is no direct evidence of the language of the Galatians. The only references are the Celtic names of their leaders, the statements of Jerome of Estridon, and a few words recorded by Greek historians.

Only a few glosses and brief comments by classical writers have survived from the language, as well as a few names of inscriptions. Together they add up to about 120 words, most of which are personal names ending in -riks (Galic -rix/-reix, Old Irish ri, Latin rex) "king", some ending in -marus, dative -mari (Gallic -maros, Old Irish mor, Welsh mawr) "great", tribal names such as Ambitouti (Old Irish imm- "around", Old Irish tuath "tribe") and words like drunaimeton " place of assembly" (Old Irish drui "druid", Old Irish nemed "sacred place").

We have very little evidence of texts in the Galatian language; The evidence mainly consists of glosses recorded by classical authors and onomastic material: localities, clans, and personal names from Asia Minor, as well as the statements of Saint Jerome and a few words recorded by Greek historians.