Lepontic Language

Lepontic Language

Lepontic is an ancient Alpine language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul (what is now Northern Italy) between 550 and 100 BC. Lepontic is attested in inscriptions found in an area centered around Lugano, Switzerland, and including the Lake Como and Lake Maggiore areas of Italy.

Lepontic is a Celtic language. While some recent scholarship (e.g. Eska 1998) has tended to consider it simply as an early form of Cisalpine Gaulish (or Cisalpine Celtic), thus a dialect of the Gaulish language, the majority opinion since Lejeune 1971 continues to view it as a distinct Continental Celtic language, thus not a Gaulish dialect. Within this latter view, the earlier inscriptions found within a 50 km radius of Lugano are considered Lepontic, while the later ones, to the immediate south of this area are considered Cisalpine Gaulish.

Lepontic was assimilated first by Gaulish, with the settlement of Gaulish tribes north of the River Po, and then by Latin, after the Roman Republic gained control over Gallia Cisalpina during the late 2nd and 1st century BC.