The Botorrita plaques are four

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

plaques discovered in Botorrita (Roman ''Contrebia Belaisca''), near

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, dating to the late 2nd century BC, known as Botorrita I, II, III and IV. Botorrita II is in the Latin language, but Botorrita I, III and IV, inscribed in the

Celtiberian script The Celtiberian script is a 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 adapta ...

, constitute the main part of the Celtiberian corpus.

Botorrita I

Botorrita I was found in 1970. It is the longest inscription in Celtiberian consisting of a text in 11 lines, on the front face, continued by a list of names on the back side. :A.1. :A.2. :A.3. :A.4. :A.5. :A.6. :A.7. :A.8. :A.9. :A.10. :A.11. :B.1. :B.2. :B.3. :B.4. :B.5. :B.6. :B.7. :B.8. :B.9.

Translation

Although the general contents of the inscription are known with some confidence, there is as yet no unified, agreed-upon translation. On the first side, David Stifter (2001), for example, indicates that <> is an 'assembly of 300', similar to Gaulish , while <> according to Bayer (1994) is something like 'was (deemed) suitable (by the assembly)' (cf. Latin 'to please'). The sequences with and with infinitive in are clearly something like '(it is) not permitted to...', and mentions some kind of monetary and property fines for ignoring the prohibitions. The second side clearly consists of names, presumably prominent members of the assembly. The names are in the Celtiberian formula, e.g. , that is 'Lubo of the Kounesiko (people), onof Melnon'; for this reason, it has been suggested that <> is actually <>, i.e. // 'son', as this clearly fits the context.

Botorrita II

This bronze plaque is inscribed in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and was discovered in an illegal excavation of the Contrebia Belaisca site, and was obtained in December 1979 by editor Guillermo Fatás Cabeza. The inscription is fully decipherable and relates how the senate of Contrebia Belaisca was called upon by neighboring towns for a decision concerning the right of the town of Salluia to build a canal through the territory of the Sosinestani, an initiative to which the neighboring Allauonenses objected. Based upon the names of Roman officials, the text has been dated to May 87 BC. :1. :2. :3. :4. :5. :6. :7. :8. :9. :10. :11. :12. :13. :14. :15. :16. :17. :18. :19. :20.

Botorrita III

Botorrita III, discovered in 1979, is inscribed in four columns on one side of a plaque, introduced by a heading of two lines. A part of the plaque is missing, but the inscribed portion is complete. It is heavily corroded, and the text was only legible by x-ray. :01: risatioka : lestera a : tarakuai : nouiz : auzanto :02: eskeninum : taniokakue : soisum : albana

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and

John T. Koch John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2006, ABC Clio). He ...

argue that the term ''uiroku'' (''< *wiro-kū'') means 'man-dog' (i.e.

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

). It would be cognate to ''

Viroconium Viroconium or Uriconium, formally Viroconium Cornoviorum, was a Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter, a small village in Shropshire, England, about east-south-east of Shrewsbury. At its peak, Viroconium is estimated to ...

'' (< *''wiroconion'', 'place of man-dogs')'','' the ancient name of the English village of Wroxeter, the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

''ferchu'' ('male dog, fierce dog'), and the Brittonic personal names ''Guurci'' (

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

) and ''Gurki'' (

Old Breton Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...

Blanca María Prósper Blanca María Prósper Pérez is a Spanish linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. Since 2019, she has been Professor ('' Catedrática'') in Indo-European linguistics at the University of Salamanca. Biography Blanca María Prósper earned a PhD in ...

interprets the word ''letontu'' as pertaining to the semantic field of

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

''*pléth₂us'' ('flat, vast, broad'). It is also suggested that ''Toutinokum'' refers to a family name and derives from the widespread Celtic (and Indo-European) stem ''*teut/tout-'' ('people, tribe').Prósper Perez, Blanca Maria. ''Estudio lingüístico del plomo celtibérico de Iniesta''. Salamanca: . 2007. p. 24.

