Editing Galatian language (section)

===Contemporary Roman sources===
Sometime in AD 48–55, [[Paul the Apostle|the Apostle Paul]] wrote his [[Epistle to the Galatians]] in [[Greek language|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 [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] descendants of the Celtic Galatians.<ref>''The Catholic Study Bible'' (2nd edition, 2011, Oxford), p. 1643.</ref><ref>''The New Interpreter's Study Bible'' (2003, Abingdon Press), p. 2079.</ref>

[[Lucian of Samosata]] recorded in circa AD&nbsp;180 that the prophet [[Alexander of Abonoteichus]] was able to find Celtic-speaking interpreters for his oracles in [[Paphlagonia]] (immediately northeast of Galatia).<ref>[[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."</ref>{{sfn|Freeman|2001|p=10}}

The physician [[Galen of Pergamon]] in the late 2nd century AD complained that the commonly spoken Greek of his day was being corrupted by borrowings of foreign words from languages such as Galatian.<ref>[[Galen]], ''De Differentia Pulsum'', 8.585: "three words from Cilicia, four from Syria, five from Galatia, and six from Athens".</ref>{{sfn|Freeman|2001|pp=10–11}}

In the 4th century, [[St. Jerome]] (Hieronymus) wrote in a comment to [[Paul the Apostle|Paul the Apostle's]] ''[[Epistle to the Galatians]]'' that "apart from the Greek language, which is spoken throughout the entire East, the [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]] have their own language, almost the same as the [[Treveri]]". The capital of the Treveri was [[Trier]], where Jerome had settled briefly after studying in Rome.<ref>[[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."''</ref>{{sfn|Freeman|2001|p=11}}