|
|
|
Ligurian language resources
Ligurian is spoken on a daily basis in: Italy
Ligurian-->
-->
-->
-->
Additional background on
Ligurian
For the Romance language, see Ligurian language (Romance).
The Ligurian language was spoken in pre-Roman times and into the Roman era by an ancient people of north-western Italy and south-eastern France known as the Ligures. Very little is known about this language (mainly place names and personal names remain) which is generally believed to have been Indo-European; it appears to have adopted significantly from other Indo-European languages, primarily Celtic (Gaulish) and Italic (Latin).
Xavier Delamarre argues that Ligurian was a Celtic language, similar to but not the same as Gaulish. His argument hinges on two points: firstly, the Ligurian place-name Genua (modern Genoa, located near a river mouth) is claimed by Delamarre to derive from PIE *genu-, "chin(bone)". Many Indo-European languages use 'mouth' to mean the part of a river which meets the sea or a lake, but it is only in Goidelic that PIE *genu- means 'mouth'. Besides Genua, which is considered Ligurian (Delamarre 2003, p. 177), this is found also in Genava (modern Geneva), which may be Gaulish. However, Genua and Genava may well derive from another PIE root with the form *genu-, which means "knee" (so in Pokorny, IEW [1]).
Delamarre's second point is Plutarch's mention (Marius 10, 5-6) that during the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC, the Ambrones (who may have been a Celtic tribe) began to shout "Ambrones!" as their battle-cry; the Ligurian troops fighting for the Romans, on hearing this cry, found that it was identical to an ancient name in their country which the Ligurians often used when speaking of their descent (out�s kata genos onomazousi Ligues), so they returned the shout, "Ambrones!".
Delamarre points out a risk of circular logic - if it is believed that the Ligurians are non-Celtic, and if many place names and tribal names that classical authors state are Ligurian seem to be Celtic, it is incorrect to discard all the Celtic ones when collecting Ligurian words and to use this edited corpus to demonstrate that Ligurian is non-Celtic or non-Indo-European.
Strabo on the other hand states "As for the Alps... Many tribes (�thn�) occupy these mountains, all Celtic (Keltik�) except the Ligurians; but while these Ligurians belong to a different people (hetero-ethneis), still they are similar to the Celts in their modes of life (b�ois)."
The Ligurian-Celtic question is also discussed by Barruol (1999).
Herodotus (5.9) wrote that sigunnai meant 'hucksters, peddlers' among the Ligurians who lived above Massilia.
Ligurian
What are the most spoken languages on earth?
All data is derived from UNESCO.
|
|
Home
About
Contribute
Contact
Languages
Most spoken
By country
People
African
Asian
North American
Pacific
South American
Rainforests
Mission
Introduction
Characteristics
Biodiversity
The Canopy
Forest Floor
Forest Waters
Indigenous People
Deforestation
Consequences
Saving Rainforests
Country Profiles
Works Cited
Deforestation Stats
Pictures
Books
For kids
Tropical fish
|
|