Ancient Iberian and Celtiberian scripts.

**Annuit Coeptis** · 18/09/2011

Iberian scripts

Many inscriptions in the Iberian scripts have been found on the Iberian peninsula, in southern France and on the Balearic Islands. The oldest known inscriptions date from the 4th century BC. The scripts are thought to have derived from the Punic alphabet.
In the 3rd century BC the Iberian peninsula was invaded first by Carthage, then by the Romans. Thereafter, the Iberian scripts and the languages they were used to write gradually disappeared.
Notable features

The Iberian script is mainly syllabic but also partly alphabetic.
There were two version of the Iberian script - one used in southern France, Catalonia and Castile, the other used in Andalusia and Mursia. The main difference between these versions is the shapes of the glyphs and direction in which they were written. The northern version was written from right to left, while the southern version was written from left to right.

Used to write:

Iberian, a non-Indo-European language which has so far resisted decipherment, and Lusitanian, an Indo-European language possibly related to the Celtic languages. A modified version of the Northern Iberian script was used to write Celtiberian, a Celtic language. The most recent inscriptions in these language date from the 2nd century AD and they are thought to have become extinct by then.
Northern Iberian script

Southern Iberian script

Southwest Script

This Southwest Script was used in southwestern Iberia to write an unknown language which is usually identified as Tartessian. A total of 75 inscriptions in this script dating from between the 7th and 5th centuries BC have been found in the Algarve and southern Alentejo in Portugal, and in southern Extremadura and western Andalucia in Spain. The script is also known as the Southwestern Script, the Southwest Paleohispanic script, the Tartessian Script or the South Lusitanian Script.
The Tartessian language, which is also known as Southwestern or South Lusitanian, is an extinct language spoken in the southwestern Iberia. The name Tartessian comes from Tartessos, a city that once stood at mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Andalusia. Tartessian was possibly a Celtic language, though this is uncertain.
Notable features

Type of writing system: syllabary
Direction of writing: variable - right to left in horizontal lines, boustrophedon or spiral
Used to write: Tartessian (?)

A possible southwestern signary

Based on information from Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2000): «La lectura de las inscripciones sudlusitano-tartesias»
Sample texts

Northern Iberian Script

Lead plaque from Ullastret [source]
Southern Iberian Script

Lead plaque from La Bastida de les Alcuses (Moixent) [source]

Southwest Script

Fonte Velha (Bensafrim, Lagos) [source]

Celtiberian

Celtiberian is an extinct Celtic language once spoken on the Iberian peninsula until about the 1st century BC, particularly between the Duero, Tajo, Júcar, Turia and Ebro rivers in the north of what is now Spain.
Celtiberian is thought to have been a Q-Celtic language related to the Gaelic/Goidelic languages of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. There are Old Irish legends preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions) name the Milesians, a people from Iberia, as being the ancestors of the Irish. The Celtiberians themselves are thought the have migrated to Iberia from Gaul (France), perhaps during the 6th century BC.
The name Celtiberi appears in the writing of Roman authors such as Diodorus Siculus, Appian and Martial, who thought these people were a mixture of Celts (Celtae) and Iberians (Iberi), with the Celts being dominant. They also recording the tribal names Arevaci, Belli, Titti and Lusones.
The Celtiberian script developed from the Iberian scripts. About 200 inscriptions in Celtiberian have been found in the Celtiberian alphabet, and also in the Latin alphabet, dating from between the 6th and 1st centuries BC. With the Roman take over of the Iberian peninsula, the Celtiberian script was gradually replaced by the Roman/Latin alphabet and eventually disappeared.
Notable features

Type of writing system: partly syllabic and partly alphabetic.
Direction of writing:
Used mainly by druids for religious purposes
Celtiberian alphabet

Sample text

From Uxama (Western script) [source]

Source:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/iberian.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/celtiberian.htm

**Annuit Coeptis** · 18/09/2011

And the Germanic runna, runic script. A common hypothesis posits an origin someplace in southern Europe, usually the Etruscans or Latins (which is odd because the runes are acknowledged as developing independently from alphabetic writing), which was carried north by migrating Germanic tribes during the Migration Period:

Runic alphabet

Origin

Little is known about the origins of the Runic alphabet, which is traditionally known as futhark after the first six letters. In Old Norse the word rune means 'letter', 'text' or 'inscription'. The word also means 'mystery' or 'secret' in Old Germanic languages and runes had a important role in ritual and magic.

