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Lepontic language
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{{Short description|Ancient Celtic language}} {{Infobox language | name = Lepontic | region = [[Cisalpine Gaul]] | ethnicity = [[Lepontii]] | familycolor = Indo-European | fam2 = [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] | fam3 = [[Nuclear Celtic languages|Nuclear Celtic]] | script = [[Lugano alphabet]] (a variant of [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]]) | era = attested 550–100 BC | iso3 = xlp | glotto = lepo1240 | glottorefname = Lepontic | linglist = xlp | image = Inscription Lépontique de Prestino ( Côme ).png | imagescale = 1.45 | imagecaption = Lepontic inscription from [[Prestino]] ([[Como]], Italy) | map = Römische Provinzen im Alpenraum ca 14 n Chr.png | mapcaption = Map showing the position of the [[Insubres]] and [[Lepontii]] in or near [[Gallia Transpadana]]. }} '''Lepontic''' is an ancient [[Alps|Alpine]] [[Celtic language]]<ref name=LL>{{Cite web |url=http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/LLDescription.cfm?code=xlp |title=LinguistList: Lepontic |access-date=2010-06-06 |archive-date=2011-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222225335/http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/LLDescription.cfm?code=xlp |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Koch>John T. Koch (ed.) ''Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia'' ABC-CLIO (2005) {{ISBN|978-1-85109-440-0}}</ref> that was spoken in parts of [[Rhaetia]] and [[Cisalpine Gaul]] (now [[Northern Italy]]) between 550 and 100 BC. Lepontic is attested in inscriptions found in an area centered on [[Lugano]], [[Switzerland]], and including the [[Lake Como]] and [[Lake Maggiore]] areas of [[Italy]]. Being a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] language, its name could derive from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] *''leikʷontio-'' (which also was the basis of ''Lepontina'', which became the modern ''(Val) Leventina'').<ref>Markey, Thomas L. ; Mees, Bernard (2003) "Prestino, patrimony and the Plinys" ''Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie,'' Vol.53 (1), p.116</ref> While some recent scholarship (e.g. Eska 1998) has tended to consider Lepontic simply as an early outlying form of [[Gaulish]] and closely akin to other, later attestations of Gaulish in Italy ([[Cisalpine Gaulish]]), some scholars (notably Lejeune 1971) continue to view it as a distinct [[Continental Celtic]] language.<ref name=LL/><ref>Koch 2006; 1142.</ref><ref name=Schumacher/> In this latter view, the earlier inscriptions found within a 50 km radius of [[Lugano]] are considered Lepontic, while the later ones, to the immediate south of this area, are considered [[Cisalpine Gaulish]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kruta|first=Venceslas|title=The Celts|year=1991|publisher=Thames and Hudson|pages=55}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stifter |first=David |title=Old Celtic Languages |date=2008 |page=12 |url=http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/download/Stifter/oldcelt2008_1_general.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710165504/http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/download/Stifter/oldcelt2008_1_general.pdf |archive-date=2015-07-10|access-date=2023-07-22}}</ref> Lepontic was assimilated first by Gaulish, with the settlement of Gallic tribes north of the [[River Po]], and then by [[Latin]], after the [[Roman Republic]] gained control over Gallia Cisalpina during the late 2nd and 1st century BC.
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