Lusitanian language

Lusitanian

Lusitanian is an old language that is no longer spoken today. It was named after the Lusitanians, a group of people who lived a long time ago. Lusitanian was part of a group of languages called Indo-European and Paleohispanic. Some experts think it might have been related to the ancient Italic languages or the Celtic languages.

We know about Lusitanian from only six big inscriptions, which are like messages carved in stone. These inscriptions date back to around the first century AD. We also know some place names and names of gods from that time. The language was spoken by Lusitanian tribes between the Douro and Tagus rivers. Today, this area is part of central Portugal and western Spain.

Classification

Lusitanian is an old language from the Indo-European family. We know about it from a few inscriptions from around the first century AD. Experts are not sure if it is related to the ancient Italic languages or the Celtic languages.

The language has some features like Celtic languages, such as certain words and names of gods. However, many experts think Lusitanian was not a Celtic language. They believe it belonged to a western group of Indo-European languages. Some think it might have been influenced by people who spoke Celtic languages later.

Because we have very little evidence, Lusitanian's exact place among ancient languages is still a mystery. Some researchers think it may have been spoken before Celtic languages came to the area, perhaps from very old times.

Geographical distribution

Inscriptions of the Lusitanian language have been found in places such as Cabeço das Fráguas (in Guarda), Moledo (Viseu), Arroyo de la Luz (in Cáceres), and most recently in Ribeira da Venda. The Lusitanian language was used in parts of northern Portugal and nearby areas in southern Galicia, with its center in Serra da Estrela.

The best-known inscriptions come from Cabeço das Fráguas and Lamas de Moledo in Portugal, and Arroyo de la Luz in Spain. The inscription found in Ribeira da Venda is the newest one, discovered in 2008. One special inscription mixes Lusitanian and Latin languages and shows an old name for the Portuguese city of Viseu: Vissaîegobor.

Writing system

All the known writings of the Lusitanian language use the Latin alphabet. The people who spoke Lusitanian borrowed this alphabet because they did not have one of their own. It is hard to know if the letters sounded the same as in Latin, but some changes suggest different sounds. For example, the letters c and g were sometimes used in place of each other, like in the words porcom and porgom. Similarly, t and d were used interchangeably, such as in ifadem and ifate. This shows that the sounds were softer than in Latin.

Grammar

Because we only have a few examples of the Lusitanian language, we can only guess a little about its grammar. What we know comes from studies by Luján (2019) and Prósper (2021).

In Lusitanian, adjectives usually come after the nouns they describe. Nouns can be linked together using the word indi, meaning "and". For example, oilam Trebopala indi porcom Laebo means "a sheep for Trebopala and a pig for L." and Ampilva indi Loemina means "Ampilva and Loemina".

The usual order of words in Lusitanian sentences is subject–verb–object, like in English. But sometimes, the order is subject–object–verb.

Nouns in Lusitanian change form to show their role in the sentence, having at least three different forms, two genders, and singular and plural numbers. We know about two main groups of noun endings, called the first and second declensions. There might have been a third group, but we are not sure.

For verbs, Lusitanian kept some endings that tell us who is doing the action and when. For example, -eti is used for the third-person singular present tense, as in rueti meaning "(it) runs". The ending -enti is used for the third-person plural, as in doenti meaning "they give". There is also an ending -tōd for commands, seen in singeieto.

Inscriptions

The Lusitanian language is known from a few special writings called inscriptions. These writings were found in different places and tell us about the people and their lives long ago.

One writing found in a place called Lamas de Moledo lists names and words that may be related to offerings or gifts. Another writing from Cabeço das Fráguas mentions animals like sheep and a bull, possibly for a special event or ceremony. There are also writings from Arroyo de la Luz and Ribeira da Venda, though some parts of these are hard to read or understand.

These inscriptions help scientists learn about the Lusitanian language and the culture of the people who spoke it.