View source for Celtiberian script

{{Short description|Ancient writing system from the Iberian peninsula}}
{{No footnotes|date=March 2014}}
[[File:Mapa escriptures paleohispàniques-ang.jpg|thumb|250px|The Celtiberian script (light green) among other [[Paleohispanic scripts]].]]
[[File:Un signari celtibèric occidental.jpg|thumb|250px|A western Celtiberian signary (Based on Ferrer i Jané 2005)]]
[[File:Un signari celtibèric oriental.jpg|thumb|250px|An eastern Celtiberian signary]]
[[File:Celtiberian latin aphabet.png|thumb|250px|Celtiberian latin alphabet]]
The '''Celtiberian script''' is a [[paleohispanic scripts|Paleohispanic script]] that was the main [[writing system]] of the [[Celtiberian language]], an extinct [[Continental Celtic]] language, which was also occasionally written using the [[Latin alphabet]]. This script is a direct adaptation of the [[northeastern Iberian script]], the most frequently used of the [[Iberian scripts]].

==Origins==
All the [[Paleohispanic scripts]], with the exception of the [[Greco-Iberian alphabet]], share a common distinctive typological characteristic: they represent syllabic values for the [[stop consonant]]s, and monophonemic values for the rest of [[consonants]] and [[vowels]]. They are thus to be classed as neither [[alphabets]] nor [[syllabaries]]; rather, they are mixed scripts normally identified as [[semi-syllabaries]]. There is no agreement about how the [[paleohispanic scripts|Paleohispanic semi-syllabaries]] originated; some researchers conclude that they derive only from the [[Phoenician alphabet]], while others believe the [[Greek alphabet]] was also involved.

==Typology and variants==
The basic Celtiberian signary contains 26 [[sign (linguistics)|signs]] rather than the 28 signs of the original model; the [[Celtiberians]] omitted one of the two [[rhotic consonant|rhotic]] and one of the three [[Nasal consonant|nasals]] of the [[northeastern Iberian script]]. The remaining 26 signs comprised 5 [[vowel]]s, 15 syllabic signs and 6 consonants (one [[Lateral consonant|lateral]], two [[sibilants]], one rhotic and two nasals). The sign equivalent to Iberian ''s'' is transcribed as ''z'' in Celtiberian, because it is assumed that it sometimes expresses the fricative result of an ancient dental stop (''d''), while the Iberian sign ''ś'' is transcribed as ''s''. As for the use of the nasal signs, there are two variants of the Celtiberian script: In the eastern variant, the excluded nasal sign was the Iberian sign ''ḿ'', while in the western variant, the excluded nasal sign was the Iberian sign ''m''. This is interpreted as evidence of a double origin of the Celtiberian script. Like one variant of the [[northeastern Iberian script]], the western variant of Celtiberian shows evidence{{which|date=March 2014}} of having allowed the [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] [[Stop consonant|stops]] ''g'' and ''d'' to be differentiated from their respective [[voicelessness|voiceless]] counterparts, ''k'' and ''t'', by adding a stroke to the voiceless signs. This is known as the ‘dual system’ in Paleohispanic scripts, which otherwise do not distinguish between pairs of voiceless and voiced stops (''p:b, t:d'' and ''k:g'').

==Location of findings==
The Celtiberian inscriptions have been found mainly in the [[Ebro]] valley and near the sources of the [[Tagus]] and [[Douro]] rivers, where [[ancient Rome|Roman]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] sources place the Celtiberian people. The Celtiberian inscriptions were made on different types of objects ([[silver]] and [[bronze]] [[coins]], [[ceramic]] receptacles, [[bronze]] plaques and [[tessera]]s, [[amphora|amphores]], stones, [[spindle (textiles)|spindle-whorls]], etc.). There are just under two hundred surviving inscriptions, one of which is exceptionally long: the third [[Botorrita]] bronze plaque ([[Zaragoza]]) with more than three thousand signs containing a census of nearly 250 people. Almost always the direction of the writing is left to right. The fact that nearly all the Celtiberian inscriptions were found out of archaeological context does not allow a precise chronology to be established, but it seems that the earliest inscriptions in the Celtiberian script date from the 2nd century BCE while the latest ones date from the 1st century BCE.

