Luzaga's Bronze

The Bronze of Luzaga is a plate of 16 x 15 centimeters which has, in 8 lines, 123 Celtiberian characters engraved in the metal with a bradawl or similar, and which has 7 holes, perhaps in order to be held. Since its discovery in the late nineteenth century, it has been lost.

Transcription

#aregoratikubos : karuo : genei
#gortika : lutiakei : aukis : barazioka
#erna : uela : tigerzetaz : so
#ueizui : belaiokumkue
#genis : garikokue : genis
#sdam : gortikam : elazunom
#karuo : tegez : sa : gortika
#teiuoreikis
(Jordán 2005)

Notes

The sequence ''genei gortika'' (lines 1-2) seems to parallel the forms ''es-keinis kortika'' in the second line of the Uxama tessera:
::boruoture a : tureibo ::eskeinis : kortica
::usama : antos
::saikios : baisais
::kaltaikikos

In lines 2 and 7 the form ''gort-ik-a'' and in 6 ''gort-ik-am'' may be from Indo-European *''ghorto-'' (whence also English ''garden'', Latin ''hortus''...) > Proto-Celtic *''gorto-'' meaning "enclosed place" also seen in Old Irish ''gort'' "field." Note also that the place name ''Gorze'' is probably from a related but unattested Gaulish ''*gortia''. Or ''gortika'' may mean "mandatory, required" from *''gʰor-ti-ka''; compare Latin ''ex-horto'' "exhort" from *''ex-gʰor-to''). But Schrijver derives ''gortika'' from Proto-Celtic ''*g^wortikā'' from a PIE root starting in *g^wh-, with the meaning 'object of exchange', cf. Middle Welsh ''gwarthec'' 'cattle.'

The next form in line 2, ''lutiak-ei'' "in Luzaga," is one of only three survivals of the locative case in all of Celtic (the other two also are in Celtiberian; see below.)
Also in line 2, ''aukis'' may be related to ''augu'' seen in the line 2 of the third Botorrita plaque: (probably 'all this s madevalid by order of the established authority'), meaning "valid" < *''h₂eug-os'' 'strong, valid', cf. Latin ''augustus'' 'solemn'.

The first element of ''tiger-zetaz'' in line 3 may be connected to the Proto-Celtic root ''*tigerno-'' "lord, master" (Old Irish ''tigern'', Ogam ''TIGIRN'', Middle Welsh ''teyrn'', and the Gaulish place name ''(Castrum ) Tigernum'').

The forms ''belai-okum-kue'' in line 4 and ''gar-iko kue'' in line 5 seem to be conjoined genitive plurals (-ok-um) probably indicating tribal names or place names, and both ending with a clitic copula (-kue); both ''-ikom'' and ''-okum'' are also common endings of forms on the Botorrita plaque. These and the repeated forms beginning ''gen-'' (''genei'' in line 1 and ''genis'' twice in line 5) which closely parallels ''kentis'' "son" in the Botorrita plaque, suggest that many of the forms in this inscription are names.

In line 4, ''ueizui'' seems to be a palatalized variant of ''ueitui'' seen in the second line of the Cortono bronze (the last word of which may contain one of the only survivals of the PIE locative case in Celtic: ''bundalos korton-ei '' "Bundalos in Cortono"--''korton-o'' in the first line is the genitive singular of the same form):

::]rDAs : oTAi : kortono :
::alaTAi : atiko : ueitui
::arGAtobezom : loutu
::louKAiteitubos : tures
::bunDAlos : kortonei

The form ''sdam'' in line 6 seems to be an accusative form of a determiner, probably related to the Insular Celtic determiner ''*sind-''. In the same line, the form ''elazunom'' appears in a variant form (different case and/or gender?) in the third Botorrita plaque, line 2.57: ''elazuna ensikum turo''.

The form ''tegez'' in line 7 is discussed by Matasovic under the Proto-Celtic root *''teg-os'' "house." He notes that it is "completely obscure, not only with respect to meaning, but also grammatically: is it a verb in the 3 sg. preterite, or the Abl. sg. of a root noun?" The form ''atiko'' probably modifying ''kortono'' may contain the same root, if from ''*ad-tego'' so together "roofed (or partly roofed) garden or enclosure" perhaps "courtyard."

The second element of ''teiuo-reikis'' in line 8 has been connected with the Celtic (and Proto-Indo-European) word for "king," *rig- < *h₃re:g-, but there are phonological problems (-ei- should be -i-) and morphological problems (the ending looks like the nominative of an -i- stem, unattested for this form elsewhere in Celtic). The from is seen in Gaulish names such as ''Catu-rix'', one of which, ''Devorix'' may be an exact cognate to the form here. An Old Irish Ogham inscription shows the form ''Voteco-rigas''. The same element may be seen in the first word of the Uxama tessera above: ''boruotu-re a'' (though Jordán 2005 has a different reading of this form).Matasovic, R. ''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic.'' Leiden: Brill. 2009. p. 436

Further reading

* Ferrer i Jané, Joan (2005)
“Novetats sobre el sistema dual de diferenciació gràfica de les oclusives”
''Palaeohispanica'' 5, pp. 957–982.
* Jordán, Carlos (2005)
“¿Sistema dual de escritura en celtibérico?”
''Palaeohispanica'' 5, pp. 1013–1030.
* Jordán, Carlos. (2004): ''Celtibérico'', Zaragoza.
* Meid, Wolfgang. (1994). ''Celtiberian Inscriptions'', Budapest.
* Jürgen Untermann, Untermann, Jürgen (1997): ''Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. IV Die tartessischen, keltiberischen und lusitanischen Inschriften'', Wiesbaden.

References

External links

Luzaga's history website

Archaeological artifacts
Celtiberian inscriptions

{{Europe-archaeology-stub
Archaeological discoveries in Spain