Bibliography
David
Stifter s. xx–xxi
Works authored
Theses
Stifter, David, “Philologica Latino-Hibernica: Nauigatio sancti Brendani”, Hochschulschrift (Diplomarbeit), Vienna University, Geisteswissenschaftliche Fakultät, 1997.
abstract:
This is a philological study of the Middle Latin, Hiberno-Latin tale Navigatio sancti Brendani ‘The sea voyage of Saint Brendan’. The focus is on the question whether Old Irish substrate influence can be detected in the Latin of the tale. Indeed, a number of instances can be substantiated. Furthermore, the Navigatio sancti Brendani is studied in the context of Irish sea voyage literature, and literary parallels from Irish sea voyage tales are adduced.
E-Theses Universität Wien: <link>
abstract:
This is a philological study of the Middle Latin, Hiberno-Latin tale Navigatio sancti Brendani ‘The sea voyage of Saint Brendan’. The focus is on the question whether Old Irish substrate influence can be detected in the Latin of the tale. Indeed, a number of instances can be substantiated. Furthermore, the Navigatio sancti Brendani is studied in the context of Irish sea voyage literature, and literary parallels from Irish sea voyage tales are adduced.
Websites
Stifter, David [principal investigator], Corpus PalaeoHibernicum (CorPH), Online: National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 2021–. URL: <https://chronhib.maynoothuniversity.ie/chronhibWebsite>.
abstract:
CorPH is an on-line database of Old Irish texts curated by the ChronHib project. It incorporates and harmonises several pre-existing digital databases of Old Irish texts, as well as digitalises and annotates a number of other Old Irish texts. All data have undergone digitalisation, tokenisation, lemmatisation, POS- and morphological tagging, following the rules and tagsets created by ChronHib, which can be downloaded from this webpage.
Pre-existing digital databases that have been incorporated into CorPH include the following. ChronHib has acquired their respective authors’ authorisation to copy, modify, display and distribute the Work as part of the database ‘Corpus Palaeo-Hibernicum’, or CorPH:
Barrett, Siobhán (2017), A Lexicon of the poems of Blathmac Son of Cú Brettan, as part of an unpublished PhD Thesis, accessible at http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10042/
Bauer, Bernhard (2015), The online database of the Old Irish Priscian glosses, originally published at http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/priscian/
Griffith, Aaron and David Stifter (2013), A Dictionary of the Old Irish Glosses in the Milan MS Ambr. C301 inf., originally published at https://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses/
Lash, Elliott (2014), The Parsed Old and Middle-Irish Corpus, originally published at https://www.dias.ie/celt/celtpublications-2/celt-the-parsed-old-and-middle-irish-corpus-pomic/.
Pre-existing digital databases that have been incorporated into CorPH include the following. ChronHib has acquired their respective authors’ authorisation to copy, modify, display and distribute the Work as part of the database ‘Corpus Palaeo-Hibernicum’, or CorPH:
Barrett, Siobhán (2017), A Lexicon of the poems of Blathmac Son of Cú Brettan, as part of an unpublished PhD Thesis, accessible at http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10042/
Bauer, Bernhard (2015), The online database of the Old Irish Priscian glosses, originally published at http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/priscian/
Griffith, Aaron and David Stifter (2013), A Dictionary of the Old Irish Glosses in the Milan MS Ambr. C301 inf., originally published at https://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses/
Lash, Elliott (2014), The Parsed Old and Middle-Irish Corpus, originally published at https://www.dias.ie/celt/celtpublications-2/celt-the-parsed-old-and-middle-irish-corpus-pomic/.
abstract:
CorPH is an on-line database of Old Irish texts curated by the ChronHib project. It incorporates and harmonises several pre-existing digital databases of Old Irish texts, as well as digitalises and annotates a number of other Old Irish texts. All data have undergone digitalisation, tokenisation, lemmatisation, POS- and morphological tagging, following the rules and tagsets created by ChronHib, which can be downloaded from this webpage.
