Old celtic language ---- Gaulish

[Inese]

Hellooo!! :wavey001:

hm okay i was surfing around in Youtube what i do often and i found a video which is maybe interesting for some of you :confused: It is of a band of Switzerland who sings in Gaulish language ---- a old celtic language.

Wikipedia says to Gaulish:

" The Gaulish (also Gallic) language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul, Switzerland, eastern Belgium and western Germany before being supplanted by Vulgar Latin, Dutch and German from around the 4th century A.D onwards. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian, Lepontic, and Galatian as Continental Celtic. "


You know, for me the language sound very Slavic or from the Balkans!! But the music is good and i think some are interested to listen to a modern Gaulic celtic song!!:music-smiley-004:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msRy4vcSX4k

How do the language sound to you?? And can anyone understand it with the native language?

[Atlas]

That's a good song indeed. :thumb001:

But no I can't understand it, I can't even read the lyrics actually. Old galic (France) I doubt I could read so much less swiss. :(

[Aemma]

Great music and sound. :) The language itself does not resemble anything I am familiar with though. :( But it sounds very lovely. :)

[Loxias]

Arf, I very much dislike folk metal. I remember seeing this band live about 3 or 4 years ago, and they sounded a bit less pop than that.

Anyway, as of the language, I am very surprised they can sing stuff in Gaulish! I thought very little inscriptions remained in that language.
Is there any information somewhere on how they reconstructed the language to use in their songs?

As of how it sounds to me, I'd say like Serbian with a French intonation and French things thrown in. Very interesting.

Here are the lyrics for those interested in the written form :

Immi daga uimpi geneta,
lana beððos et' iouintutos.
Blatus ceti, cantla carami.
Aia gnata uimpi iouinca,
pid in cete tu toue suoine,
pid uregisi peli doniobi?
Aia gnata uimpi iouinca,
pid in cete tu toue suoine

Aia mape coime, adrete!
In blatugabagli uorete,
cante snon celiIui in cete!

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti
Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti [x2]

N'immi mapos, immi drucocu.
In cetobi selgin agumi,
selgin blatos tou' iouintutos.
Nu, uoregon, cu, uorigamos,
lamman, cu, suuercin lingamos,
indui uelui cantla canamos!
N'immi mapos, immi drucocu.
In cetobi selgin agumi,

Ne moi iantus gnaton uorega,
iantus drucocunos uoregon,
cante toi in medie cete.

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti
Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti [x2]

Cu allate, papon sod urege,
eððiIo de iantu in cridie.
VediIumi: cante moi uosta!

Ne, a gnata, cante t' usstami,
ne uostami, ne te carami.
Ne carami, nec carasumi.

Boua daga uimpi geneta.
Immi trouga, lana nariIas.

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti.
Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti

[Aemma]

Arf, I very much dislike folk metal. I remember seeing this band live about 3 or 4 years ago, and they sounded a bit less pop than that.

Anyway, as of the language, I am very surprised they can sing stuff in Gaulish! I thought very little inscriptions remained in that language.
Is there any information somewhere on how they reconstructed the language to use in their songs?

As of how it sounds to me, I'd say like Serbian with a French intonation and French things thrown in. Very interesting.

Here are the lyrics for those interested in the written form :

But it doesn't sound anything like French. I think I would recognise this since it is my mother tongue. :(

[Atlas]

Indeed, none of these words ring a bell to me.

[Loxias]

The pronunciation of the 'u' here and there is like in French, there is some nasalisations going on, and the stress is more French than slavic to me.

As of the meaning of words. Most of it is totally unfamiliar.
Maybe :
blatus = wheat?
cante = song?

[Grey]

It wouldn't sound familiar to French speakers, French being Latinate.

[Aemma]

The pronunciation of the 'u' here and there is like in French, there is some nasalisations going on, and the stress is more French than slavic to me.

But that's my point, I'm a native speaker of French and it is not! :D


The word "lindos" is recognisable as Spanish meaning "beautiful", if indeed it means beautiful in this case as well.

[Loxias]

It wouldn't sound familiar to French speakers, French being Latinate.

I might have been tempted by the idea that many of the phonological particularities of the French language could have come from the Gaulish intonation as a substratum (among other things).

