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Systems (A-Z) / Celtic, gaulish / Examples of
writing

Celtic, gaulish
- 4th c. B.C. - 1st c. A.D.

Examples of writing

 Gallo-greek : Inscription on stone

(Vaison-la-Romaine)
 Gallo-greek : Inscription on stone
(Nîmes)
 Gallo-latin : Inscription on stone
(Alise-Sainte-Reine)
 Gallo-Latin: magical inscription on
lead-plaque (L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac)
 Gallo-Latin: Calendar from Coligny
(Ain)
 Gallo-Latin: Potter's accounts (La
Graufesenque)
 Gallo-Etruscan : bilingual
Inscription from Vercelli
 Gallo-Etruscan: bilingual
Inscription from Briona

Gallo-greek : Inscription on
stone (Vaison-la-Romaine)

Source: RIG I, G-153.

The Gallo-Greek writing on this stone from
Vaison-la-Romaine is very neat:
σεγομαρος
ουιλλονεος
τοουτιουϲ
ναμαυσατις
ειωρου βηλη-
σαμι σοσιν
νεμητον
"Segomaros, Villū's son, citizen of Nîmes,
gave to Belesama this sacred enclosure"
(translation P.-Y. Lambert).
It is clearly a dedicatory gift, con rmed by
the Gaulish verbal form ειωρου. This
o ering is dedicated to Belesama (in
dative), goddess identi ed as the Gaulish
Minerva, and is set near Nîmes
(ναμαυσατις is an ethnic adjective,
derived in -ati from Nemausus the Latin
name for Nîmes). τοουτιουϲ seems to be
a derivation of the Celtic noun touta "tribe,
clan", here translated as "citizen".
The gift is a νεμητον which seems to be a
wood or a sacred enclosure (σοσιν being
its demonstrative - ?).
The person dedicating this νεμητον is
mentioned in the rst two lines. His name
is Segomaros (name composed with sego-
= "victory, strengh" and -maros = "great")
followed by a patronymic element in the
genitive case.
(Example proposed by Francesca Ciurli)

Gallo-greek : Inscription on
stone (Nîmes)

Source: RIG I, G-203.

Doric capital dedicated to the Mères
Nîmoises discovered in 1740.
[.]αρταρ/ος ι/λλανουιακος δεδε
ματρεβο ναμαυσικαβο βρατουδε[
" (?)artaros Illanus' son gave (it) to the
Mères Nîmoises, (?) in recognition, with the
tithe, for the realization of the vow"
(translation: P.-Y. Lambert).
This inscription is on a pedestal bearing a
statue (presently lost).
The writing is regular and meticulous.
Other similar inscriptions were found in
Gard (near Uzès, Saint-Gilles) or Beaucaire
(but without inscriptions).
The dedicant's name is uncertain (the
inscription is not complete on the left) but
the patronymic component is present.
The verb of dedication δεδε is in the
preterit (root: *di, "to o er, to give"). The
last term has stimulated many
contributions and hypotheses. It is here
shortened, but the complete formula
should read: βρατουδε[καντεμ. The
composition of this syntagm (bratou-
dekantem / bratoude-kantem) is still
uncertain.
The entire set (statue + inscription) was
dedicated to divinities, mentioned in the
dative case (ending in -bo): ματρεβο
ναμαυσικαβο, where ναμαυσικαβο is an
epiclesis (derived with an -iko- su xation)
derived from the Gaulish name for Nîmes.
(Example proposed by Francesca Ciurli)

