The Language(s) of the Callaeci

Eugenio R. Luján Martínez, Dept. Filología Griega y Lingüística Indoeuropea, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Abstract

Although there is no direct extant record of the language spoken by any of the peoples of ancient Callaecia, some linguistic information can be recovered through the analysis of the names (personal names, names of deities, ethnonyms, and place-names) that occur in Latin inscriptions and in ancient Greek and Latin sources. These names prove the presence of speakers of a Celtic language in this area, but there are also names of other origins.

Keywords

Onomastics, place-names, Palaeohispanic languages, epigraphy, historical linguistics