Tartessian language

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Region Southwest Iberian Peninsula
Extinct after 5th century BC
Southwest Paleohispanic
Language codes
ISO 639-3 txr
Linguist list
Glottolog tart1237[1]
Approximate extension of the area under Tartessian influence
Tartessian language in the context of paleohispanic languages

The Tartessian language is the extinct Paleohispanic language of inscriptions in the Southwestern script found in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula: mainly in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), but also in Spain (south of Extremadura and western Andalusia). There are 95 of these inscriptions, the longest having 82 readable signs. Around one-third of them were found in Early Iron Age necropolises or other Iron Age burial sites associated with rich complex burials. It is usual to date them to the 7th century BC and consider the southwestern script to be the most ancient Paleohispanic script, with characters most closely resembling specific Phoenician letter forms found in inscriptions dated to c. 825 BC. Five of the inscriptions occur on stelae with Late Bronze Age carved warrior gear; the inscriptions are oriented in a manner indicating continuity of purpose, and the depicted warrior gear shows metalwork types from the Urnfield culture (Bronze D-Hallstatt A), including elite status markers such as swords and crested helmets that have been invoked as evidence of language shift by elite contact.[2][3]


Most researchers use the term Tartessian to refer to the language as attested on the stelae written in the Southwestern script,[4] but some researchers would prefer to reserve the term Tartessian for the language of the core Tartessian zone, attested for these researchers with some graffiti[5] – like the Huelva graffito[6] – and maybe with some stelae:[7] for example, Villamanrique de la Condesa (J.52.1).[8] These researchers consider that the language of the inscriptions found outside the core Tartessian zone would be either a different language[9] or maybe a Tartessian dialect,[10] and so they would prefer to identify the language of the stelae with a different title, namely "southwestern"[11] or "south-Lusitanian".[12] There is general agreement that the core area of Tartessos is around Huelva, extending to the valley of the Guadalquivir, while the area under Tartessian influence is much wider[13] (see maps). Three of the 95 stelae, plus some graffiti, belong to the core area: Alcala del Rio (Untermann J.53.1), Villamanrique de la Condesa (J.52.1) and Puente Genil (J.51.1). Four have also been found in the Middle Guadiana (in Extremadura), and the rest have been found in the south of Portugal (Algarve and Lower Alentejo), where the Greek and Roman sources locate the Pre-Roman Cempsi and Saefs, Cynetes and the Celtici peoples.


The most confident dating is for the Tartessian inscription (J.57.1) in the necropolis at Medellin, Badajoz, Spain to 650/625 BC.[14] Further confirmatory dates for the Medellin necropolis include painted ceramics of the 7th–6th centuries BC.[15]





Sound values of the Southwestern script proposed by Valerio (2008)
Sound values proposed by Rodríguez Ramos (2000)





Tartessian is generally left unclassified, due to lack of data, or proposed to be a language isolate due to an absence of connections to the Indo-European languages.[21][22] Some Tartessian names have been interpreted as Indo-European or more specifically as Celtic.[23] However, the language as a whole remains inexplicable from the Celtic or Indo-European point of view; the structure of Tartessian syllables appears to be incompatible with Celtic or even Indo-European phonetics, and more compatible with Iberian or Basque; any Celtic elements are thought to be borrowings.[24]

Since 2009, John T. Koch has argued that Tartessian is a Celtic language and that the texts can be translated.[25][26][27] However, his proposals have been largely rejected by the academic community and the script, which is "hardly suitable for the denotation of an Indo-European language[,] leaves ample room for interpretation."[28] In 2011, in the Old Irish message list, David Stifter, of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth's Department of Early Irish, says that the identification as Celtic relies on features "specifically medieval Irish" rather than Celtic in general,[29] but Koch disagrees.[30]


Fonte Velha (Bensafrim, Lagos)


Mesas do Castelinho (Almodôvar)
  1. tᶤilekᵘuṟkᵘuarkᵃastᵃaḇᵘutᵉebᵃantᶤilebᵒoiirerobᵃarenaŕḵᵉ[en?]aφiuu
  2. lii*eianiitᵃa
  3. eanirakᵃaltᵉetᵃao
  4. bᵉesaru[?]an


Fonte Velha (Bensafrim) (J.53.1)
Herdade da Abobada (Almodôvar) (J.12.1)
  • iŕualkᵘusie : naŕkᵉentᶤimubᵃatᵉerobᵃare[?]ᵃatᵃaneatᵉe (Untermann 1997)

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Tartessian". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 
  2. ^ Koch, John T. (2013). Celtic from the West 2 - Prologue: The Earliest Hallstatt Iron Age cannot equal Proto-Celtic. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p. 10-11. ISBN 978-1-84217-529-3. 
  3. ^ Brandherm, Dirk (2013). Celtic from the West 2 - Westward Ho? Sword-bearers and all the rest of it.... Oxford: Oxbow Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-84217-529-3. 
  6. ^ Untermann 1997, pp. 102–103; Mederos and Ruiz 2001.
  7. ^ Correa 2009, p. 276.
  10. ^ Correa 2009, p. 278.
  11. ^ Villar 2000; de Hoz 2010.
  12. ^ Rodríguez Ramos 2009
  13. ^ Koch 2010 2011
  16. ^ Strabo, Geography, book 3, chapter 1, section 6.
  17. ^ Strabo, Geography, book 3, chapter 2, section 15.
  20. ^ "O'Donnell Lecture 2008 Appendix". 
  21. ^ Rodríguez Ramos (2002)
  22. ^ de Hoz (2010)
  23. ^ (Correa 1989, Untermann 1997)
  24. ^ (Rodríguez Ramos 2002, de Hoz 2010)

Further reading[edit]