Editing Ligurian language (ancient) (section)

=== Ethnicity ===
Early Greek authors such as Hecataeus of Miletus and Pseudo-Scylax probably used 'Ligure' a generic name for such distant and partially known tribes, or merely as a geographic reference that had no relevance to their ethnicity.{{Sfn|Arnaud|2001|pp=321–323}}{{Sfn|Keyser|2011|p=42–45}} To reconcile conflicting accounts, certain sources coined terms like 'Celto-Ligure' to suggest an ethnic intermingling. Latin historian [[Livy]] believed that the Ligures represented an older stratum predating the Gauls in northern Italy, while [[Strabo]] and others observed that many of the peoples previously described as 'Ligures' were actually Celts. In an attempt to resolve these inconsistencies, Strabo proposed that Celtic influence had effectively supplanted the original Ligures.{{Sfn|Arnaud|2001|pp=325–327}}

Writing in the early 1st century AD, Strabo noted that the Ligures living in the Alps were a people distinct from the Celts, even though they shared cultural similarities:{{Blockquote|text=As for the Alps ... many tribes (''éthnê'') occupy these mountains, all Celtic (''keltikà'') except the Ligurians; but while these Ligurians belong to a different people (''heteroethneis''), still they are similar to the Celts in their modes of life (''bíois'')|source={{harvnb|Strabo|1923}}, ''Geōgraphiká'', 2.5.28.}}
Regarding the tribes around Massalia, earlier writers called the [[Salyes]] 'Ligure', while Strabo used the denomination 'Celto-Ligure'. According to scholars, this suggests that their culture gradually came under the influence of a Celtic-speaking elite, as evidenced by the Celtic name of their rulers and towns, and the Celtic influence on their religion.{{sfn|Dyson|1985|pp=136–137}}{{sfn|de Hoz|2005|p=182}} Similarly, the [[Segobriges]] were identified as Ligures by the oldest texts about the [[Founding myth of Marseille|foundation of Massalia]], but their ethnonym and the names of their chiefs are undoubtedly Celtic.{{Sfn|de Hoz|2005|p=174}}