Pre-existing digital databases that have been incorporated into CorPH include the following. ChronHib has acquired their respective authors’ authorisation to copy, modify, display and distribute the Work as part of the database ‘Corpus Palaeo-Hibernicum’, or CorPH:
Barrett, Siobhán (2017), A Lexicon of the poems of Blathmac Son of Cú Brettan, as part of an unpublished PhD Thesis, accessible at http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10042/
Bauer, Bernhard (2015), The online database of the Old Irish Priscian glosses, originally published at http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/priscian/
Griffith, Aaron and David Stifter (2013), A Dictionary of the Old Irish Glosses in the Milan MS Ambr. C301 inf., originally published at https://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses/
Lash, Elliott (2014), The Parsed Old and Middle-Irish Corpus, originally published at https://www.dias.ie/celt/celtpublications-2/celt-the-parsed-old-and-middle-irish-corpus-pomic/.
Pre-existing digital databases that have been incorporated into CorPH include the following. ChronHib has acquired their respective authors’ authorisation to copy, modify, display and distribute the Work as part of the database ‘Corpus Palaeo-Hibernicum’, or CorPH:
Barrett, Siobhán (2017), A Lexicon of the poems of Blathmac Son of Cú Brettan, as part of an unpublished PhD Thesis, accessible at http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10042/
Bauer, Bernhard (2015), The online database of the Old Irish Priscian glosses, originally published at http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/priscian/
Griffith, Aaron and David Stifter (2013), A Dictionary of the Old Irish Glosses in the Milan MS Ambr. C301 inf., originally published at https://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses/
Lash, Elliott (2014), The Parsed Old and Middle-Irish Corpus, originally published at https://www.dias.ie/celt/celtpublications-2/celt-the-parsed-old-and-middle-irish-corpus-pomic/.
Forsyth, Katherine, Deborah Hayden, Megan Kasten, David Stifter, and Nora White, OG[H]AM: harnessing digital technologies to transform understanding of ogham writing, from the 4th century to the 21st, Online: University of Glasgow, 2021–present. URL: <https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk>.
Website and blog for the research project OG[H]AM: harnessing digital technologies to transform understanding of ogham writing, from the 4th century to the 21st century (2021–2024). The team includes Katherine Forsyth and David Stifter (principal investigators), Deborah Hayden (co-investigator), Nora White and Megan Kasten (post-doctoral researchers), Luca Guarienti (digital officer) and Clara Scholz (student intern). The website features blogs by team members as well as guest blogs by other researchers, including Karen Murad and Chantal Kobel.
Website and blog for the research project OG[H]AM: harnessing digital technologies to transform understanding of ogham writing, from the 4th century to the 21st century (2021–2024). The team includes Katherine Forsyth and David Stifter (principal investigators), Deborah Hayden (co-investigator), Nora White and Megan Kasten (post-doctoral researchers), Luca Guarienti (digital officer) and Clara Scholz (student intern). The website features blogs by team members as well as guest blogs by other researchers, including Karen Murad and Chantal Kobel.
Stifter, David [dir.], and Corinna Scheungraber, NNN: Non-Mediterranean names in Noricum = Nichtmediterrane Namen in Noricum, Online, 2011–present. URL: <https://www.univie.ac.at/austria-celtica/personalnames/>.
abstract:
The data for the database of Non-Mediterranean Names of Noricum (NNN) was collected in 2011 by Cornelia Kleiber, Dieter Reinisch and Tanja Trausmuth; Mag. Corinna Scheungraber made the linguistic analysis and comments. Prof. David Stifter was the director and editor. The new, up-to-date readings of the inscriptions were made available to us by the kind permission of the team of the Project CIL III² at the Department of Old History and Classical Studies, Epigraphics and Papyrology at the University of Vienna. Our heartfelt thank goes especially to Prof. Ekkehard Weber, Dr. Ingrid Weber-Hiden, Mag. Marita Holzner. The site was launched in August 2011. Development by Pádraic Moran, based on scripts used for the Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain website.
abstract:
The data for the database of Non-Mediterranean Names of Noricum (NNN) was collected in 2011 by Cornelia Kleiber, Dieter Reinisch and Tanja Trausmuth; Mag. Corinna Scheungraber made the linguistic analysis and comments. Prof. David Stifter was the director and editor. The new, up-to-date readings of the inscriptions were made available to us by the kind permission of the team of the Project CIL III² at the Department of Old History and Classical Studies, Epigraphics and Papyrology at the University of Vienna. Our heartfelt thank goes especially to Prof. Ekkehard Weber, Dr. Ingrid Weber-Hiden, Mag. Marita Holzner. The site was launched in August 2011. Development by Pádraic Moran, based on scripts used for the Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain website.