[Hrafn]

Romanian perhaps.:wink

[Osweo]

Superb! I commend those who were behind this effort! :clap:

Anyway, as of the language, I am very surprised they can sing stuff in Gaulish! I thought very little inscriptions remained in that language.
Is there any information somewhere on how they reconstructed the language to use in their songs?
THere is a well established Yahoo Group that engage in such reconstruction. There IS a lot of material, and the gaps can be filled with Welsh and Irish reconstructions. :thumb001:

As of how it sounds to me, I'd say like Serbian with a French intonation and French things thrown in. Very interesting.

Romanian perhaps.:wink
Hehe, ditto to both! :D
Immi daga uimpi geneta, Girl? - Welsh geneth?
lana beððos et' iouintutos. Grave? and? something-folk?
Blatus ceti, cantla carami. Blatos was a Celtic personal name. See Blatobulgia in the modern county of Dumfriesshire...

In blatugabagli uorete, Interesting compound in light of the above. Voreda was the old name of Penrith or somewhere nearby.
cante snon celiIui in cete! Sing is most likely, but if it's a noun then 'edge' would be a good bet...

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti Lake Deep (perhaps!) See Welsh Llyn and the well known British element Dubno- (Dubnoglassio > Douglas)

N'immi mapos, immi drucocu. Son?
In cetobi selgin agumi, HAHAHAAAA!!! I understand this!!!! HUNTING IN THE WOOD!!!!!! Ceto- as in Letocetum (Grey Wood Llwytcoed > Liccid-feld > Lichfield, c.f. the first element of Cheetham, Cheadle, etc.). Selg- as in the name of the Selgovae tribe, related to a Welsh word beginning with hel-, concerning hunting.


Ne moi iantus gnaton uorega, Birth in some manner. Mac- is -gnatos in Gaulish.
iantus drucocunos uoregon, Language (- W. iaith)? BAd-Dog?!?
cante toi in medie cete. Singing to you in the middle of the wood???

eððiIo de iantu in cridie. Cradle? Welsh ?cryd??
VediIumi: cante moi uosta! WE know???

Ne, a gnata, cante t' usstami, Just reminds me of Russian for lips/mouth...
ne uostami, ne te carami. Summat involving love or friendship.


FASCINATING! A great find, Inese! :thumbs up

[Mesrine]

We're not sure how the numerous continental Gaulish dialects sounded. Anyway if Gaulish dialects sounded as ugly as in this song, it's lucky they got replaced. We'll never thank the Romans enough. :D

[Baron Samedi]

Elu does generally sing about the Gauls and the Helvetian Celtic family, so something in that vein, perhaps.

Top fucking band, btw.

[Poltergeist]

How can a language of which almost nothing is known and no inscriptions or literature remain, be reconstructed, let even sung? This is entriely ridiculous. The old Gaulish didn't certainly sound this way. But nevertheless not a bad song. I've seen already some songs sung in invented, non-existent languages and "words" (in fact, groups of phonemes) which have no meaning. ;)

[Osweo]

How can a language of which almost nothing is known and no inscriptions or literature remain, be reconstructed, let even sung? This is entriely ridiculous. The old Gaulish didn't certainly sound this way. But nevertheless not a bad song. I've seen already some songs sung in invented, non-existent languages and "words" (in fact, groups of phonemes) which have no meaning. ;)

Plenty of inscriptions remain. Many with full sentences. Gaulish was all but identical to the ancestor of the British P Celtic languages, so the gaps can be filled to some degree of satisfaction from there.

In addition to inscriptions, we have tons of place-names and personal-names to examine and make conclusions from.

Matters of stress and rhythm are not comletely oblivious to reasoned elucidation either.

[Luern]

lNcbFbgiCWI

[Aemma]

lNcbFbgiCWI

Cool thanks Luern! Where did you ever find this? (And don't say Youtube! :P :D)

But I still do not see how it sounds anything like French SK! :P It sounds more like some kind of Italian to me but even there, who bloody knows? But I can't hear one iota of French sounding anything. :(

[Mesrine]

It sounds more like some kind of Italian to me but even there, who bloody knows?

Now this is interesting. Linguists think Italic and Celtic languages descend from an earlier Italo-Celtic (IE) family (being separated by the Alps making it easier to evolve... separately). What was the Latin language, after all? A Latino-Faliscan dialect of the old Italo-Celtic family, modified by Etruscan and Greek, that's all.

