El celtibérico, dialecto arcaico celta

The present paper, which is divided into four parts, analyses the most characteristic features of the Celtiberian language in the framework of Celtic dialectology. In the first two parts, we outline the general criteria for the evaluation of the linguistic data of a language fragmentarily recorded, as well as the contribution which can be made to the dialectology of the Celtic languages from Celtiberian and continental Celtic. In the third part, we analyse the features which Celtiberian shares with the other Celtic languages and the innovations which it presents with respect to other Indoeuropean languages. Besides the traditional phonological and morphological arguments, aspects of the lexicon are also discussed, especially the designations for the name of ‘son’. Finally, in the last part, the special archaisms of Celtiberian relative to other Celtic languages are evaluated, together with the historical consequences which derive from the early separation of Hispanic Celtic from the general Celtic community