The Chamalières tablet () is a lead tablet, six by four centimeters, that was discovered in 1971 in Chamalières, France, at the Source des Roches excavation. The tablet is dated somewhere between 50 BC and 50 AD. The text is written in the

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

language, with cursive Latin letters. With 396 letters grouped in 47 words, it is the third-longest extant text in Gaulish (the curse tablet from L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac and the Coligny calendar being longer), giving it great importance in the study of this language. The magical subject matter of the text suggests it should be considered a defixiones (curse) tablet. However, given that it was found at a spa, and that it was accompanied by carvings of bodies and body parts, Meid considers the text to be a prayer by old men for healing their various ailments.

Text

andedion uediiumi dijiuion ri sun artiu mapon aruerriiatin lopites snieððdic sos brixtia anderon clucion floron nigrinon adgarion aemili on paterin claudion legitumon caelion pelign claudío pelign marcion uictorin asiatI con aððedilli etic secoui toncnaman toncsiiontío meion ponc sesit bue tid ollon reguccambion exsops pissiiumi tsoccaanti rissu ison son bissiet lugedessummiiis luge dessumíis lugedessumiis luxe It seems to begin: ::"I beseech (''uediIumi'') before the power (''ri sunartiu'') of the infernal gods (''andedion...diIiuion'') he Celtic deity Maponos (''mapon'' probably with the epithet ''Arverriiatin'' perhaps "of the Averni

ribe Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,367 (2025). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It is now part of the enlarged E ...

). Then probably: ::"Hurry (''lopites'') and bind (''snI-eððdic''?) those men istedbelow (''sos ... anderon'') with magic (''brixtia'')." But Colera interprets the sequence '' ri sun/artiu'' as an instrumental noun phrase: "by means of a magic script"; and ''brixtia anderon'' as "by the magic of the subterraneans." These interpretations would connect ''anderon'' with Latin ''inferus'' and Sanskrit ''adhara-'' “nether”, from Proto-Indo-European *''nd^heros''. But another hypothesis is that ''anderon'' is related to Irish ''ainder'' "(young) woman," so "the magic of women," recalling the passage in the Old Irish ''Lorica'' asking for protection “against the spells of women, smiths and druids”: ''fri brichta ban ocus gobann ocus druad''. The following three lines seem to comprise the list of names of those to be cursed (or healed). It concludes with the thrice repeated incantation ''luge-dessumíis'' "serving (the god) Lug", which is paralleled in an Old Irish inscription written in Ogam script, ''LUGU-DECCAS''. Mees, however, interprets these as meaning, "I prepare them for being possessed (or committed)."

Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the j ...

, in his book ''La langue gauloise'', offers an analysis.

Notes

The form ''uediiumi'' in the first line is probably "I pray, beseech" from Proto-Celtic ''*g^wed-iū- < Proto-Indo-European *g^whed^h-iō-''. In line 4, ''ad-garion'' may refer to a "speaker" for the men listed, if related to Old Irish ''gairid'' "he calls," perhaps a calque here of Latin ''ad-vōcātus.'' In line 8, ''toncsiiontío'' may refer to a group, "(those) who will swear," if related to Old Irish ''tongid'' "he swears" (< PIE: *''teh₂g-'' ‘touch’ > Lat. ''tango'', Gr. ''te-tag-on'' ‘having seized’, Go. ''tekan'' ‘touch’, ToB ''cesam'' ‘touch’. This seems to be followed by a triple set of oppositions: ::''meion, ponc sesit, buetid ollon'' ::“Small, when sowed, shall become big” ::''regu ccambion'' ::“I make straight (what is) crooked” ::''exops pissíiumi'' ::“(though) deprived of eye-sight, I shall see” In the tenth line, ''pissiiumi'' is probably from Proto-Celtic *''k^wis-o-'' "see", here perhaps a future "I will see." This from PIE *''k^weys-'' "perceive." Cognates in Celtic include Gaulish ''ap-pisetu'' (Thiaucourt) and Old Irish ''ad-cí'' "see"; and further afield: Av. ''cinahmi'' "determine", Lat. ''cura'' "anxiety, care." Hollifield takes the sequence ''ison son bissiet'' to possibly mean "him who might violate it," connecting ''bissiet'' with Old Irish ''bidbu'' "culprit." He also takes the form ''bue/tid'' in lines 7-8 to mean "whatever may be."Hollifield, H. "A note on Gaulish ''bissiet'' and ''buetid'' " ''Études celtiques'', Paris: 1983, volumes 20-1 pp. 95-99

In popular culture

The Swiss folk metal band

Eluveitie Eluveitie ( ; )Chrigel Glanzmann: "Eluveitie is a name in Gaulish language, which is an ancient Celtic language. Since it's not a living language anymore, nobody really knows how it's pronounced like. All we have today of this language is scient ...

used the text for their song ''Dessumiis Luge'', and the first two verses for ''Spirit''.

References

Bibliography

*Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental'', Paris, Errance, 2018. *Pierre-Yves Lambert, ''La langue gauloise : description linguistique, commentaire d'inscriptions choisies'', Éditions Errance, 2018. *Garrett S. Olmsted, ''The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans'', Innsbrucker Beitrage, 1994. *Venceslas Kruta, ''Les Celtes. Histoire et dictionnaire'', Paris, Laffont, 2000. * *

External links