The Bronze of Luzaga is a plate of 16 x 15 centimeters which has, in 8 lines, 123 Celtiberian characters engraved in the metal with a bradawl or similar, and which has 7 holes, perhaps in order to be held. Since its discovery in the late nineteenth century, it has been lost.
(Jordán 2005)
The sequence genei gortika (lines 1-2) seems to parallel the forms es-keinis kortika in the second line of the Uxama tessera:
In lines 2 and 7 the form gort-ik-a and in 6 gort-ik-am may be from Indo-European *ghorto- (whence also English garden, Latin hortus...) > Proto-Celtic *gorto- meaning "enclosed place" also seen in Old Irish gort "field." Note also that the place name Gorze is probably from a related but unattested Gaulish *gortia. Or gortika may mean "mandatory, required" from *gʰor-ti-ka; compare Latin ex-horto "exhort" from *ex-gʰor-to). [2] [3] But Schrijver derives gortika from Proto-Celtic *gwortikā from a PIE root starting in *gwh-, with the meaning 'object of exchange', cf. Middle Welsh gwarthec 'cattle.' [4]
The next form in line 2, lutiak-ei "in Luzaga," is one of only three survivals of the locative case in all of Celtic (the other two also are in Celtiberian; see below.) [5] Also in line 2, aukis may be related to augu seen in the line 2 of the third Botorrita plaque: soz augu arestalo damai (probably 'all this [is made] valid by order of the established authority'), meaning "valid" < *h₂eug-os 'strong, valid', cf. Latin augustus 'solemn'. [6]
The first element of tiger-zetaz in line 3 may be connected to the Proto-Celtic root *tigerno- "lord, master" (Old Irish tigern, Ogam TIGIRN, Middle Welsh teyrn, and the Gaulish place name (Castrum ) Tigernum). [7]
The forms belai-okum-kue in line 4 and gar-iko[m]-kue in line 5 seem to be conjoined genitive plurals (-ok-um) probably indicating tribal names or place names, and both ending with a clitic copula (-kue); both -ikom and -okum are also common endings of forms on the Botorrita plaque. These and the repeated forms beginning gen- (genei in line 1 and genis twice in line 5) which closely parallels kentis "son" in the Botorrita plaque, suggest that many of the forms in this inscription are names.
In line 4, ueizui seems to be a palatalized variant of ueitui seen in the second line of the bronze from Cortona (the last word of which may contain one of the only survivals of the PIE locative case in Celtic: bundalos korton-ei "Bundalos in Cortono"--korton-o in the first line is the genitive singular of the same form): [8]
The form sdam in line 6 seems to be an accusative form of a determiner, probably related to the Insular Celtic determiner *sind-. In the same line, the form elazunom appears in a variant form (different case and/or gender?) in the third Botorrita plaque, line 2.57: elazuna ensikum turo. [6]
The form tegez in line 7 is discussed by Matasovic under the Proto-Celtic root *teg-os "house." He notes that it is "completely obscure, not only with respect to meaning, but also grammatically: is it a verb in the 3 sg. preterite, or the Abl. sg. of a root noun?" [10]
The second element of teiuo-reikis in line 8 has been connected with the Celtic (and Proto-Indo-European) word for "king," *rig- < *h3re:g-, but there are phonological problems (-ei- should be -i-) and morphological problems (the ending looks like the nominative of an -i- stem, unattested for this form elsewhere in Celtic). The from is seen in Gaulish names such as Catu-rix, one of which, Devorix may be an exact cognate to the form here. An Old Irish Ogham inscription shows the form Voteco-rigas. The same element may be seen in the first word of the Uxama tessera above: boruotu-re[i]ka (though Jordán 2005 has a different reading of this form). [11]
In ancient Celtic religion, Ialonus Contrebis or Ialonus or Gontrebis was a god worshipped in what are now Lancashire and Provence. Ialonus is thought to be the god of clearings and/or meadows.
Lugus is a god of the Celtic pantheon. His name is rarely directly attested in inscriptions, but his importance can be inferred from place names and ethnonyms and status as king of the gods. His nature and attributes are deduced from the distinctive iconography of Gallo-Roman inscriptions to Mercury, who is widely believed to have been identified with Lugus, and from the quasi-mythological narratives involving his later cognates, Welsh Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Irish Lugh Lámhfhada.
In Celtic mythology, Taranis is the god of thunder, who was worshipped primarily in Gaul, Hispania, Britain, and Ireland, but also in the Rhineland and Danube regions, amongst others. Taranis, along with Esus and Toutatis, was mentioned by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic deity to whom human sacrificial offerings were made. Taranis was associated, as was the Cyclops Brontes ("thunder") in Greek mythology, with the wheel.