Stifter, David, Martin Braun, Michela Vignoli, Anna Adaktylos, Chiara Dezi, Eva Lettner, Corinna Salomon, Corinna Scheungraber, and Marcel Schwarz, Lexicon Leponticum: an interactive online etymological dictionary of Lepontic, Online, 2009–present. URL: <http://www.univie.ac.at/lexlep/wiki/Main_Page>.
abstract:
Lexicon Leponticum (LexLep) is a web-based, interactive platform based on the MediaWiki open source application. The aim of LexLep is to set up an interactive online etymological dictionary of the Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish language that is freely accessible for all users. In addition to information about linguistic and etymological features of the Lepontic language, it includes substantial data about the epigraphic, archaeological and historical context of the inscriptions as well.
abstract:
Lexicon Leponticum (LexLep) is a web-based, interactive platform based on the MediaWiki open source application. The aim of LexLep is to set up an interactive online etymological dictionary of the Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish language that is freely accessible for all users. In addition to information about linguistic and etymological features of the Lepontic language, it includes substantial data about the epigraphic, archaeological and historical context of the inscriptions as well.
Griffith, Aaron, and David Stifter, A dictionary of the Old-Irish glosses in the Milan Codex Ambrosianus C 301 inf, Online: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Wien, 2007–2013. URL: <http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm>.
Works edited
Roma, Elisa, and David Stifter (eds), Linguistic and philological studies in Early Irish, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2014.
abstract:
This is a multi-authored volume which gathers essays devoted to Early Irish originally presented at the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, held in Maynooth, August 1-5, 2011. The topics covered, either from a synchronic or a diachronic perspective, range from phonetics and phonology to morphology and syntax with some semantics.
(source: Publisher)
abstract:
This is a multi-authored volume which gathers essays devoted to Early Irish originally presented at the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, held in Maynooth, August 1-5, 2011. The topics covered, either from a synchronic or a diachronic perspective, range from phonetics and phonology to morphology and syntax with some semantics.
(source: Publisher)
Sadovski, Velizar, and David Stifter (eds), Iranistische und indogermanistische Beiträge in memoriam Jochem Schindler (1944–1994), Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 832, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2012.
includes: Raimund Karl (ed.) • David Stifter (ed.), The Celtic world: critical concepts in historical studies: Theory in Celtic studies, vol. 1 • Raimund Karl (ed.) • David Stifter (ed.), The Celtic world: critical concepts in historical studies: Celtic archaeology, vol. 2 • Raimund Karl (ed.) • David Stifter (ed.), The Celtic world: critical concepts in historical studies: Celtic history, vol. 3 • Raimund Karl (ed.) • David Stifter (ed.), The Celtic world: critical concepts in historical studies: Celtic linguistics, vol. 4
Four volumes: I. Theory in Celtic studies. II. Celtic archaeology. III. Celtic history. IV. Celtic linguistics.
Contributions to journals
Stifter, David, Fangzhe Qiu, Marco A. Aquino-López, Bernhard Bauer, Elliott Lash, and Nora White, “Strategies in tracing linguistic variation in a corpus of Old Irish texts (CorPH)”, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 27:4 (Oct., 2022): 529–553.
abstract:
Languages change constantly in all linguistic domains – phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexical use – and their graphic expressions are subject to fashions. Irish, a Celtic language spoken in Ireland, is in no way different. With a written history of more than 1,500 years, Irish is among the oldest attested languages in Europe. Because of its long textual tradition, its development through time is reflected in the huge amount of variation observable in the extant sources, i.e. texts in manuscripts from the 8th up to as late as the 17th and 18th century. The European Research Council-funded project Chronologicon Hibernicum (hereafter ChronHib; 2015–2021) has studied the diachronic evolution of the early medieval Irish language, best known as Old Irish. This article presents the major challenges posed by extant Old Irish texts and introduces two methods developed in the ChronHib project to study synchronic and diachronic variation in the extant material, namely variation tagging and Bayesian language variation analysis.