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Celtiberian inscriptions">
File:Zaragoza - Museo - Bronce epigráfico.jpg|Cortono plaque. Unknown provenance. Western signary.
File:Bronce luzaga.jpg|Luzaga plaque ([[Guadalajara, Spain|Guadalajara]]). Western signary.
File:Tésera hospitalidad (Uxama).jpg|Uxama [[tessera]] (Osma, [[Soria]]. Western signary.
File:Botorrita 1.jpg|First Botorrita plaque ([[Zaragoza]]). Eastern signary.
File:Zaragoza - Museo - Grafito 01.jpg|Another Botorrita plaque ([[Zaragoza]]). Eastern signary.
File:Tessera Celtiberian (unknown).jpg|Fröhner [[tessera]]. Unknown provenance. Eastern signary. 
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Celtiberian language]]
*[[Greco-Iberian alphabet]]
*[[Iberian scripts]]
*[[Paleohispanic scripts]]
**[[Northeastern Iberian script]]
**[[Southeastern Iberian script]]
**[[Tartessian script]]
*[[Paleohispanic languages]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Ferrer i Jané, Joan (2005): [https://www.academia.edu/425399/Novetats_sobre_el_sistema_dual_de_diferenciacio_grafica_de_les_oclusives_sordes_i_sonores «Novetats sobre el sistema dual de diferenciació gràfica de les oclusives sordes i sonores»], ''Palaeohispanica'' 5, pp.&nbsp;957–982.
* Hoz, Javier de (2005): «La lengua y la escritura celtibéricas», ''Celtiberos. Tras la estela de Numancia'', pp.&nbsp;417–426.
* Jordán, Carlos (2004): ''Celtibérico'', Zaragoza.
* Jordán, Carlos (2005): [https://web.archive.org/web/20071023223039/http://www.dpz.es/ifc2/publi/fichapublic.asp?recid=2622 «¿Sistema dual de escritura en celtibérico?»], ''Palaeohispanica'' 5, pp.&nbsp;1013–1030.
* Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (1997): «Sobre el origen de la escritura celtibérica», ''Kalathos'' 16, pp.&nbsp;189–197.
* [[Jürgen Untermann|Untermann, Jürgen]] (1997): ''Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften'', Wiesbaden.
* Schmoll, Ulrich (1960) : «Die iberischen und keltiberischen Nasalzeichen», ''KZ'' 76, 280-295.
* Villar, Francisco (1993): «Las silibantes en celtibérico», ''Lengua y cultura en la Hispania prerromana'', pp.&nbsp;773–812.
* Villar, Francisco (1995): ''Estudios de celtibérico y toponimia prerromana'', Salamanca.

===Further reading===
*Blanco, António Bellido, ''Sobre la escritura entre los Vacceos'', in ZEPHYRUS – revista de prehistoria y arqueologia, vol. LXIX, Enero-Junio 2012, Ediciones Universidad Salamanca, pp.&nbsp;129–147. {{ISSN|0514-7336}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/celtiberian.htm The letters of the Celtiberian script]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050429111426/http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/quellentexte.cgi?41 A transcription of a Botorrita plaque]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081006160601/http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BCE)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071027134719/http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib5_en.htm The Celtiberian script - Jesús Rodríguez Ramos]
*{{cite web |first1=Joan |last1=Ferrer |first2=Noemí |last2=Moncunill |first3=Javier |last3=Velaza |title=Preliminary proposal to encode the north-eastern Iberian script for the UNICODE standard |year=2015 |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15012-northeastern-iberian.pdf }}

{{list of writing systems}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celtiberian Script}}
[[Category:Writing systems]]
[[Category:Celtic art]]
[[Category:Obsolete writing systems]]
[[Category:Paleohispanic languages]]
[[Category:Palaeohispanic writing]]