Galatian language
Galatian | |
---|---|
Region | Galatia |
Extinct | 4th century AD (possibly 6th century AD) |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | xga |
xga | |
Glottolog | gala1252 |
The Roman province of Galatia |
Galatian is an extinct
History
Emergence
The Galatian language, based on
, originally lived in central Europe.Contemporary Roman sources
Sometime in AD 48–55, the Apostle Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatians in Greek, the medium of communication in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire. This may mean that Galatians at the time were already bilingual in Greek, as St. Jerome later reports. However, scholars are divided as to whether Paul was writing to Greek Galatians or to the Hellenized descendants of the Celtic Galatians.[4][5]
The physician
In the 4th century,
Survival into Early Medieval period
In the 6th century AD, Cyril of Scythopolis suggested[12] that the language was still being spoken in his own day when he related a story that a monk from Galatia was temporarily possessed by Satan and unable to speak; when he recovered from the "possession", he could respond to the questioning of others only in his native Galatian tongue.[13]
Vocabulary
Of the language only a few glosses and brief comments in classical writers and scattered names on inscriptions survive. Altogether they add up to about 120 words, including place and personal names. Scattered vocabulary terms mentioned by Greek authors include ἀδάρκα (adarka), a type of plant; αδες (ades), "feet"; βαρδοί (bardoi), "singing poets, bards"; μάρκα (marka), "horse" and τριμαρκισία (trimarkisia), "three-horse battle group".[14][15]
Common nouns
Only three common nouns are certainly attested, and only two of them of Celtic origin. All are attested in Greek sources and are declined as if Greek.[1]
- τασκός, taskos, "badger"
- δρουγγός, droungos, "snout, nose"
- ὗς, hus, "kermes oak"
Both taskos and droungos are given by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion in an effort to elucidate the name of the gnostic sect of the Tascodrugites. Although he has the correct meaning of droungos, he gives taskos as meaning "peg". It almost certainly means "badger".[16] The word hus is not of Celtic origin, but was borrowed into Galatian from another language.[1]
Personal names
The attested Galatian personal names are similar to those found elsewhere in the ancient Celtic-speaking world. Many are compound names containing common Celtic roots such as *brog-, "country, territory" (cf.
- Ἀδιατόριξ (Adiatorīx)
- Βιτοριξ (Bitorīx)
- Βρογιμάρος (Brogimāros)
- Κάμμα (Cāmmā)
- Δομνείων (Domneiū)
- Ἐπόνη (Eponī)
- Ολοριξ (Olorīx)
- Σμερτομάρα (Smertomārā)
- Τεκτομάρος (Tectomāros)
Tribal names include Ambitouti (Old Irish imm-, Welsh am "around"; Old Irish tuath, Welsh tut, "tribe"), Ριγόσαγες (Rigosages, "King-Seekers"; cf. Old Irish saigid "goes towards, seeks out", Welsh haeddu, verbal suffix -ha- "seeking"), and Τεκτόσαγες (Tectosages, cf. the related
Attested divine names include βουσσουριγίος (Bussurīgios) and Σουωλιβρογηνός (Suolibrogēnos), both identified with the
Place names
Attested place names include Acitorīgiāco ("[Settlement of] Acitorīx"; compare Acitodunum in Gaul), Άρτικνιακόν (Articniācon, "[Settlement of] Articnos" ["Bear-son"]), Δρυνέμετον (Drunemeton; <
References
- ^ a b c d Eska 2006, p. 788.
- ^ Freeman 2001, p. 3.
- ^ Eska 2013, p. 53.
- ^ The Catholic Study Bible (2nd edition, 2011, Oxford), p. 1643.
- ^ The New Interpreter's Study Bible (2003, Abingdon Press), p. 2079.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander, 51: "He [Alexander] often gave oracles to barbarians if anyone asked a question in his [the questioner's] native tongue, whether Syrian or Celtic, as he [Alexander] easily found strangers in the city of the same origin as the questioners."
- ^ Freeman 2001, p. 10.
- ^ Galen, De Differentia Pulsum, 8.585: "three words from Cilicia, four from Syria, five from Galatia, and six from Athens".
- ^ Freeman 2001, pp. 10–11.
- St. Jerome[Hieronymus], Comentarii in Epistolam ad Galatos, II:3: "Galatas excepto sermone Graeco, quo omnis oriens loquitur propriam linguam eamdem pene habere quam Treviros."
- ^ Freeman 2001, p. 11.
- ^ Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita S. Euthymii, 55.
- ^ Freeman 2001, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Freeman 2001, pp. 15–18.
- ^ Delamarre 2003.
- JSTOR 41288957.
- ^ Freeman 2001, pp. 23–64.
- ISBN 9789089640789.
- ISBN 9783110523874
- ISBN 9783110523874
Bibliography
- ISBN 2-87772-237-6.
- Eska, Joseph F. (2006). "Galatian language". In John T. Koch (ed.). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. III: G—L. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-440-7.
- Eska, Joseph F. (2013). "A salvage grammar of Galatian". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 60 (1): 51–64. S2CID 199576252.
- Freeman, Philip (2001). The Galatian Language: A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor. ISBN 0-7734-7480-3.
- Weisgerber, L. (1931). Galatische Sprachreste. In Natalicium Johannes Geffcken zum 70. Geburtstag 2. Mai 1931 gewidmet von Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern, 151–75. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
Further reading
- Rance, Philip. “Drungus, Δρουγγος, and Δρουγγιστί: A Gallicism and Continuity in Late Roman Cavalry Tactics.” Phoenix 58, no. 1/2 (2004): 96–130. https://doi.org/10.2307/4135199.