abstract:
Languages change constantly in all linguistic domains – phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexical use – and their graphic expressions are subject to fashions. Irish, a Celtic language spoken in Ireland, is in no way different. With a written history of more than 1,500 years, Irish is among the oldest attested languages in Europe. Because of its long textual tradition, its development through time is reflected in the huge amount of variation observable in the extant sources, i.e. texts in manuscripts from the 8th up to as late as the 17th and 18th century. The European Research Council-funded project Chronologicon Hibernicum (hereafter ChronHib; 2015–2021) has studied the diachronic evolution of the early medieval Irish language, best known as Old Irish. This article presents the major challenges posed by extant Old Irish texts and introduces two methods developed in the ChronHib project to study synchronic and diachronic variation in the extant material, namely variation tagging and Bayesian language variation analysis.
Callaghan, Brian, and David Stifter, “Two early Irish inscriptions from Co. Cavan”, Peritia 31 (2020): 257–269.
abstract:
This article presents two stones with short inscriptions in Early Irish that were discovered by Brian Callaghan of the Moybologue Historical Society at Moybologue Old Graveyard and at Enniskeen Graveyard, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Both sites are on the Cavan-Meath border and are approximately 10.5 km distant from each other.
abstract:
This article presents two stones with short inscriptions in Early Irish that were discovered by Brian Callaghan of the Moybologue Historical Society at Moybologue Old Graveyard and at Enniskeen Graveyard, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Both sites are on the Cavan-Meath border and are approximately 10.5 km distant from each other.
Stifter, David, “Old Irish etymology through the ages”, Language and History 63 (2020): 24–46.
abstract:
The etymological study of Early Irish began in the Old Irish period (c. 700‒900 a.d.), under the influence of Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae, and, because of its flexible hermeneutic potential, it enjoyed great popularity in the middle and early modern periods. It is only with the rise of modern comparative linguistics, especially of Indo-European linguistics in the second half of the 19th century, that the art of Irish etymology attained scholarly rigour. Over the past 150 years, paradigm shifts in Indo-European studies (laryngeal theory, accent/ablaut classes of inflection, derivational morphology) and the development of modern technology (digitisation of texts, e.g. eDIL, ISOS) have repeatedly changed the methods and the course of Irish etymological studies. The impact of some of these external factors will be illustrated with examples.
abstract:
The etymological study of Early Irish began in the Old Irish period (c. 700‒900 a.d.), under the influence of Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae, and, because of its flexible hermeneutic potential, it enjoyed great popularity in the middle and early modern periods. It is only with the rise of modern comparative linguistics, especially of Indo-European linguistics in the second half of the 19th century, that the art of Irish etymology attained scholarly rigour. Over the past 150 years, paradigm shifts in Indo-European studies (laryngeal theory, accent/ablaut classes of inflection, derivational morphology) and the development of modern technology (digitisation of texts, e.g. eDIL, ISOS) have repeatedly changed the methods and the course of Irish etymological studies. The impact of some of these external factors will be illustrated with examples.
Stifter, David, “An apple a day …”, Indogermanische Forschungen 124 (2019): 171–218.
abstract:
This article presents hitherto overlooked evidence that suggests that the Old Irish word for the ‘apple’, ubull, was originally a neuter u-stem. This is then integrated into a general picture of the words for ‘apple’ in Celtic and Indo-European. Along the way, several other problems are discussed: it is demonstrated that the normal, if not regular, genitive plural of neuter u-stems in Old Irish had the ending -Ø; the rules for the operation of MacNeill’s Law after b /β/ are refined; and the question of the regular reflex of *su̯ in Old Irish is investigated.
abstract:
This article presents hitherto overlooked evidence that suggests that the Old Irish word for the ‘apple’, ubull, was originally a neuter u-stem. This is then integrated into a general picture of the words for ‘apple’ in Celtic and Indo-European. Along the way, several other problems are discussed: it is demonstrated that the normal, if not regular, genitive plural of neuter u-stems in Old Irish had the ending -Ø; the rules for the operation of MacNeill’s Law after b /β/ are refined; and the question of the regular reflex of *su̯ in Old Irish is investigated.
