Galatian is an extinct Celtic language once spoken in Galatia in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) from the 3rd century BC up to at least the 4th century AD, although ancient sources suggest it was still spoken in the 6th century.
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, mostly personal names ending in -riks (cf. Gaulish -rix/-reix, Old Irish ri, Gothic language -reiks, Old Frankish rik, Latin rex) "king", some ending in -marus, dative -mari (cf. Gaulish -maros, Old Irish mor, Welsh mawr) "great", and tribal names like Ambitouti (Old Irish imm- "around", Old Irish tuath "tribe"), and a lexical item drunemeton "place of assembly" (cf. Old Irish drui "druid", Old Irish neimed "holy place"). Galatian is a Continental Celtic language contemporary and closely related to the Gaulish language. St. Jerome wrote in a comment to "the epistle of St Paul to the Galatians" that the Galatians spoke the same language as the Treveri (Trier).
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The “sayings” of a community, its proverbs, are its characteristic comment upon life; they imply its history, suggest its attitude toward the world and its way of accepting life. Such an idiom makes the finest language any writer can have; and he can never get it with a notebook. He himself must be able to think and feel in that speech—it is a gift from heart to heart.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)