Property:language

From Lexicon Leponticum
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Description: Specifies the matrix language to which the item belongs.
Type: String
Allows value: Lepontic, Cisalpine Gaulish, Transalpine Gaulish, Celtic, Latin, Umbrian, Etruscan, Raetic, Ligurian, Venetic, Old Irish, Greek, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Slovenian, Welsh, Norwegian, unknown, none


Definitions

The property "Language" covers both ancient languages (for inscriptions, words and morphemes) and modern languages (for works of secondary literature). As the second set is self-explanatory, the definitions below cover only the ancient languages.

Celtic

The value "Celtic" is primarily used as a cover term for the Cisalpine Celtic languages Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish, when the item (inscription or word) in question can be identified as Celtic, but cannot be ascribed to either language. Also, lexical and most derivational and inflectional morphemes which are attested as elements of words in Cisalpine Celtic are generally classified as Celtic, because the very fact that they can be clearly identified and understood means that they are not specific to a Cisalpine Celtic language.

Lepontic

"Lepontic" is the term used to refer to the vernacular Iron Age Celtic language of the Cisalpine area, predominantly attested in the Italian lake region and the Ticino. Its relation to the other Continental Celtic languages, specifically Gaulish, is under debate. In LexLep, Lepontic is treated as a separate language from (Transalpine as well as Cisalpine) Gaulish. The criteria by which the Cisalpine Celtic languages Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish are distinguished in LexLep is discussed in detail on The Cisalpine Celtic Languages.

Cisalpine Gaulish

"Cisalpine Gaulish" is the term used to refer to (varieties of) the Gaulish language as used in the Cisalpine area. Cisalpine Gaulish distinguishes itself from Lepontic in sharing more distinctive phonological and morphological features with (Transalpine) Gaulish. The criteria by which the Cisalpine Celtic languages Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish are distinguished in LexLep is discussed in detail on The Cisalpine Celtic Languages.

Latin

LexLep includes linguistically Latin inscriptions containing Celtic onomastic material, as well as the Latin parts of bilinguae. Since the Latin material relevant for the study of Cisalpine Celtic comes from the (linguistically and epigraphically) "classical" period, we do not have problems distinguishing Latin from Celtic languages. With regard to the focus of LexLep, Latinised Celtic forms are generally classified as Celtic (/Lepontic/Cisalpine Gaulish); Latinisation (primarily adapted endings) is registered via the property "language adaptation".

Venetic

Venetic is an Italic language attested in the eastern parts of Transpadania (Veneto, Friuli and western Slovenia). A fair amount of Celtic onomastic material is attested in Venetic inscriptions, but since these documents are included in the epigraphic corpus of Venetic, there is currently no Venetic language material in LexLep. Information about Celtic elements in Venetic inscriptions can be found on Cisalpine Celtic onomastics. LexLep includes a handful of linguistically Celtic inscriptions from the Venetic sphere, which, due to their lack of linguistically Venetic material, are not covered by the Venetic corpus.

Raetic

The Raetic language belongs to the Tyrsenian language family, which is otherwise represented by Etruscan and Lemnian. The Tyrsenian languages are not genetically related to the Indo-European languages. Raetic is attested in about 350 inscriptions between the 6th and 1st centuries BC mainly in parts of the Veneto, the Trentino, and South and North Tyrol. Only about 40% of these inscriptions are certainly language-encoding; the texts are prevalently votive, on votive or ritual objects, and a few gravestones. We know predominantly personal names, a few lexemes, and some pertinent nominal and verbal morphology. Please refer to Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum (TIR) for more information about the Raetic language. Due to the fact that Raetic onomastics are strongly influenced by the surrounding languages of Transpadania, a lot of Celtic onomastic material is attested in Raetic inscriptions. Since these documents are included in TIR, there is currently no Raetic language material in LexLep. Information about Celtic elements in Raetic inscriptions can be found on Cisalpine Celtic onomastics as well as on in TIR.

Etruscan

LexLep includes linguistically Etruscan inscriptions containing Celtic onomastic material. Like Raetic, the Etruscan language is part of the Tyrsenian language family, which is not genetically related to Indo-European. With over 2000 language-encoding inscriptions and four times as many short marks and abbreviations, Etruscan is by far the best-attested of the three languages. The documents come mainly from Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio between the late 8th and late 1st centuries BC. Within the time of attestation, two phases are distinguished: Archaic Etruscan and Neo-Etruscan. They are separated by extensive vowel syncope which happened in the 5th century; only a small part of the 2000 documents are from Archaic Etruscan times. The text types, though all name-heavy, are quite varied, including votive, funerary, owners' and manufacturers' inscriptions, secular gift inscriptions, curse tablets and prohibitions, ritual calendars and religious prescriptions, legal documents, building inscriptions, captions in images, alphabetaria, etc. There are also bilingual inscriptions with Latin and Phoenician, and loanwords and some Nebenüberlieferung in Italic languages and Greek.