Stifter, David, “The stars look very different today”, Ériu 68 (2018): 29–54.
abstract:
This article studies the semantic field of generic words for ‘stars', ‘constellations', and ‘planets’ in Early Irish. The Old Irish items discussed are: 1. the hapax ser, 2. rind, 3. the doubtful rét, 4. rétglu, 5. get, and 6. airndrethach. The items are subjected to a close semantic scrutiny, in order to modify the lexicon definitions in cases where this is necessary. In addition, the etymologies of these words are discussed, which results in new or phonologically and morphologically more precise explanations for some of them. In Appendix 1, a potentially Proto-Celtic poetic formula involving a word for ‘star’ is reconstructed. Appendix 2 is concerned with Old Irish stíall*, a loan from Latin stella ‘star', which only occurs in the name of the feast of the Epiphany.
abstract:
This article studies the semantic field of generic words for ‘stars', ‘constellations', and ‘planets’ in Early Irish. The Old Irish items discussed are: 1. the hapax ser, 2. rind, 3. the doubtful rét, 4. rétglu, 5. get, and 6. airndrethach. The items are subjected to a close semantic scrutiny, in order to modify the lexicon definitions in cases where this is necessary. In addition, the etymologies of these words are discussed, which results in new or phonologically and morphologically more precise explanations for some of them. In Appendix 1, a potentially Proto-Celtic poetic formula involving a word for ‘star’ is reconstructed. Appendix 2 is concerned with Old Irish stíall*, a loan from Latin stella ‘star', which only occurs in the name of the feast of the Epiphany.
Stifter, David, “Keltische Schriftsysteme”, Historische Sprachforschung 128 (2015): 236–259.
abstract:
Anhand der zur Schreibung der lepontischen und cisalpingallischen sprache gebrauchten lepontischen schrift veranschaulicht dieser artikel das konzept von schriftkontakt. Wie im fall von sprachkontakt, entwickeln sich schriftsysteme in beständigem austausch mit benachbarten schriftsystemen. Der einfluss kann sich auf die wähl der zur Verfügung stehenden grapheme erstrecken, auf ihre graphische gestalt, aber auch auf die orthographische praxis. Für die lepontische schrift waren im verlauf ihrer geschichte sukzessive die nordetruskische schrift, die venetisch-rätische schreibpraxis, und schlussendlich die lateinische schrift massgeblich, wofür beispiele aus der datenbank Lexicon Leponticum (http://www.univie.ac.at/lexlep/wiki/Main_Page) angeführt werden.
abstract:
Anhand der zur Schreibung der lepontischen und cisalpingallischen sprache gebrauchten lepontischen schrift veranschaulicht dieser artikel das konzept von schriftkontakt. Wie im fall von sprachkontakt, entwickeln sich schriftsysteme in beständigem austausch mit benachbarten schriftsystemen. Der einfluss kann sich auf die wähl der zur Verfügung stehenden grapheme erstrecken, auf ihre graphische gestalt, aber auch auf die orthographische praxis. Für die lepontische schrift waren im verlauf ihrer geschichte sukzessive die nordetruskische schrift, die venetisch-rätische schreibpraxis, und schlussendlich die lateinische schrift massgeblich, wofür beispiele aus der datenbank Lexicon Leponticum (http://www.univie.ac.at/lexlep/wiki/Main_Page) angeführt werden.
Griffith, Aaron, and David Stifter, “New and corrected MS readings in the Milan glosses”, Études Celtiques 40 (2014): 53–83.
abstract:
[FR] Nouvelles lectures et corrections de lecture sur le manuscrit des Gloses de MilanAprès avoir examiné l’édition fac-similé (Best, 1936), ainsi que le manuscrit original (Milan, Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), les auteurs proposent un certain nombre de corrections au texte des Gloses de Milan tel qu’il a été édité dans le Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). Ces corrections, accompagnées d’un commentaire, s’ajoutent à celles qui ont déjà été publiées en ligne sur le site : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm
[EN] Having inspected the facsimile edition (Best, 1936) as well as the original manuscript (Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), the authors offer a number of corrections to the text of the Milan Glosses as found in the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). These corrections, together with commentary, supplement those already online at : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm.