Gallo-latin : Inscription on
stone (Alise-Sainte-Reine)
Source: RIG II, 1 L-13.
This monumental inscription is one of the
few inscriptions written on stone in the
Gallo-Latin epigraphic corpus. The stone
block (49 x 74 x 13 cm) was found on Mont
Auxois in 1839.
MARTIALIS • DANNOTALI
IEVRV • VCVETE • SOSIN
CELICNON ETIC
GEBEDBI . DUGIIONTIIO
VCVETIN
IN ALISIIA
"Martialis, Dannotalos'son, o ered this
building to Ucuetis, and this in accordance
with the blacksmiths who honour Ucuetis
in Alesia" (translation: P.-Y. Lambert).
After the dedicant's name, there is the
same verb as on the Roman inscription
from Vaison-la-Romaine IEVRV, this time
using the Latin alphabet.
The theonym is in the dative case VCVETE
(*i stem). It may be, according to P.-Y.
Lambert, an agent name in -ti, formed on a
denominative derivation of the stem
*okuo- "sharp, acute" (cf. Latin: acuus) "the
sharpener".
The gift is a CELICNON (here in the
accusative case), in all probability a place
for banquets. The demonstrative SOSIN is
also in the Vaison inscriptions. The
building for the god Ucuetis was also
found in Alise-Sainte-Reine, at the
beginning of the 20th century, after the
discovery of this inscription. It is a
construction on two levels (perhaps a
warehouse and an assembly hall). This
place of worship received in particular
metallic o erings, which explains the
mention of blacksmiths in the inscription.
A second part of the inscription was
introduced by ETIC (eti cf. Latin et, Greek
ἔτι and the enclitic particle -kw e with
apocope).
gobedbi, the term for blacksmith, is in the
instrumental case, in the plural form in - bi.
dugiIontiIo would be a verbal form in the
3rd person plural, whose stem is not yet
clearly identi ed.
Lastly, the locative AlisiIa made this
inscription famous because it was the rst
reference found to the well-known city of
Alesia, place of Vercergetorix's nal
battle and the nal con ict of the Gaulish
Wars.
(Example proposed by Francesca Ciurli)

Gallo-Latin: magical inscription

on lead-plaque (L'Hospitalet-du-
Larzac)

Source: La langue gauloise, 1994 (2003²), p.

162-165.
This lead-plaque (RIG L-98) is the longest
document in Gaulish known so far.
Discovered in 1983, it is a "magical" lead-
plaque, a type of curse tablet prepared as
a lead-plaque very common in the Gaulish
magical tradition.
The document is composed of two tablets
found one upon another, on the top of a
funeral urn. It contains around 60 lines
and 170 words (or fragmentary words).
It was written by two distinct hands. The
rst text apparently re-enacted a witch
battle. The second use of the tablet
seemed to have sought to lessen the magic
of the former; the second hand also seems
to have been less Latinized than the rst
one.
P.-Y. Lambert's translation:
1a, 1-7: “Send this women's charm against
the names here below; this (is) a witch
charm bewitching witches. O Adsagsona,
look twice Severa Tertionicna, their thread
(that which ties?) witch and their writing
(that which writes?) witch, let it release the
one whom they will have struck with a
curse; with a bad spell against their names,
make the bewitchment against this group
[+ a dozen feminine names].”
1b, 6-7: “let these women mentioned here
above, once bewitched, be powerless in
front of him.”
2a, 3-10: “Any man acting as a judge, that
these women would have struck with
a curse, let her (Severa Tertionicna) delete
this man's curse; let there not be any witch
by writing, witch by thread, witch by giving
among these women, who solicit Servera
witch by writing, witch by thread, the
foreigner.”

Gallo-Latin: Calendar from

Coligny (Ain)
Source: Passion-hisoire.com
This bronze plaque is conserved in the
Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon-Fourvière. It
was found in 1897 in Ain.
It is a Gaulish calendar written using the
Latin alphabet in the 2nd c. AD. This
exemplar is most probably a late copy of
an older calendar.
It counts ve consecutive years. Months
are lunar and months of 30 days (MAT
"good") alternate with months of 29 days
(ANMAT "bad"). The lunar calendar is
spread over the solar year, which is why
this calendar has leap months (one at the
beginning of the rst year and one in the
middle of the third year).
Written in 16 columns, it has 4 months per
column. There are no phrases (perhaps
only one in the heading of the rst leap
month).
The names of the months can be read as
follows (with many graphic variants):
I-SAMON
II-DVMAN
III-RIVROS
IV-ANAGAN
V-OGRONN
VI-CVT-
VII-GIAMON
VIII-SIMIVIS
IX-EQVOS
X-ELEMBIV
XI-AEDRINI
X-CANTLOS

Gallo-Latin: Potter's accounts

(La Graufesenque)
Source: Musée Fenaille
The archaeological site of La Graufesenque
(Millau, Aveyron, France) is exceptional for
Gaulish epigraphy. At the beginning of the
20th century, thousands of terra sigillata
ceramic shards coming from potters' kilns
were found.
For economic reasons, kilns were shared
between many potters, who could in this
way bake their products together. An
“accounts list” was also put into the kiln
during baking; this list, which recapitulated
the distinct lots placed in the kiln, was a
simple clay plate baked with the rest of the
batch.
These documents are very useful because
they provide a large amount of
anthroponymic elements as well as
numeric data about how workshops
operated. On the other hand, the linguistic
material is very poor, with only rare
phrases and few common nouns. Most of
these latter concern bookkeeping and are
technical terms referring to ceramics
works.

