Raetic and Celtic
The influence of the languages spoken in Grisons before the arrival of the Romans (Raetic and Celtic) is most obvious in placenames, which are often pre-Roman. Since very little is known about the Celtic language once spoken in Grisons, and almost nothing about Raetic, words or placenames thought to come from them are usually simply referred to as "pre-Roman". Apart from placenames, such words are found in landscape features, plant and animal names unique to the Alps, and tools and methods related to alpine transhumance. Such words include,
- Raetic: agnieu 'mountain pine', amp(u)a, omgia 'raspberry', anzola 'blueberry', chamutsch 'chamois', crap 'rock', gonda 'scree slope', grip 'cliff', grusaida 'snow rose', panaglia 'butter churn', (d)schember 'Swiss pine', signun, sain 'chief herder on a seasonal pasture', tschéss 'eagle', urlaun 'ptarmigan';
- Celtic: carmun 'weasel', dischöl, döschel 'goblin', draig 'sieve', glitta 'silt, mud', grava 'scree', mat 'boy' ~ matta 'girl', mellen 'yellow', tegia 'alpine hut', trutg 'footpath, drove way', tschigrun 'whey cheese'.
Read more about this topic: Romansh Language, Language Structure, Vocabulary
Famous quotes containing the word celtic:
“Coming to Rome, much labour and little profit! The King whom you seek here, unless you bring Him with you you will not find Him.”
—Anonymous 9th century, Irish. “Epigram,” no. 121, A Celtic Miscellany (1951, revised 1971)