[EN] Having inspected the facsimile edition (Best, 1936) as well as the original manuscript (Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), the authors offer a number of corrections to the text of the Milan Glosses as found in the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). These corrections, together with commentary, supplement those already online at : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 40, 2014: <link>
abstract:
[FR] Nouvelles lectures et corrections de lecture sur le manuscrit des Gloses de MilanAprès avoir examiné l’édition fac-similé (Best, 1936), ainsi que le manuscrit original (Milan, Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), les auteurs proposent un certain nombre de corrections au texte des Gloses de Milan tel qu’il a été édité dans le Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). Ces corrections, accompagnées d’un commentaire, s’ajoutent à celles qui ont déjà été publiées en ligne sur le site : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm
[EN] Having inspected the facsimile edition (Best, 1936) as well as the original manuscript (Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), the authors offer a number of corrections to the text of the Milan Glosses as found in the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). These corrections, together with commentary, supplement those already online at : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm.
[EN] Having inspected the facsimile edition (Best, 1936) as well as the original manuscript (Codex Ambrosianus 301 C inf.), the authors offer a number of corrections to the text of the Milan Glosses as found in the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus I (p. 7-483). These corrections, together with commentary, supplement those already online at : http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/milan_glosses.htm.
Viret, Jérémie, Marjorie Maqueda, Stéphane Willerwal, Pierre-Yves Lambert, Karin Stüber, David Stifter, and Luka Repanšek, “Le plomb de Chartres”, Études Celtiques 39 (2013): 125–192.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 39, 2013: <link>
includes: Pierre-Yves Lambert, ‘Chartres 2011 : essai d'interprétation’, vol. 39 • Luka Repanšek, ‘The inscription from Chartres’, vol. 39 • David Stifter, ‘Comments on the Chartres text, with a special attention on vowel-final forms’, vol. 39 • Karin Stüber, ‘Remarks on the personal names’, vol. 39 • Jérémie Viret • Marjorie Maqueda • Stéphane Willerwal, ‘La ville de Chartres durant le Haut-Empire et le quartier des Filles-Dieu’, vol. 39
Lambert, Pierre-Yves, and David Stifter, “Le plomb gaulois de Rezé”, Études Celtiques 38 (2012): 139–164.
abstract:
[FR] Le nouveau texte gaulois vient du quartier Saint-Lupien, à Rezé, Loire-Atlantique. Sur un site gallo-romain qui était l’ancienne rive sud de la Loire, les archéologues, dirigés par Martial Monteil, ont trouvé une plaquette de plomb inscrite sur les deux faces. Après une présentation du contexte archéologique, Pierre-Yves Lambert donne un essai de lecture et d’interprétation linguistique. David Stifter livre des remarques d’ordre épigraphique et linguistique et propose parfois des interprétations alternatives. Les deux faces portent essentiellement un compte, avec une colonne de chiffres à droite et à gauche une colonne de mots qui se révèlent être une série d’adjectifs ordinaux, différente de celle de La Graufesenque : certains ordinaux paraissent de création tardive, comme paetrute «quatrième » , d’autres seraient des archaïsmes, comme pixto-«cinquième » . Le «septième » semble faire l’objet d’un interdit, d’où l’emploi d’une périphrase euphémistique. Quelques notes marginales paraissent enregistrer des achats et des ventes, avec les deux formes verbales prino et rinoti, et le nom d’unité monétaire dinariIu (du latin denarius). Il reste encore de nombreuses incertitudes.
[EN] The Gaulish text from Rezé.
This new Gaulish text comes from the district of Saint Lupien, in Rezé, dep. Loire-Atlantique. On this Gallo-Roman site, which was anciently on the southern brink of the Loire, the archaeologists conducted by Martial Monteil have found a lead tablet with an inscription on both sides. After a presentation of the archaeological context, Pierre-Yves Lambert delivered a tentative reading and linguistic interpretation ; David Stifter gave some epigraphic and linguistic remarks and suggested in some cases alternative proposals. The two faces bear essentially an account, with one column of cyphers on the right, and on the left a column of words which reveal to be a series of ordinal numbers, different from the series in La Graufesenque : some ordinal seem to be latish creations, as paetrute “ fourth”, some others would be archaisms, such as pixto-“ fifth”. The “ seventh” was probably the object of some taboo, whence the use of a euphemistic periphrasis. A few marginal notes would record buyings or sellings, with two verbal forms prino and rinoti, and a monetary unit dinariIu (from Latin denarius). There still remain a number of uncertainties.
[EN] The Gaulish text from Rezé.