Here are some theories about the origins of runes:

The alphabet was probably created independently rather than evolving from another alphabet.
Runic writing was probably first used in southern Europe and was carried north by Germanic tribes.
The Runic alphabet is thought to have been modelled on the Latin and/or Etruscan alphabet.

The earliest known Runic inscriptions date from the 1st century AD, but the vast majority of Runic inscriptions date from the 11th century. Runic inscriptions have been found throughout Europe from the Balkans to Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles.
Notable features

The direction of writing in early Runic inscriptions is variable. Later they settled down into a left to right pattern
Word divisions were not generally recognised in Runic writing, although one or more dots were occasionally used for this function.

Types of runic inscriptions include:

'Kilroy was here' type inscriptions on cliff walls, large rocks and buildings
grave stone inscriptions, often with who carved the runes and who was buried, and also who made sure the stone was raised. (Later grave slabs or stone coffins were sometimes inscribed with Christian texts carved in runes)
religious/magic inscriptions: prayers and curses, formulas on charms, etc.
inscriptions related to trade and politics: There are many examples of trade communication: stock orders and descriptions, excuses for not having payed on time, trade name tags for bags or cases of produce, etc. The trade inscriptions are often carved on wooden rune sticks. Political inscriptions are to do with matters of the law, historical figures state that they were somewhere hiding from the enemy, secret messages to do with the fighting of wars, etc.
personal letters: love letters, greetings between friends, proposals, etc.
rude messages, similar to modern graffiti or sms today
Art and craft-signatures: Goldsmiths, blacksmiths, wood carvers, church builders, etc., often put their name on what they made. Objects also somtimes had names carved onto them – either the name of the object itself, or the name of the person who owned it.

There are a number of different versions of the Runic alphabet including:

Elder Futhark

Elder Futhark is thought to be the oldest version of the Runic alphabet, and was used in the parts of Europe which were home to Germanic peoples, including Scandinavia. Other versions probably developed from it. The names of the letters are shown in Common Germanic, the reconstructed ancestor of all Germanic languages.

Notes

The letter k is also called kēnaz (torch) or kanō (skiff). The meaning of the letter name perþ is unknown.
Gothic runes

Gothic, an extinct east Germanic language, was originally written with a Runic alphabet about which little is known. One theory of the origins of runes is that they were invented by the Goths, but this is impossible to prove as very few inscriptions of writing in Gothic runes survive. These runes were replaced with a new alphabet in the 4th century AD.

Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

A number of extra letters were added to the Runic alphabet to write Anglo-Saxon/Old English. Runes were probably bought to Britain in the 5th century by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians (collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons), and were used until about the 11th century.
Runic inscriptions are mostly found on jewellery, weapons, stones and other objects. Very few examples of Runic writing on manuscripts have survived.

Younger Futhork

Younger Futhork or "Normal Runes" gradually evolved Elder Futhark over a period of many years and stabilized by about 800 A.D., the beginning of the Viking Age. It was the main alphabet in Norway, Sweden and Denmark throughout the Viking Age, but was largely though not completely replaced by the Latin alphabet by about 1200 as a result of the conversion of most of Scandinavia to Christianity.
Three slightly different versions of the alphabet developed in Denmark, Sweden and Norway:
Danish Futhark

Swedish-Norwegian / Short-twig / Rök Runes

Norwegian Futhark

Gothenburg / Bohuslän Runes

Medieval (Latinised) Futhark

After the arrival of Christianity in Scandinaiva, the Runic alphabet was Latinised and was used occasionlly, mainly for decoration until 1850.

Thanks to Niklas Dougherty for some of the information on this page.
Sample text - Lord's Prayer in Old Norse (Runic alphabet - Futhark)

Transliteration

Faðer uor som ast i himlüm, halgað warðe þit nama. Tilkomme þit rikie. Skie þin uilie so som i himmalan so oh bo iordanne. Wort dahliha broð gif os i dah. Oh forlat os uora skuldar so som oh ui forlate þem os skuüldihi are. Oh inleð os ikkie i frestalsan utan frels os ifra ondo. Tü rikiað ar þit oh mahtan oh harlihheten i ewihhet. Aman.
Source: www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-norse-old.html

Source:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/runic.htm

**Milesian** · 21/09/2011

Fascinating. They look similar to the Tifinagh scripts used by the Berber's until this day.

