Editing Galatian language

{{short description|Extinct Celtic language from Asia Minor}}
{{About|the extinct Celtic language spoken in Anatolia|the extinct Iberian Celtic language|Gallaecian language|the current Iberian Romance language|Galician language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Galatian
| region           = [[Galatia]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]
| fam3             = [[Continental Celtic languages|Continental Celtic]]
| fam4             = [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]]
| extinct          = 4th century AD (possibly 6th century AD)
| iso3             = xga
| glotto           = gala1252
| glottorefname    = Galatian
| linglist         = xga
| map              = Roman Empire - Galatia (125 AD).svg
| mapcaption       = The Roman province of Galatia
| ethnicity        = [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]]
}}

'''Galatian''' is an extinct [[Celtic languages|Celtic language]] once spoken by the [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]] in [[Galatia]], in central [[Anatolia]] ([[Asia]]n part of modern [[Turkey]]), from the 3rd century BC up to at least the 4th century AD. Some sources suggest that it was still spoken in the 6th century.{{sfn|Eska|2006|p=788}} Galatian was contemporary with, and closely related to, [[Gaulish]].{{Sfn|Freeman|2001|p=3}}{{Sfn|Eska|2013|p=53}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maier |first1=Bernhard |last2=Windle |first2=Kevin |chapter=The Celts in Asia Minor |title=The Celts: A History From Earliest Times to the Present |pages=108–116 [111–112] |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |date=2017 |doi=10.1515/9781474427210-011 |quote=One of the foremost features of the Galatian culture ... according to the documentary and literary evidence, is its Celtic language. ... we are dealing here not with an independent member of the mainland Celtic family, ... but rather with a variant of Gaulish.}}</ref>

==History==
===Emergence===
The Galatian language, based on [[onomastic]] evidence (as no texts written in Galatian have yet been discovered), seems to have closely resembled [[Gaulish]] of western and central Europe.{{sfn|Eska|2006|p=788}} The language was introduced to [[Anatolia]] in the 3rd century BC, when Celtic tribes – notably the [[Tectosages]], [[Trocmii]], and [[Tolistobogii]] – migrated south from the Balkans. According to the Greek historian [[Strabo]], the Tectosages of Anatolia were related to the [[Volcae Tectosages]] of [[Gaul]]; the parent tribe of both branches, the [[Volcae]], originally lived in central Europe.

===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}}

===Survival into Early Medieval period===
In the 6th century AD, [[Cyril of Scythopolis]] suggested<ref>Cyril of Scythopolis, ''Vita S. Euthymii'', 55.</ref> that the language was still being spoken in his own day when he related a story that a monk from Galatia was temporarily possessed by [[Satan]] and unable to speak; when he recovered from the "possession", he could respond to the questioning of others only in his native Galatian tongue.{{sfn|Freeman|2001|pp=11–12}}

==Vocabulary==
Of the language only a few glosses and brief comments in classical writers and scattered names on inscriptions survive. Altogether they add up to about 120 words, including place and personal names. Scattered vocabulary terms mentioned by Greek authors include ἀδάρκα (''adarka''), a type of plant; αδες (''ades''), "feet"; βαρδοί (''bardoi''), "singing poets, bards"; μάρκα (''marka''), "horse" and τριμαρκισία (''[[Trimarcisia|trimarkisia]]''), "three-horse battle group".{{sfn|Freeman|2001|pp=15–18}}{{sfn|Delamarre|2003}}

===Common nouns===
Only three common nouns are certainly attested, and only two of them of Celtic origin. All are attested in Greek sources and are declined as if Greek.{{sfn|Eska|2006|p=788}}
*{{lang|xga|τασκός}}, {{transliteration|xga|taskos}}, "[[Eurasian badger|badger]]" (cf. [[Moritasgus|Mori'''tasgus''']])
*{{lang|xga|δρουγγός}}, {{transliteration|xga|droungos}}, "snout, nose"
*{{lang|xga|ὗς}}, {{transliteration|xga|hus}}, "[[kermes oak]]"

Both {{transliteration|xga|taskos}} and {{transliteration|xga|droungos}} are given by [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] in his {{transliteration|grc|[[Panarion]]}} in an effort to elucidate the name of the gnostic sect of the [[Tascodrugites]]. Although he has the correct meaning of {{transliteration|xga|droungos}}, he gives {{transliteration|xga|taskos}} as meaning "peg". It almost certainly means "badger".<ref>{{citation |author=Joshua T. Katz |title=Hittite ''tašku''- and the Indo-European Word for 'Badger' |journal=Historische Sprachforschung |volume=111 |issue=1 |year=1998 |pages=61–82 |jstor=41288957}}.</ref> The word {{transliteration|xga|hus}} is not of Celtic origin, but was borrowed into Galatian from another language.{{sfn|Eska|2006|p=788}}