This new Gaulish text comes from the district of Saint Lupien, in Rezé, dep. Loire-Atlantique. On this Gallo-Roman site, which was anciently on the southern brink of the Loire, the archaeologists conducted by Martial Monteil have found a lead tablet with an inscription on both sides. After a presentation of the archaeological context, Pierre-Yves Lambert delivered a tentative reading and linguistic interpretation ; David Stifter gave some epigraphic and linguistic remarks and suggested in some cases alternative proposals. The two faces bear essentially an account, with one column of cyphers on the right, and on the left a column of words which reveal to be a series of ordinal numbers, different from the series in La Graufesenque : some ordinal seem to be latish creations, as paetrute “ fourth”, some others would be archaisms, such as pixto-“ fifth”. The “ seventh” was probably the object of some taboo, whence the use of a euphemistic periphrasis. A few marginal notes would record buyings or sellings, with two verbal forms prino and rinoti, and a monetary unit dinariIu (from Latin denarius). There still remain a number of uncertainties.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 38, 2012: <link>
abstract:
[FR] Le nouveau texte gaulois vient du quartier Saint-Lupien, à Rezé, Loire-Atlantique. Sur un site gallo-romain qui était l’ancienne rive sud de la Loire, les archéologues, dirigés par Martial Monteil, ont trouvé une plaquette de plomb inscrite sur les deux faces. Après une présentation du contexte archéologique, Pierre-Yves Lambert donne un essai de lecture et d’interprétation linguistique. David Stifter livre des remarques d’ordre épigraphique et linguistique et propose parfois des interprétations alternatives. Les deux faces portent essentiellement un compte, avec une colonne de chiffres à droite et à gauche une colonne de mots qui se révèlent être une série d’adjectifs ordinaux, différente de celle de La Graufesenque : certains ordinaux paraissent de création tardive, comme paetrute «quatrième » , d’autres seraient des archaïsmes, comme pixto-«cinquième » . Le «septième » semble faire l’objet d’un interdit, d’où l’emploi d’une périphrase euphémistique. Quelques notes marginales paraissent enregistrer des achats et des ventes, avec les deux formes verbales prino et rinoti, et le nom d’unité monétaire dinariIu (du latin denarius). Il reste encore de nombreuses incertitudes.
[EN] The Gaulish text from Rezé.
This new Gaulish text comes from the district of Saint Lupien, in Rezé, dep. Loire-Atlantique. On this Gallo-Roman site, which was anciently on the southern brink of the Loire, the archaeologists conducted by Martial Monteil have found a lead tablet with an inscription on both sides. After a presentation of the archaeological context, Pierre-Yves Lambert delivered a tentative reading and linguistic interpretation ; David Stifter gave some epigraphic and linguistic remarks and suggested in some cases alternative proposals. The two faces bear essentially an account, with one column of cyphers on the right, and on the left a column of words which reveal to be a series of ordinal numbers, different from the series in La Graufesenque : some ordinal seem to be latish creations, as paetrute “ fourth”, some others would be archaisms, such as pixto-“ fifth”. The “ seventh” was probably the object of some taboo, whence the use of a euphemistic periphrasis. A few marginal notes would record buyings or sellings, with two verbal forms prino and rinoti, and a monetary unit dinariIu (from Latin denarius). There still remain a number of uncertainties.
[EN] The Gaulish text from Rezé.
This new Gaulish text comes from the district of Saint Lupien, in Rezé, dep. Loire-Atlantique. On this Gallo-Roman site, which was anciently on the southern brink of the Loire, the archaeologists conducted by Martial Monteil have found a lead tablet with an inscription on both sides. After a presentation of the archaeological context, Pierre-Yves Lambert delivered a tentative reading and linguistic interpretation ; David Stifter gave some epigraphic and linguistic remarks and suggested in some cases alternative proposals. The two faces bear essentially an account, with one column of cyphers on the right, and on the left a column of words which reveal to be a series of ordinal numbers, different from the series in La Graufesenque : some ordinal seem to be latish creations, as paetrute “ fourth”, some others would be archaisms, such as pixto-“ fifth”. The “ seventh” was probably the object of some taboo, whence the use of a euphemistic periphrasis. A few marginal notes would record buyings or sellings, with two verbal forms prino and rinoti, and a monetary unit dinariIu (from Latin denarius). There still remain a number of uncertainties.