I've read that there are linguistic similarities between Tamazight, Euskara, and Gaelic.

Interesting video that advocates for Berber's autonomy in North Africa.

**Tureno** · 21/09/2011

"The name Celtiberi appears in the writing of Roman authors such as Diodorus Siculus, Appian and Martial, who thought these people were a mixture of Celts (Celtae) and Iberians (Iberi), with the Celts being dominant."

I however think, based in a very plausibles hypothesis, that the name Celtiberi means "Celtics from Iberia", and not a mixture of Celtic+Iberians, due to significants differences in the way of life, over all that refers to religion, funeral rites, mystic conception of existence...There was too a strongly hierarchized society, being most of times women as priestesses, ruling the council of elders, even like warriors too. The warriors died in battle, were given to vultures and other vermins,in a sacred ritual. Incineration was the usual practice... Iberians was more influented by their "neighbors" from Phoenicia and Greece. Mediterranean Sea provided that influences and other from minoritary cultures too, but in the Celtic Iberia, these influences were "residuals"...

"They also recording the tribal names Arevaci, Belli, Titti and Lusones."

These tribes belong to the Lands known for many investigators about Pre-roman Hispania like the "Nuclear Celtiberia"... The heart of this culture on the Ancient Iberia. With necropolis and settlements from IX B.C to I A.C

My genetic heritage, in concrete, belongs directly to these Lands and these tribes, by Paternal line.

This is a plaque from Bilbilis :

**Annuit Coeptis** · 21/09/2011

I don't think that the similarities between the Celtiberian and Germanic scripts are coincidental- the idea that both had input from elsewhere makes the most sense to me:

Etruscan alphabet

The Etruscan alphabet developed from a Western variety of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Euboean Greeks. The earliest known inscription dates from the middle of the 6th century BC. Most Etruscan inscriptions are written in horizontal lines from rigth to left, but some are boustrophedon (running alternately left to right then right to left).
More than 10,000 Etruscan inscriptions have been found on tombstones, vases, statues, mirrors and jewellery. Fragments of an Etruscan book made of linen have also been found. Etruscan texts can be read: i.e. the pronunciation of the letters is known, though scholars are not sure what all the words mean.
No major literary works in Etruscan have survived, however there is evidence for the existence of religious and historical literature and drama. It is also possible that the Etruscans had a notation system for music.
The Etruscan language was spoken by the Etruscans in Etruria (Tuscany and Umbria) until about the 1st century AD, after which it continued to be studied by priests and scholars. The emperor Claudius (10 BC - 54 AD) wrote a history of the Etruscans in 20 volumes, none of which have survived, based on sources still preserved in his day. The language was used in religious ceremonies until the early 5th century.
Etruscan was related to Raetic, a language once spoken in the Alps, and also to Lemnian, once spoken on the island of Lemnos. It was also possibly related to Camunic, a language once spoken in the northwest of Italy.
Archaic Etruscan alphabet (7th-5th centuries BC)

Neo-Etruscan alphabet (4th-3rd centuries BC)

Sample text in Etruscan

Source: http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/etrusk/alph/etrFont.html

Etruscan alphabet and language

Ancient Latin alphabet

The earliest known inscriptions in the Latin alphabet date from the 6th century BC. It was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet during the 7th century BC. The letters Y and Z were taken from the Greek alphabet to write Greek loan words. Other letters were added from time to time as the Latin alphabet was adapted for other languages and many letters had several different shapes.

Ancient and modern Latin alphabet

**Annuit Coeptis** · 21/09/2011

Etruscan and Old Latin derive from Greek, which is a derivative of the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians are known to have had a presence in ancient Iberia down to the Punic Wars and its very likely that their writing system was absorbed, partly or fully, by the natives there- later it was superseded by Latin, as was the case with the Germanic tribes (whose own runes were largely forgotten after Latin was adopted as the de-facto lingua franca).