The ruins of numerous ancient Celtic settlements known as castros are still present in Galicia today. Photo: Castro de Baroña by Feans/Flickr
Posted on 07/26/2014 1:35:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
An ancient inscription discovered on a 14th century church in Spain's Galicia region has been identified as Gaelic; the first written evidence of the northern region’s Irish and Scottish heritage.
For centuries it has gone unnoticed, weathered by Galicia’s incessant drizzle but still visible to those with an eagle-eye.
On one of the granite walls of Santiago church in the small town of Betanzos, a small previously unintelligible inscription five metres above ground kept historians and epigraphists, or people who study ancient inscriptions, baffled for decades.
Researchers working for a private association called the Gaelaico Project now believe they've finally deciphered what it reads: "An Ghaltacht" or "Gaelic-speaking area".
"If our interpretation is right, the inscription isn't related to religious matters, but rather to the language that was spoken in Galicia at the time," Proxecto Gaelaico head Martín Fernández Maceiras told local daily La Voz de Galicia.
"It seems logical that the inscription was made while the church was being built (in the 14th century)."
Up to now, Galicia, along with Asturias and northern Portugal, have been informally considered part of the ancient Celtic nations (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Isle of Man and Cornwall) due to cultural and historical reasons rather than because of written proof.
Although researchers are hoping to get a second opinion from expert epigraphists on whether the inscription does indeed read “Gaelic-speaking area”, the chances of it being the first written evidence of Galicia’s Celtic past are high.
Despite the dominance of Latin, there are plenty of Gaelic traits still present in Galicia,” James Duran, academic expert on minority languages at the US's Stanford University, told La Voz de Galicia.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.es ...
The ruins of numerous ancient Celtic settlements known as castros are still present in Galicia today. Photo: Castro de Baroña by Feans/Flickr
“Castro” was actually a Latin word referring to a large military encampment. The Romans, who were all throughout Northern (and Southern) Spain, used it to refer to the fortified towns of the Celts.
Interesting article.
According to Chinese Communist Party law, this is evidence that Galicia, Asturias, and northern Portugal belong to Ireland. Ireland should begin mobilization immediately.
I drew my initials in the wet cement that the city poured fixing our sidewalk. My fame will live forever...
Spanish Armada
Mobilize the Guinness! ...the Irish Ale.
Send in Regiments of leprechauns.
Researchers working for a private association called the Gaelaico Project now believe they’ve finally deciphered what it reads: “An Ghaltacht” or “Gun-Free Zone”.
Researchers working for a private association called the Gaelaico Project now believe they’ve finally deciphered what it reads: “An Ghaltacht” or “Press 1 for Gaelic, 2 for Spanish, 3 for English”.
The Gaelic people came from areas of France, Spain and Portugal and either fled to Ireland from fear (or defeat) of invaders, or as the result of exploration (likely a combination of both).
One really doesn’t think of the 14th century as “ancient.” It’s just “old.”
The Gaelic speaking folks much earlier migrated from Anatolia (north and northeast of Assyria) to the areas that became Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, France and maybe more to the north (but not to the south, see Roman writings about, in their perceptions, the evil, elusive, barbaric Gauls). The Spaniards earlier on...? Carthage, Romans.
I’ve always thought that the Moorish conquest of Iberia, then the reconquest of same to drive out the Moors did much to establish the current dominance of the language common to modern Spain.
Shamus was here
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