===Personal names===

The attested Galatian personal names are similar to those found elsewhere in the ancient Celtic-speaking world. Many are compound names containing common Celtic roots such as ''*brog-'', "country, territory" (cf. [[Old Irish language|Old Irish]] ''mruig'', [[Welsh language|Welsh]] and [[Breton language|Breton]] ''bro''; cognate with [[Latin language|Latin]] ''margo'' and [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''marka''), ''*epo-'', "horse" (Old Irish ''ech'', Welsh ''eb-'' [in ''ebol'' "pony" and the compound ''ebrwydd'' "swift"], Breton ''ebeul'', foal), ''*māro-'' (cf. Gaulish ''-māros'', Old Irish ''mór'', Welsh ''mawr'', Breton ''meur'') "great", and ''*rig(o)-'', "king" (cf. [[Gaulish]] ''-rīx/-reix'', Irish ''rí'', Welsh ''rhi''; cognate with Gothic ''-reiks'', Latin ''rēx''). Examples include:{{sfn|Freeman|2001|pp=23–64}}
* Ἀδιατόριξ (''Adiatorīx'')
* Βιτοριξ (''Bitorīx'')
* Βρογιμάρος (''Brogimāros'')
* Κάμμα (''Cāmmā'')
* Δομνείωυ (''Domneiū'')
* Ἐπόνη (''Eponī'')
* Ολοριξ (''Olorīx'')
* Σμερτομάρα (''Smertomārā'')
* Τεκτομάρος (''Tectomāros'')

Tribal names include ''Ambitouti'' (Old Irish ''imm-'', Welsh ''am'' "around"; Old Irish ''tuath'', Welsh ''tut'', "tribe"), Ριγόσαγες (''Rigosages'', "King-Seekers"; cf. Old Irish ''saigid'' "goes towards, seeks out", Welsh ''haeddu'', verbal suffix ''-ha-'' "seeking"), and Τεκτόσαγες (''Tectosages'', cf. the related [[Volcae Tectosages]] tribe of Gaul, "Travel-seekers"; Old Irish ''techt'', "going, proceeding", Welsh ''taith'', "journey, voyage").

===Divine names===
Attested divine names include βουσσουριγίος (''Bussurīgios'') and Σουωλιβρογηνός (''Suolibrogēnos''), both identified with the [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek]] king of the gods [[Zeus]], and Ούινδιεινος (''Uindieinos''),<ref>{{cite book |last=Maier |first=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Maier |title=Geschichte und Kultur der Kelten |year=2012 |place=C.H.Beck |page=268 |lang=DE }}</ref> perhaps the [[tutelary god]] of the [[Tolistobogii|Tolistobogian]] town Ούινδια (''Uindia'').<ref>Derks, Ton; Roymans, Nico. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fM_cmuhmSbIC&dq=%22uindia%22+galatian&pg=PA132 Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition]''. Amsterdam University Press, 2009. pp. 132=133. {{ISBN|9789089640789}}.</ref><ref>Klein, Jared; Wenthe, Mark. ''Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook''. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter, 2017. p. 1257. {{ISBN|9783110523874}}</ref>

===Place names===

Attested place names include ''Acitorīgiāco'' ("[Settlement of] ''Acitorīx''"; compare ''Acitodunum'' in Gaul), Άρτικνιακόν (''Articniācon'', "[Settlement of] ''Articnos''" ["Bear-son"]), Δρυνέμετον (''Drunemeton''; < [[Proto-Celtic]] ''*dru-'' "oak" and, by extension, "great"; cf. Old Irish ''druí'', Welsh ''dryw'' [< ''*dru-wid-s''], "druid, wise man" [literally "greatly wise"], Old Irish ''neimed'', Welsh ''nyfed'' "holy place, [sacred] grove"), the meeting place of the Galatian [[wikt:tetrarch|tetrarchs]] and judges, and Ούινδια (''Uindia'' "Fair/White/Holy Place"; Old Irish ''[[Fionn|finn]]'', Welsh ''[[Gwyn (name)|gwyn]]'' [masc.], ''[[Gwen (given name)|gwen]]'' [fem.] "fair, white; holy").<ref>Klein, Jared; Wenthe, Mark. ''Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook''. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter, 2017. p. 1257. {{ISBN|9783110523874}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book| last=Delamarre|first=Xavier | title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental | location=Paris | publisher=Errance | year=2003 | isbn=2-87772-237-6|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Eska|first=Joseph F.|editor=John T. Koch|encyclopedia=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia|title=Galatian language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA788|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|volume=III: G—L|location=Santa Barbara, California|isbn=1-85109-440-7}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Eska|first=Joseph F.|date=2013|title=A salvage grammar of Galatian|journal=Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie|volume=60|issue=1|pages=51–64|doi=10.1515/zcph.2013.006|s2cid=199576252 |issn=1865-889X}}
* {{Cite book| last=Freeman|first=Philip | title=The Galatian Language: A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor | location=[[Lewiston, New York]] | publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]| year=2001 | isbn=0-7734-7480-3}}
* Weisgerber, L. (1931). Galatische Sprachreste. In ''Natalicium Johannes Geffcken zum 70. Geburtstag 2. Mai 1931 gewidmet von Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern'', 151–75. [[Heidelberg]]: Carl Winter.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Rance |first=Philip |title=Drungus, δρουγγος, and δρουγγιστί: A Gallicism and Continuity in late Roman Cavalry Tactics |journal=[[Phoenix (classics journal)|Phoenix]] |volume=58 |issue=1/2 |date=2004 |doi=10.2307/4135199 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4135199 |url-access=subscription |pages=96–130|jstor=4135199 }}

{{Celtic languages}}
{{Gallic peoples}}
{{Celts}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galatian Language}}
[[Category:Continental Celtic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of ancient Anatolia]]
[[Category:Extinct Celtic languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 6th century]]
[[Category:Gaulish language]]