Lepontic language

E9806

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

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
Lepontic 7
Lepontic language canonical 4
Cisalpine Gaulish 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Celtic language
ancient language
extinct language
alternativeName Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
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
Cisalpine Gaul
linked to: Gaul

northern Italy
linked to: Northern Italy

southern Switzerland
relatedTo Cisalpine Gaulish
linked to: Lepontic language

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 Cisalpine Celtic alphabet
linked to: Lepontic alphabet

Lepontic alphabet
Old Italic script

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (14)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Old Italic script usedForLanguage Lepontic language
Lepontic language alternativeName Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Lepontic language relatedTo Cisalpine Gaulish
linked to: Lepontic language
Lepontic alphabet languageWritten Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Celtic languages includesLanguage Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Celtic languages hasExtinctLanguages Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Gaulish closelyRelatedTo Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Alpine Celtic culture language Cisalpine Gaulish
linked to: Lepontic language
Valle d’Intelvi languageOfInscriptions Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Lepontic Celts spoke Lepontic language
Tessin historicallyAssociatedWith Lepontic language
Continental Celtic languages includes Lepontic
linked to: Lepontic language
Continental Celtic languages includes Cisalpine Gaulish
linked to: Lepontic language
Lepontine Gaul hasLanguage Lepontic language