Celtiberian Script
Celtiberian is an extinct language which was spoken and written in Spain (Iberia) in the 1st millennium BC by Celtic migrants who came from France and settled in northern and central part of the Pyrenees peninsula. Several waves of Celtic settlers penetrated into the peninsula densely populated by non-Indo-European tribes, and therefore after several centuries of living among aliens Celts acquired several peculiar features of the language and appearance. Roman historians often called them Iberians, not Gauls, like all all other Celts.

However, the Celtiberian language preserved in general the Indo-European structure, and moreover, was quite archaic. Practically all the sounds remained Indo-European, that is why the Iberian script which Celtiberians borrowed from more civilized Iberians was not suitable for their language. The Iberian syllabic writing could not reflect the oppoition of voiced and voiceless consonants, so the groups of consonants frequent in the language could not be written, as well as the final consonants of the words (except s, m, r, n, l).

The Celtiberian script is in fact a modified form of Iberian, with some innovations. It was not populat and was used mainly for religious and sacral purposes by druids. Celtiberian inscriptions, very few in number, were made from the 6th to the 1st century BC; since the 3rd century the Roman alphabet came in use, being much more convenient and suitable for the language. Soon the Celtiberian script disappeared.

Languages which used the script: Celtic (Celtiberian).


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