Ligurian

Ligurian is a nebulous linguistic entity, which, at this point, is defined as being neither recognisably Celtic nor Etruscan. Ligurian language material may be attested in inscriptions from the area of Genova, which are included in LexLep for possibly containing Celtic (Lepontic/Cisalpine Gaulish) language material. Whether Ligurian itself may be a Celtic language or dialect remains to be determined.

Map

Distribution of inscriptions per language:

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Marker 000.png Celtic (212); Marker 030.png Lepontic (31); Marker 060.png Cisalpine Gaulish (13); Marker 360.png Latin (16); Marker 210.png Venetic (0); Marker 120.png Raetic (0); Marker 300.png Etruscan (10); Marker 180.png Ligurian (2)

Statistics

Inscriptions

Number of pages in the Category:Inscription (512) per "language":

language occurrence  
Lepontic
31 6.05 % show list
Cisalpine Gaulish
13 2.53 % show list
Celtic
221 43.16 % show list
Latin
16 3.12 % show list
Umbrian
1 0.19 % PG·2
Etruscan
10 1.95 % show list
Raetic
0 0.00 % show list
Ligurian
2 0.39 % show list
Venetic
0 0.00 % show list
Old Irish
0 0.00 % show list
English
0 0.00 % show list
French
0 0.00 % show list
German
0 0.00 % show list
Italian
0 0.00 % show list
Russian
0 0.00 % show list
Spanish
0 0.00 % show list
unknown
215 41.99 % show list
none
3 0.58 % show list
Slovenian
0 0.00 % show list
Greek
0 0.00 % show list
Welsh
0 0.00 % show list
Transalpine Gaulish
0 0.00 % show list
Norwegian
0 0.00 % show list

Words

Number of pages in the Category:Word (641) per "language":

language occurrence  
Lepontic
58 9.04 % show list
Cisalpine Gaulish
41 6.39 % show list
Celtic
377 58.81 % show list
Latin
12 1.87 % show list
Umbrian
0 0.00 % show list
Etruscan
4 0.62 % show list
Raetic
0 0.00 % show list
Ligurian
2 0.31 % show list
Venetic
0 0.00 % show list
Old Irish
0 0.00 % show list
English
0 0.00 % show list
French
0 0.00 % show list
German
0 0.00 % show list
Italian
0 0.00 % show list
Russian
0 0.00 % show list
Spanish
0 0.00 % show list
unknown
139 21.68 % show list
none
4 0.62 % show list
Slovenian
0 0.00 % show list
Greek
3 0.46 % show list
Welsh
0 0.00 % show list
Transalpine Gaulish
2 0.31 % show list
Norwegian
0 0.00 % show list

Morphemes

Number of pages in the Category:Morpheme (179) per "language":

language occurrence  
Lepontic
2 1.11 % show list
Cisalpine Gaulish
4 2.23 % show list
Celtic
165 92.17 % show list
Latin
5 2.79 % show list
Umbrian
0 0.00 % show list
Etruscan
0 0.00 % show list
Raetic
0 0.00 % show list
Ligurian
0 0.00 % show list
Venetic
0 0.00 % show list
Old Irish
0 0.00 % show list
English
0 0.00 % show list
French
0 0.00 % show list
German
0 0.00 % show list
Italian
0 0.00 % show list
Russian
0 0.00 % show list
Spanish
0 0.00 % show list
unknown
3 1.67 % show list
none
0 0.00 % show list
Slovenian
0 0.00 % show list
Greek
0 0.00 % show list
Welsh
0 0.00 % show list
Transalpine Gaulish
0 0.00 % show list
Norwegian
0 0.00 % show list

References

Number of pages in the Category:Reference (1359) per "language":

language occurrence  
Lepontic
0 0.00 % show list
Cisalpine Gaulish
0 0.00 % show list
Celtic
0 0.00 % show list
Latin
10 0.73 % show list
Umbrian
0 0.00 % show list
Etruscan
0 0.00 % show list
Raetic
0 0.00 % show list
Ligurian
0 0.00 % show list
Venetic
0 0.00 % show list
Old Irish
0 0.00 % show list
English
290 21.33 % show list
French
176 12.95 % show list
German
254 18.69 % show list
Italian
710 52.24 % show list
Russian
1 0.07 % Mikhajlova 2016
Spanish
21 1.54 % show list
unknown
11 0.80 % show list
none
0 0.00 % show list
Slovenian
4 0.29 % show list
Greek
0 0.00 % show list
Welsh
1 0.07 % GPC
Transalpine Gaulish
0 0.00 % show list
Norwegian
1 0.07 % K. Norske Frederiks Universitet 1897
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The request is being processed and may take a moment. Preparing ...
{ "type": "PROPERTY_CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA", "constraints": { "type_constraint": "_txt", "allowed_values": [ "Lepontic", "Cisalpine Gaulish", "Celtic", "Latin", "Umbrian", "Etruscan", "Raetic", "Ligurian", "Venetic", "Old Irish", "English", "French", "German", "Italian", "Russian", "Spanish", "unknown", "none", "Slovenian", "Greek", "Welsh", "Transalpine Gaulish", "Norwegian" ] } }