[Osweo]

Hehe! I was not far from the correct translation! See:

Immi daga uimpi geneta,
I am a fair pretty girl,
lana beððos et' iouintutos.
full of virtue and youthfulness.
Blatus ceti, cantla carami.
The forest's flowers and songs I love.

Aia gnata uimpi iouinca,
Hey, pretty young girl,
pid in cete tu toue suoine,
what are you doing in the forest alone,
pid uregisi peli doniobi?
so far from all beings?

Aia gnata uimpi iouinca,
Hey, pretty young girl,
pid in cete tu toue suoine?
what are you doing in the forest alone?

Aia mape coime, adrete!
Hey, handsome boy, come here!
In blatugabagli uorete,
Let us pick some flowers
cante snon celiIui in cete!
in this forest together!

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti
Only the deep pond awaits me.
[x2]

N'immi mapos, immi drucocu.
I am not a boy, I am the bad wolf.
In cetobi selgin agumi,
In the woods I hunt, selgin blatos tou' iouintutos.
hunt for the flower of your youth.

Nu, uoregon, cu, uorigamos,
Well, wolf, let us play a game,
lamman, cu, suuercin lingamos,
let us dance a joyful dance
indui uelui cantla canamos!
let us sing decent songs!

N'immi mapos, immi drucocu.
I am not a boy, I am the bad wolf.
In cetobi selgin agumi.
In the woods I hunt.

Ne moi iantus gnaton uorega,
I don't like children's games,
iantus drucocunos uoregon,
I like playing sinister wolf games,
cante toi in medie cete.
with you in the depths of the forest.

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti
Only the deep pond awaits me.
[x4]

Cu allate, papon sod urege,
Wild wolf, do all that,
eððiIo de iantu in cridie.
that which your heart longs for.
VediIumi: cante moi uosta!
But I beg you: Stay with me!

Ne, a gnata, cante t' usstami,
No, girl, I will not abide with you,
ne uostami, ne te carami.
I'm not staying with you, don't love you.
Ne carami, nec carasumi.
Don't love you, never loved you.

Boua daga uimpi geneta.
I was a fair and pretty girl
Immi trouga, lana nariIas.
Now I'm poor, overcome with shame,

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti.
only the deep pond awaits me.


http://forum.eluveitie.ch/viewtopic.php?t=1179&sid=071efa882a6b8c29e2b46d405bd8e813

And a good traditional folksong motif. :)

[Goidelic]

I'm not a fan of their Gaulish P-Celtic songs, but some of their other non-Gaulish songs are pretty good like The Somber Lay & Inis Mona. :thumb001: If they sang in a branch of Goidelic Q-Celtic I'd be very pleased. :D :tongue

[Osweo]

I'm not a fan of their Gaulish P-Celtic songs, but some of their other non-Gaulish songs are pretty good like The Somber Lay & Inis Mona. :thumb001: If they sang in a branch of Goidelic Q-Celtic I'd be very pleased. :D :tongue

Hehe, I listened to that Inis Mona song, and thought it was utter rubbish! :D (THere's a link to it after Luern's youtube clip finishes)

Irish of the same time period would sound near identical too, just with a few different consonants. I say 'Irish' but mean the Q form, as there's more than enough evidence to say that this Gaulish/British P language was also spoken on that island then.

[Inese]

Hm wow Osweo you have guessed very words right how do you know them??? :clap: You speak Celtic languages?? :confused:

[Osweo]

Hm wow Osweo you have guessed very words right how do you know them??? :clap:
:o :eyes :D

You speak Celtic languages?? :confused:
Well... Not exactly. I'd be lying if I said 'yes'. But ask Arawn; he sends comments now and then in Welsh, and I usually 'sort of' understand! :p

Manchester is only a shortish drive from Wales, and we always went on holiday there when I was little, so I became curious about the language and bought a few books. Later on, I came to realise that Welsh had been spoken in my area too, around 1400 years ago, and has left many traces in the place-names. I am a bit of an amateur historian and linguist, and so I am almost an expert in that aspect of Celtic that concerns our old toponymy and tribes and ancient Gods. It's a fascinating subject. :thumb001:

You have to realise too, that the writers of the song can only use the easiest kind of expressions, because they're reconstructing a dead tongue. Actual Gaullish songs, if we heard them now, might be a lot harder.