Gallo-Etruscan : bilingual
Inscription from Vercelli

Source: RIG II, 1, E-2. Musée Camillo Leone

(Vercelli)
This bilingual inscription from the 2nd c.
BC is written on a schist stone, discovered
in 1960 in Piedmont (height: 149 cm;
width: 70 cm).
It is a boundary stone which delimitated,
with three other stones now lost, the land
of a man named Acisius
"Argantomaterecus".
One text is written in Latin, using the Latin
alphabet and a second one is written in
Gaulish, using the Gallo-Etruscan alphabet.
The Latin text is as follows:
Finis / campo . quem / dedit . Acisius /
argantomater / ecus . communem / deis . et .
hominib / us . ita . uti . lapides / II II . statuti
sunt
Translation: P.-Y. Lambert: "End of the land
that Acisius Arganto-materecus gave to be
in common amongst gods and men, within
the area where the four stones were
erected."
Gaulish text is as follows:
aKisios. arKaToKo{K} / maTereKos . To[] ś o /
KoT[e (.) a]Tom/ś Teuoχ / Toni[o]n EV
Translation: P.-Y. Lambert: "Acisios
Argantomaterekos (gave) the ATOS that
belongs to gods and men."
The owner's name (in nominative, Akisios)
is followed by a disputed term, with
multiple components. P.-Y. Lambert
proposes the following construction:
preposition kom- “with” + ater-, “father” +
su x -eko-. This syntagm -atereko- would
be equivalent to the Latin
patricius “patrician”, according to P.-Y.
Lambert. Following the same idea, the
sequence komatereko- should be
compared to the expression “patres
conscripti”. Arganto-komatereko would then
indicate the fee requested by the treasurer
(the Roman Quaestor).
The Latin text is more speci c and seems
more detailed than the Gaulish one.
The word ATOŠ or ATOM from the Gaulish
text cannot be translated. It is commented
in the Latin version of the text by the
word campus. What seems to be the verbal
form in the Gaulish sentence, TO[.]O /
KOT[..] could be read TOŠOKOTE , the
preterit of the verb "to give", perhaps with
an in x -so-.
The adjective TEUOXTONION, “common to
gods and men” is a compound form which
M. Lejeune analysed as "divine" (*deiwo- )
and “terrestrial, mortal” (*gdhon-io-).
The last two letters could be the
abbreviation for EX VOTO: in this area
Romanization was already very advanced,
as the necessity of a bilingual inscription
indicates.
(Example proposed by Francesca Ciurli)

Gallo-Etruscan: bilingual
Inscription from Briona

Source: RIG II, 1, E-1.

This irregular stone (140 x 95 cm) was
found in 1859 10 km northeast of Briona.
The inscription, in the so-called "Lugano
alphabet" can be dated to the 2nd-1st c.
BC.
It features four wheels drawn vertically.
The principal text (9 lines) contains almost
exclusively personal names. A secondary
text (a) is carved on the superior part of
the stone, in the same direction as the
principal text.
Lastly, a second text (b) can be read
vertically, near the wheels. The order of
reading is controversial.
a) ]n[.]k[..]esasoioikan[
tanotaliknoi
kuitos
lekatos
anokopokios
setupokios
esanekoti
anareuišeos
tanotalos
karnitus
b) takos·toutas·[
" a) ?" "Dannotalos'sons, Quintos, legate,
Andocombogios, Setubogios, and
Essandecot(t)os'(sons), Andareuiseos,
Dannotalos, have raised this cairn" "b) ?
decision of the tribe" (translation: P.-Y.
Lambert).
TANOTALIKNOI (which cannot be
separated from TANOTALOS) shows a
patronymic su xation -ikno-. It is followed
by three names in the nominative: KUITOS
= Quintos, borrowing from Latin, as well as
the attributive adjective in Latin LEKATOS
= legatus.
The anthroponyms ANOKOPOKIOS and
SETUPOKIOS, are Celtic composed names
in -bogios = "who strikes".
A second section is composed of
ESANEKOTI (sons), in the genitive case:
they are ANNAREUISEOS and TANOTALOS.
The nal verb KARNITUS , derived from
*karno "cairn", is the only indication for the
function of the inscription, which is the
dedication of a cairn.
The (b) text is also disputed. Two
noteworthy terms are TAKOS (perhaps
meaning "order, decision", in parallel with
Old Welsh and Oscan) and the word
TOUTAS , which is the name for a Gaulish
political unit.
(Example proposed by Francesca Ciurli)

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