Stifter, David, “The invisible third. The Basque and Celtic words for ‘swallow’”, Ériu 60 (2010): 145–157.
abstract:
In a keynote address at the XI. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, about possible non-Indo-European influence on the Celtic languages, Kim McCone drew attention to the similarity between the Insular Celtic, e.g. OIr fannall, W gwennol, and the Basque, i.e. enara, ain(h)-ara, words for ‘swallow’ (Lat hirundo). McCone reconstructs *waNālā or *weNālā as preforms for the Insular Celtic words, and *(w)aiNala for Pre-Basque (McCone 2005, 408–9). This suggestion looks very attractive and suggestive and, if correct, would shed rare light on prehistoric linguistic relationships in Western Europe. In this article, I will examine the equation more closely and add a number of observations.
abstract:
In a keynote address at the XI. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, about possible non-Indo-European influence on the Celtic languages, Kim McCone drew attention to the similarity between the Insular Celtic, e.g. OIr fannall, W gwennol, and the Basque, i.e. enara, ain(h)-ara, words for ‘swallow’ (Lat hirundo). McCone reconstructs *waNālā or *weNālā as preforms for the Insular Celtic words, and *(w)aiNala for Pre-Basque (McCone 2005, 408–9). This suggestion looks very attractive and suggestive and, if correct, would shed rare light on prehistoric linguistic relationships in Western Europe. In this article, I will examine the equation more closely and add a number of observations.
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Stifter, David, “With the back to the ocean: the Celtic maritime vocabulary”, in: Kristian Kristiansen, Guus Kroonen, and Eske Willerslev (eds), The Indo-European puzzle revisited integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistics, Cambridge, Online: Cambridge University Press, 2023. 172–192.
abstract:
The aim of this chapter is to establish the semantic field of maritime vocabulary of the Celtic languages, especially that part of the maritime vocabulary that can be reconstructed for Proto-Celtic, the common ancestor of all Celtic languages, and for the prehistoric stages of the Insular Celtic languages. The approach taken in this study is to analyse the relevant lexemes etymologically, and to assess the findings from the point of view of linguistic archaeology. Linguistic archaeology seeks to extract as much information as possible from the synchronic and diachronically reconstructable semantics and morphology of words in order to make inferences about the environment and living conditions of the language’s speakers from a prehistoric and early historic perspective. Maritime vocabulary, which is the focus of this study, includes all elements of the lexicon that refer to the topographical, biological, and economic environment of the sea and the shore, and to human interaction with them.
abstract:
The aim of this chapter is to establish the semantic field of maritime vocabulary of the Celtic languages, especially that part of the maritime vocabulary that can be reconstructed for Proto-Celtic, the common ancestor of all Celtic languages, and for the prehistoric stages of the Insular Celtic languages. The approach taken in this study is to analyse the relevant lexemes etymologically, and to assess the findings from the point of view of linguistic archaeology. Linguistic archaeology seeks to extract as much information as possible from the synchronic and diachronically reconstructable semantics and morphology of words in order to make inferences about the environment and living conditions of the language’s speakers from a prehistoric and early historic perspective. Maritime vocabulary, which is the focus of this study, includes all elements of the lexicon that refer to the topographical, biological, and economic environment of the sea and the shore, and to human interaction with them.
Griffith, Aaron, and David Stifter, “Old Irish”, glottothèque: ancient Indo-European grammars online, Online: University of Göttingen, 2020. URL: <https://spw.uni-goettingen.de/projects/aig/lng-sga.html>.
Stifter, David, “Die Klosterneuburger lorica”, in: Helmut Birkhan (ed.), Kelten-Einfälle an der Donau. Akten des Vierten Symposiums deutschsprachiger Keltologinnen und Keltologen ... Linz/Donau, 17.-21. Juli 2005, Denkschriften, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2007. 503–527.
Miscellaneous
Stifter, David, Nina Cnockaert-Guillou, Beatrix Färber, Deborah Hayden, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Joanna Tucker, and Christopher Guy Yocum, Developing a digital framework for the medieval Gaelic world: project report, Online: Irish Research Council – Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2022. PDF. URL: <https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Research/ResearchinLanguages/imdorus/Publications>.
