Lusitanian language
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.
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
native 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.
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 鈥" the anthroponyms and toponyms 鈥" 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 (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.
Inscriptions have been found in
Arroyo de la Luz (in
C谩ceres),
Cabe莽o 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.
The most famous inscriptions are those from Cabe莽o de Fraguas and Lamas de Moledo in Portugal. All the known inscriptions are written in the
Latin alphabet.
| Lamas de Moledo: | Cabe莽o 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路RVETI 路
PVPPID路CARLAE路EN
ETOM路INDI路NA.[
....CE路IOM路
M路
|
*
Lusitanian in
LINGV脝路IMPERII (Spanish)
*
Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)
