Lepontic language

E9806

Celtic language ancient language extinct language

The Lepontic language is an extinct ancient Celtic language once spoken in parts of northern Italy and southern Switzerland, known primarily from short inscriptions.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
Lepontic	6
Cisalpine Gaulish	2

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Celtic language ⓘ ancient language ⓘ extinct language ⓘ
alternativeName	Lepontic language ⓘ surface form: Lepontic
associatedPeople	Lepontii ⓘ
attestedIn	inscriptions ⓘ short inscriptions ⓘ
chronology	earliest attested Continental Celtic language (scholarly consensus) ⓘ
classificationStatus	well-established as Celtic ⓘ
country	Italy ⓘ Switzerland ⓘ
culturalContext	Alpine Celtic culture ⓘ
documentationStatus	limited corpus ⓘ
extinctionStatus	extinct ⓘ
extinctionType	ancient extinction ⓘ
geographicDistribution	Alpine valleys around Lake Maggiore ⓘ Lombardy ⓘ Piedmont ⓘ Ticino region ⓘ
hasFeature	shares morphological features with Gaulish ⓘ shares phonological features with Gaulish ⓘ uses Old Italic letter forms ⓘ
hasType	epigraphic language ⓘ
ISOStatus	no ISO 639-3 code ⓘ
languageFamily	Celtic languages ⓘ
originOfName	named after the Lepontii people ⓘ
primaryEvidenceType	epigraphic ⓘ
region	Alpine region ⓘ Gaul ⓘ surface form: Cisalpine Gaul Northern Italy ⓘ surface form: northern Italy southern Switzerland ⓘ
relatedTo	Lepontic language self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Cisalpine Gaulish Gaulish language ⓘ
scholarlyField	Celtic studies ⓘ epigraphy ⓘ historical linguistics ⓘ
scriptDirection	right-to-left ⓘ
status	poorly attested ⓘ
subfamily	Continental Celtic languages ⓘ
timeDepth	Iron Age ⓘ
usedIn	personal names in inscriptions ⓘ short dedicatory texts ⓘ
writingMaterial	metal objects ⓘ stone inscriptions ⓘ
writingSystem	Lepontic alphabet ⓘ surface form: Cisalpine Celtic alphabet Lepontic alphabet ⓘ Old Italic script ⓘ