Celto-Venetica: Indo-European Names from North-Eastern Italy and the Dialectal Classification of Venetic

Abstract

[EN] This work tries to cast some light on a number of indigenous names of north-eastern Italy. It specifi cally addresses a selected number of names from Brixia and its environment, which lies in the west of Venetia et Histria, and close to the border of the Gallia Transpadana, covering an area that runs from the Oglio to the Adige rivers, around the Garda Lake. Most of these names have one thing in common: they are hardly ever found anywhere else, and, as a consequence, they have obtained a label: Jürgen Untermann called them Brescianisch, thus tacitly paving the way for considering them as a trace of an independent, unknown and unclassifi ed dialect. That these names are not attested outside this area is not necessarily diagnostic of their not being Celtic or Italic, though the path leading to their classifi cation may prove winding and indirect. Their etymology and attribution to either Celtic or Venetic will be thoroughly discussed. The study of the Venetic name ൿൾඋඌංආඈ comes to confi rm the evolution of the complex superlative suffi x *-is-(H)o- > -izʊmo- > -īmo- is common to Sabellic and Venetic, where only the name ආൾංඍංආൺ provided evidence for this change. Some misidentifi ed or overlooked derivational and compositional patterns are addressed, such as the superlatives in -umus, the Celtic compounds in -gassi- and the probably both Italic and Celtic compounds whose fi rst member is an Indo-European root-noun *ḱlu- ‘hearing.’ The personal names ඊඏൾඋඋൺ, ൽංൾඏඉൺඅൺ, ൾඇൽඏൻඋඈ, උඏඍඏൻൺ, උඏඍඏආൺඇඇൾ, ൻൺඋൻൺඋඏඍൺൾ, ൺඉඋඈൿൾඇඇංඏඌ are Venetic and decidedly bely the widespread notion that Italic did not preserve Indo-European compounds as personal names. The Celtic personal name ඏඈඋඏඈൽංඌංඏඌ and the personal or divine name ൻඈඑൺඋඏൺൾ are considered as belonging to a very ancient layer of Indo-European composition and, when possible, are connected to other compounds belonging to the same “semantic paradigms.” The analysis shows that it is premature to label these forms as Brescianisch — a new Indo-European dialect not attested in indigenous sources, which is in fact little more than a label for an onomastic landscape whose members are otherwise unattested but can be unproblematically linked to Continental Celtic and Italic.