{"id":351893,"date":"2025-12-20T00:24:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/these-linguists-are-creating-a-new-dictionary-of-ancient-celtic-languages-with-help-from-curse-tablets-and-roman-records\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T00:24:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:24:24","slug":"these-linguists-are-creating-a-new-dictionary-of-ancient-celtic-languages-with-help-from-curse-tablets-and-roman-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351893","title":{"rendered":"These Linguists Are Creating a New Dictionary of Ancient Celtic Languages\u2014With Help From ‘Curse Tablets’ and Roman Records"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The project aims to produce a record of the Celtic languages spoken in Britain and Ireland, though the majority of these words have already been lost to history<\/h2>\n
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Sonja Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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An ogham stone in Cornwall, England
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Researchers say they are compiling the first-ever dictionary of ancient Celtic languages in Britain and Ireland. Led by Simon Rodway<\/a>, a linguist at Aberystwyth University in Wales, the project aims to document the surviving words from languages that have been largely lost to history.<\/p>\n

So far, the researchers have collected more than 1,000 words\u2014\u201cjust a tiny little glimpse into the language,\u201d Rodway tells Ailsa Chang of NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered<\/a>.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re not going to get many more than that because the records of the Celtic languages in Britain and Ireland are not great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers are gathering material from ancient inscriptions and texts, according to a statement<\/a> from the university. Their dictionary will include words from about 325 B.C.E. through 500 C.E., reports the Guardian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Steven Morris. This period includes the Roman Empire<\/a>\u2019s rule in Britain, which lasted from 43 to 410<\/a> C.E.<\/p>\n

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Linguist\u00a0Simon Rodway of\u00a0Aberystwyth University, pictured in 2018, is leading the dictionary project.<\/p>\n

Aberystwyth University<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Romans were very literate,\u201d Rodway tells \u201cAll Things Considered.\u201d \u201cThey wrote everything down. They were hugely bureaucratic, so we have a lot of letters. We\u2019ve got legal stuff. We\u2019ve got inscriptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

These Roman sources, written in Latin or Greek, contain Celtic names of places, ethnic groups and individuals, Rodway tells the Guardian<\/em>. They include letters written by Roman soldiers and Julius Caesar<\/a>\u2019s accounts of his northern European conquests.<\/p>\n

Some key inscriptions are found on stones in Cornwall and Ireland. These writings use the Ogham<\/a> alphabet, which features\u00a0letters<\/a> made of straight lines. Other interesting sources include a group of four or five texts written entirely in ancient Celtic, which Rodway calls \u201ccurse tablets.\u201d These lead panels were engraved by Celts who were wronged and wanted revenge.<\/p>\n

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\u169b\u1688\u1691\u168b\u1680\u1684\u1689\u1691\u1688\u1688\u169c and \u169b\u1691\u168c\u1690\u168b\u169c<\/p>\n

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