page_title: Gaulish language
section_title: Orthography
hierarchical_section_title: Gaulish language / Phonology / Orthography
caption_attribution_description: Interlingua: Le nomine ARAÐÐOVNA super un tumba gallic, illustrante le «tau gallic» (un evolution del theta grec). Museos del Cour d'Or, Metz. Français&#160;: Le nom ARAÐÐOVNA sur une tombe gauloise, illustrant le «&#160;tau gallicum&#160;» (une évolution de la thêta grecque). Musées de la Cour d'Or, Metz. English: The name ARAÐÐOVNA on a Gaulish tomb, illustrating the "tau gallicum" (an evolution from the Greek theta). Museums of the Cour d'Or, Metz.
context_page_description: Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language spoken by the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul. In a wider sense, it also comprises varieties of Celtic that were spoken across much of central Europe, parts of the Balkans, and Asia Minor, which are thought to have been closely related. The more divergent Lepontic of Northern Italy has also sometimes been subsumed under Gaulish.
  Together with Lepontic and the Celtiberian language spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, Gaulish helps form the geographic group of Continental Celtic languages. The precise linguistic relationships among them, as well as between them and the modern Insular Celtic languages, are uncertain and a matter of ongoing debate because of their sparse attestation.
  Gaulish is found in some 800 inscriptions including calendars, pottery accounts, funeral monuments, short dedications to gods, coin inscriptions, statements of ownership, and other texts, possibly curse tablets. Gaulish texts were first written in the Greek alphabet in southern France and in a variety of the Old Italic script in northern Italy.
context_section_description: The alphabet of Lugano used in Cisalpine Gaul for Lepontic:
  AEIKLMNOPRSTΘVXZ
  The alphabet of Lugano does not distinguish voicing in stops: P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /d/ or /t/, K for /g/ or /k/.
  Z is probably for /tˢ/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished in only one early inscription. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/ (Lejeune 1971, Solinas 1985).
  The Eastern Greek alphabet used in southern Gallia Narbonensis:
  αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρϲτυχω
  ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡϹΤΥΧΩ
  Χ is used for [x], θ for /tˢ/, ου for /u/, /ū/, /w/, η and ω for both long and short /e/, /ē/ and /o/, /ō/ while ι is for short /i/ and ει for /ī/. Note that the sigma, in the Eastern Greek alphabet, is a Ϲ (lunate sigma). All Greek letters were used except phi and psi.
  Latin alphabet (monumental and cursive) in use in Roman Gaul:
  ABCDÐEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVXZ
  abcdðefghiklmnopqrstvxz
  G and K are sometimes used interchangeably (especially after R). Ð/ð, ds and s may represent /ts/ and/or /dz/. X, x is for [x] or /ks/. Q is only used rarely (Sequanni, Equos) and may represent an archaism (a retained *kʷ) or, as in Latin, an alternate spelling of -cu- (for original /kuu/, /kou/, or /kom-u/). Ð and ð are used to represent the letter  (tau gallicum, the Gaulish dental affricate).  In March, 2020 Unicode added four characters to represent tau gallicum:
  U+A7C7 Ꟈ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAY
  U+A7C8 ꟈ LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAY
  U+A7C9 Ꟊ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAY
  U+A7CA ꟊ LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH SHORT STROKE OVERLAY
caption: The name ARAÐÐOVNA on a Gaulish tomb, illustrating the use of the tau gallicum (in this case doubled).
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A1100 IS", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:07:29 20:11:44", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Tag 0x1001": "3264", "Image Tag 0x1002": "2448", "Image ExifOffset": "246", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3246", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2082", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:10:06 13:31:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:10:06 13:31:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "124/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1276", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "192", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1224000/91", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1088000/81", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}