The Names of the Celtic Social Entities on the Iberian Peninsula

De Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia

Based on a corpus of more than 800 Palaeohispanic naming formulae, this book presents the first linguistic study of the typical social cluster indications mostly known as Celtiberian unidades suprafamiliares.
Three main semantic categories were identified thanks to etymological investigation: social clusters indicating a geographic provenance, an occupation or rank, or else the name of an ancestor. Each of the three categories also contains some names with a religious background, i.e., social clusters referring to theophoric topo- and ethnonyms, religious charges or, respectively, theophoric propatronyms.
In addition to the different types of female naming formulae and to the changing social cluster’s position in the inscriptions, the monograph investigates the phonetic and morphological characteristics of the various Celtiberian, Gaulish, Celtic dialectal or even Iberian forms and their Latin equivalents. The relationship uncovered between several social clusters and extra-Celtiberian and at times extra-peninsular regions (France, Italy, central and eastern Europe, northern Africa) is also of great interest