Anyway, a great find! Thanks! :)

[Hrolf Kraki]

But it doesn't sound anything like French. I think I would recognise this since it is my mother tongue. :(

Gaulish is indeed like Inese stated, a Continental Celtic language. The Continental Celtic languages have long been dead, leaving only the Insular Celtic languages such as Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, etc.

Since Continental Celtic languages have long been extinct, there's no way to determine how they actually sounded, so this recording can only be a guess to the correct pronunciation.

Oh and a wouldn't think that an ancient Celtic language would sound anything like a modern Romance language.

[Hrolf Kraki]

From In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J.P. Mallory


The Continental [Celtic] languages are those recorded in the first centuries B.C. Our evidence includes inscriptions in the Greek, Latin, or Iberian scripts; coin inscriptions; place names and, naturally, the personal names preserved in the works of classical historians such as Caesar. ...

There is Gaulish, spoken in the province of the same name, and evidenced by nearly 100 inscriptions, the majority of which are confined to southern France. ...

The Continental Celtic languages became extinct largely through the expansion of the Roman empire or the southerly movements of Germanic tribes.

Now tell me how much reliance you have on that band's ability to properly pronounce Gaulish. ;)

[Osweo]

Now tell me how much reliance you have on that band's ability to properly pronounce Gaulish. ;)

You're overly sceptical, I reckon. :p

We have three modern languages that derive from British, which was identical to Gaulish near enough. The phonetic history of these are well worked out.

We also have the modern tongues that derive from the adoption of Latin by Gaulish speakers (in France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain). A good many peculiarities of these have been put down to the substrate influence of the Gaulish language.

We also have the deeper relationships of Celtic with Italic and other IE groups. Linguists have done so much on reconstructing the phonetic history of these that we have an immense wealth of material to reasonably extrapolate the pertinent features of Gaulish.

At the very worst, this band's songs would sound, to their ancestors, like Master Yoda's English... And yet we all understand him! If that's the best we can get, then it's still worth doing, I reckon. :thumb001:

EDIT: on second thoughts, the syntax is quite well understood. It'll be more like Arnie's English... :D

[Hrolf Kraki]

Linguists cannot hear the language; only see inscriptions. There is absolutely no way of telling how it sounded. One can guess based on related languages, but that's in no way a certainty. What evidence have you seen that leads you to believe linguists know how a 2000 year old language sounds? We don't even know how Old English sounded!

[Osweo]

Linguists cannot hear the language; only see inscriptions. There is absolutely no way of telling how it sounded. One can guess based on related languages, but that's in no way a certainty. What evidence have you seen that leads you to believe linguists know how a 2000 year old language sounds? We don't even know how Old English sounded!
We have a very good idea.

We have P Celtic texts in the Latin, Greek, Iberian and even some Italic alphabets. Not as many as we'd like, but enough to see that the general impression we're getting is pretty reasonable.

How strange do you think Gaulish could sound?

In cetobi selgin agumi - is a pretty decently reconstructed clause. How many different ways CAN you say it? Every single element of the first three words is known in French and English and Welsh/Cornish/Breton toponymy. We can see how each was adapted when transferred into a Germanic and a Latin tongue. We can be pretty sure what the original was like, from comparing the tendencies.

We have a very reasonable approximate of PIE, and we know what early Welsh was like. We can work our way into the middle of that chain of developments, quite satisfactorily. It's only small details that are still debated.

[Hrolf Kraki]

We have a very good idea.

We have P Celtic texts in the Latin, Greek, Iberian and even some Italic alphabets. Not as many as we'd like, but enough to see that the general impression we're getting is pretty reasonable.

How strange do you think Gaulish could sound?



I have no idea how strange it could sound. I don't have a time machine. If we do know quite a bit about how it sounded, I would like to read the source of this information. I have great interest in linguistics.

[Black Turlogh]

Their new album's coming out in December, I hear. Let's hope it's in the same traditional folk and acoustic vein that Evocation I was in. I much prefer it to their metal songs.

[Angantyr]

I studied Old Irish at university and have a Ph.D. in Linguistics specalizing in historical reconstruction. I may actually have something of value to say on this matter.

I agree with Osweo that we have quite a bit of knowledge about Gaulish, both internally and using the comparative method, although there are still many issues up for dispute. We also have a very good idea of how Old English and Latin sounded.

That being said, the pronunciation of Gaulish as sung by the group is almost certainly incorrect and unsupportable. It is clear to me that the song is the creation of a musician with a book about Gaulish and not of a trained linguist. The problem is that trained linguists usually cannot carry a tune.