The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BCE. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors. These tribes spoke the Celtiberian language and wrote it by adapting the Iberian alphabet, in the form of the Celtiberian script. The numerous inscriptions that have been discovered, some of them extensive, have allowed scholars to classify the Celtiberian language as a Celtic language, one of the Hispano-Celtic languages that were spoken in pre-Roman and early Roman Iberia. Archaeologically, many elements link Celtiberians with Celts in Central Europe, but also show large differences with both the Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture.
Lepontic is an ancient Alpine Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul 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 language, its name could derive from Proto-Celtic *leikwontio-.
Celtiberian or Northeastern Hispano-Celtic is an extinct Indo-European language of the Celtic branch spoken by the Celtiberians in an area of the Iberian Peninsula between the headwaters of the Douro, Tagus, Júcar and Turia rivers and the Ebro river. This language is directly attested in nearly 200 inscriptions dated to the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, mainly in Celtiberian script, a direct adaptation of the northeastern Iberian script, but also in the Latin alphabet. The longest extant Celtiberian inscriptions are those on three Botorrita plaques, bronze plaques from Botorrita near Zaragoza, dating to the early 1st century BC, labeled Botorrita I, III and IV.
The Botorrita plaques are four bronze plaques discovered in Botorrita, near Zaragoza, Spain, dating to the late 2nd century BC, known as Botorrita I, II, III and IV.
The Celtiberian script is a Paleohispanic script that was the main writing system of the Celtiberian language, an extinct Continental Celtic language, which was also occasionally written using the Latin alphabet. This script is a direct adaptation of the northeastern Iberian script, the most frequently used of the Iberian scripts.
Lusitanian was an Indo-European Paleohispanic language. There has been support for either a connection with the ancient Italic languages or Celtic languages. It is known from only six sizeable inscriptions, dated from c. 1 CE, and numerous names of places (toponyms) and of gods (theonyms). The language was spoken in the territory inhabited by Lusitanian tribes, from the Douro to the Tagus rivers, territory that today falls in central Portugal and western Spain.
Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celtic is generally thought to have been spoken between 1300 and 800 BC, after which it began to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the Urnfield culture and particularly with the Hallstatt culture. Celtic languages share common features with Italic languages that are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlier Italo-Celtic linguistic unity.
Hispano-Celtic is a term for all forms of Celtic spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans. In particular, it includes:
The northeastern Iberian script, also known as Levantine Iberian or Iberian, was the main means of written expression of the Iberian language, but has also been used to write Proto-Basque as seen in the Hand of Irulegi. The Iberian language is also expressed by the southeastern Iberian script and the Greco-Iberian alphabet. To understand the relationship between northeastern Iberian and southeastern Iberian scripts, one should point out that they are two different scripts with different values for the same signs. However, it is clear they have a common origin and the most accepted hypothesis is that northeastern Iberian script was derived from the southeastern Iberian script. Some researchers have concluded that it is linked to the Phoenician alphabet alone, but others believe the Greek alphabet also had a role.
The paleo-Hispanic languages are the languages of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, excluding languages of foreign colonies, such as Greek in Emporion and Phoenician in Qart Hadast. After the Roman conquest of Hispania the Paleohispanic languages, with the exception of Proto-Basque, were replaced by Latin, the ancestor of the modern Iberian Romance languages.
The Leucī were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the southern part of the modern Lorraine region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Chamalières tablet is a lead tablet, six by four centimeters, that was discovered in 1971 in Chamalières, France, at the Source des Roches excavation. The tablet is dated somewhere between 50 BC and 50 AD. The text is written in the Gaulish language, with cursive Latin letters. With 396 letters grouped in 47 words, it is the third-longest extant text in Gaulish, giving it great importance in the study of this language.
Ballomar or Ballomarios was a leader of the Marcomanni during the Marcomannic Wars.
The Lezoux plate is a ceramic plate discovered in 1970 at Lezoux (Puy-de-Dôme), which contains one of the longer texts in the Gaulish language which has yet been found. Since it is fragmentary, only parts of the text can be read, and only a fragment of that can be reliably translated. From those bits, it seems to be a list of aphorisms directed toward a young man.
The Larzac tablet is a lead curse tablet found in 1983 in the commune of L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac, Aveyron, southern France. It is now kept in the museum of Millau. It bears one of the most important inscriptions in the Gaulish language.
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