Cisalpine Gaulish

From Lexicon Leponticum

We consider Cisalpine Gaulish a local Gaulish dialect of Northern Italy.

Contents 1 Definition of "Cisalpine Gaulish" 1.1 Linguistic aspects 2 Commentary 3 Lists 4 Bibliography

Definition of "Cisalpine Gaulish"

Some inscriptions in Northern Italy are ascribed to a second "Celtic entity" that shares some features with Lepontic (cf. RIG II 1, 6; Lejeune 1971: 385, Uhlich 1999, 277, 280-281; Uhlich 2007, 374, 376-377). Cisalpine Gaulish distinguishes itself from Lepontic in sharing more distinctive phonological and morphological features with (transalpine) Gaulish. It can therefore be classified as a local Gaulish dialect.

Linguistic aspects

Provisional catalogue of criteria for ascribing a word to Cisalpine Gaulish (vs. Lepontic):

1. Date after 400 B.C.
2. *-m# > -n# Acc. sg. (vs. preserved Acc. sg. -m in Lepontic, e.g. palam)
3. use of patronymic suffix -ikno/ā- (vs. -alo/ā- in Lepontic)
4. stem karni- (attested in (transalpine) Gaulish: inscription from Saignon, France)
5. 3sg/pl pret. in -itu(s) (e.g. karnitu, karnitus; vs. -ite in Lepontic, e.g. karite/kalite)?

Distinguishing criteria from (transalpine) Gaulish (shared by Lepontic):

1. *nd > nn (e.g. ande- > ane-)
2. *nT > ⁿT (e.g. *kom-bogios > -ko-pokios)
3. *xs > ss (e.g. *eks- > es- in esopnos)

Commentary

Inscriptions from Gallia Cisalpina, see Schmidt 1980: 177

Lists

• Inscriptions in Cisalpine Gaulish language (11)
• Words in Cisalpine Gaulish language (50)
• Morphemes in Cisalpine Gaulish language (3)

Bibliography

Lejeune 1971	Michel Lejeune, Lepontica, Paris: Société d'Édition "Les Belles Lettres" 1971. (reprint of the article "Documents gaulois et para-gaulois de Cisalpine", Études Celtiques 12/2, 1970-1, pp. 357-500)
RIG	Paul-Marie Duval, Recueil des inscriptions gauloises, Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 1988. (4 volumes)
Schmidt 1980	Karl Horst Schmidt, "Continental Celtic as an aid to the reconstruction of Proto-Celtic", Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen 94 (1980), 172-197.
Uhlich 1999	Jürgen Uhlich, "Zur sprachlichen Einordnung des Lepontischen", in: Stefan Zimmer, Rolf Ködderitzsch, Arndt Wigger (Eds.), Akten des zweiten deutschen Keltologensymposiums (Bonn, 2.–4. April 1997) [= Buchreihe der Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 17], Tübingen: Niemeyer 1999, 277-304.
Uhlich 2007	Jürgen Uhlich, "More on the linguistic classification of Lepontic", in: Pierre-Yves Lambert, George-Jean Pinault (eds.), Gaulois et celtique continental [= École pratique des hautes études. Sciences historiques et philologiques. III. Hautes études du monde gréco-romain 39], Genève: Librairie Droz 2007, 373-411.