Botorrita IV

Botorrita IV, discovered in 1994, consists of 18 lines on both faces of the plaque. The text is fragmentary. The ''tirikantam'' of Botorrita I reappears in line A.1. :A.1. '' ..am:tirikantam:entorkue:toutam ..' :A.2. '' ..sua kombal :bouitos:ozeum: ..' :A.3. '' ..:turuntas:tirikantos:kustai:bize ..' :A.4. '' ..:karalom:aranti:otenei:ambi ..' :A.5. '' ..om:atibion:taskue:.a.s ..' :A.6. '' ..ue:usimounei: ..' :A.7. '' ..aralom:ios:lu.e.s ..' :A.8. '' ..i.u..ti:esta ..' :A.9. '' ..ta:...kue ..' :A.10. '' ..i.. n.e ..' :B.1. '' .. .. i ..' :B.2. '' ..tuz:uta:e ..' :B.3. '' ..sum:..ti: ..' :B.4. '' ..lo...:iom:u ..' :B.5. '' ..oke...ta:.ue:tizatuz ..' :B.6. '' ....lez.l.toioan ..' :B.7. '' ..oruonti:stoteroi:tas ..' :B.8. '' ..o..esusiomo..o ..'

References

* Bayer, Walter. "Zur Inschrift von Botorrita: keltiberisch bintiś, kombalkes, kombalkoŕeś, aleiteś und ikueś". In: ''Etudes Celtiques''. vol. 30, 1994. pp. 191-203. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1994.2040 * Beltrán Lloris, Francisco (1996): «Useisu aiankum tauro no era bintis. Una nota de lectura sobre la cara B de Botorrita 1», '' La Hispania prerromana'', pp. 51–63. * Beltrán Lloris, Francisco (2002): «El cuarto bronce de Botorrita», ''Palaeohispanica'' (revista sobre lengua y culturas de la Hispania antigua), vol. 2, Zaragoza, pp. 381–393. . * Beltrán Lloris, Francisco - de Hoz, Javier - Untermann, Jürgen (1996): ''El tercer bronce de Botorrita (Contrebia Belaisca)'', Zaragoza. * Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia de. "Il celtibérico Pi.n.Ti.ś come antico composto indoeuropeo". In: ''Etudes Celtiques''. vol. 32, 1996. pp. 117-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1996.2090 * De Bernardo, Patrizia. "La Gramática Celtibérica Del Primer Bronce De Botorrita: Nuevos Resultados". In: Acta Palaeohispanica X. Palaeohispanica 9 (2009). p. 694. * Jordán, Carlos (2004): ''Celtibérico'', Zaragoza. * Wolfgang Meid: ''Die erste Botorrita-Inschrift: Interpretation eines keltiberischen Sprachdenkmals''. Institut für Sprachwissenschaften der Universität, Innsbruck 1993 (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft; Band 76). * Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco. "Propuestas para la interpretación de Botorrita I". In: ''Emerita: Revista de lingüística y filología clásica''. Vol. 63. Nº 1. 1995. pags. 1-16.

* Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco. "Sobre Botorrita IV". In: ''Emerita. Revista de Lingüística y Filología Clásica (EM)''. LXX. Vol. 1. 2002. pp. 1-8. * Simón Cornago, Ignacio. "Note de lecture sur une brève inscription de Botorrita (Contrebia Belaisca)." In: ''Etudes Celtiques'', vol. 41, 2015. pp. 59-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.2015.2449 * Stifter, David (2001): "Neues vom Keltiberischen: Notizen zu Botorrita IV", ''Die Sprache'' (Sonderheft): ''Chronicalia Indoeuropaea'' 38/3

996 Year 996 ( CMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * February - Chotoku Incident: Fujiwara no Korechika and Takaie shoot an arrow at Retired Em ...

pp. 89–110. * Stifter, David (2006): "Contributions to Celtiberian Etymology 2", ''Palaeohispanica'' 6, pp. 237–245. * Untermann, Jürgen (1997): ''Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften'', Wiesbaden. * Velaza, Javier (1999): «Balance actual de la onomástica personal celtibérica», ''Pueblos, lenguas y escrituras en la Hispania Prerromana'', pp. 663–683. * Villar, Francisco - Díaz, Mª Antonia - Medrano, Manuel Mª - Jordán, Carlos (2001): ''El IV bronce de Botorrita (Contrebia Belaisca): arqueología y lingüística'', Salamanca. {{DEFAULTSORT:Botorrita Plaque Paleohispanic languages Archaeological discoveries in Spain Celtiberian inscriptions Bronze objects Province of Zaragoza History of Aragon 20th-century archaeological discoveries Latin inscriptions 2nd century BC in Hispania

Botorrita I

Translation

Botorrita II

Botorrita III

Botorrita IV

References

Further reading