I will point out a few of the errors when I have some time. The most obvious error is the sometimes pronunciation of "g" as variously /ʒ/ or /dʒ/.

[Hrolf Kraki]

I studied Old Irish at university and have a Ph.D. in Linguistics specalizing in historical reconstruction. I may actually have something of value to say on this matter.

I agree with Osweo that we have quite a bit of knowledge about Gaulish, both internally and using the comparative method, although there are still many issues up for dispute. We also have a very good idea of how Old English and Latin sounded.

How is the sound of a dead language known? Where does the evidence come from? Comparing it to other languages?

[Loxias]

How is the sound of a dead language known? Where does the evidence come from? Comparing it to other languages?

The sound of Latin, Sanskrit and ancient Greek is well known thanks to phonetic explanations by the scholars of the time.
We can guess that inscriptions in other languages in nearby area (like Gaulish near to Latin), using similar scripts, must have had not too different pronunciation rules.

[Hrolf Kraki]

The sound of Latin, Sanskrit and ancient Greek is well known thanks to phonetic explanations by the scholars of the time.
We can guess that inscriptions in other languages in nearby area (like Gaulish near to Latin), using similar scripts, must have had not too different pronunciation rules.

Latin, Sanskrit, and Greek are well-known so this doesn't surprise me. I'm just shocked that there is enough evidence in what is left of Gaulish to reconstruct a phonetic chart.

[Loxias]

So am I, actually. :)
I am just tryin to understand the way they came to such conclusions.
If someone has peer-reviewed scientific litterature about this, please share!

[SuuT]

lNcbFbgiCWI

SOunds like Latin and Russian got together and had a few drinks. Interesting stuff.


Hey, is that tounge/throat clicking he's doing intentional (like the !!! of !Kung!) or does he need water:confused2:?

[Angantyr]

How is the sound of a dead language known? Where does the evidence come from? Comparing it to other languages?

Well, there are several sources and ways of reconstructing sounds.

There is comparison to other Celtic languages and to reconstructed PIE and the general understanding of how languages change. Thus, if a sound in a related word is /kw/ we know it can be /p/ or /k/ in a related Celtic language, but it cannot be /m/ because languages never change that way.

We know the values of letters and their pronunciation in better attested languages. Thus,if we have a word which is spelled with a "c" in Latin script and with a "κ" in Greek script, we know that the sound must have been something like a /k/. On the other hand, if a sound is spelled with an /n/ in Latin script, but with alternatively an "γ" in Greek script, we can make a very clear guess that the sound represented is an /ŋ/. Lastly, if a letter is sometimes represented by Greek "χ" and sometimes by Greek "κ" the reasonable postulation is that there is some form of phonetic lenition that is not phonemic.

Even though Gaulish is dead, some Gaulish words live as they were borrowed into French and underwent the same changes that Latin words underwent. We know what the changes from Latin to French are. So, we can extrapolate backwards to Gaulish for these words, applying the historical changes in reverse order.

Languages usually have patterns of phoneme inventories. A language is likely to be missing a /p/ but never a /t/. And the existence of certain phonemes implies the existence of others. The existence of a nasal vowel implies the existence of its oral equivalent. The simplest vowel system is always /a/, /i/ and /u/.

Within the texts themselves, there are rhymes, which gives hints about the pronunciation of those specific words.

For some languages, contemporary authors describe how the language sounded, this is particularly true for Sanskrit.

There are actually quite a few ways to predict sounds. And in many cases, these separate ways conspire together to give a virtual certainty as to the pronunciation of a word or a particular letter in a word.

[Hrolf Kraki]

Very interesting, Angantyr! You should post more in the linguistics section. I can think of scores of questions to ask. :p

[Portukalos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msRy4vcSX4k

How do the language sound to you?? And can anyone understand it with the native language?

It sounds like Welsh to me. I have seen an interview video in this language once and it sounded similar to how the girl is singing here.

[Treffie]

It sounds like Welsh to me. I have seen an interview video in this language once and it sounded very similar to how the girl is singing here.

Welsh is quite a guttural sounding language, this one sounds a lot softer.

[Portukalos]

Welsh is quite a guttural sounding language, this one sounds a lot softer. Yeah you're right it does sound alot softer in comparison.

[Steve]

For those of you who may be interested, the Gaulish language is currently undergoing a revival as a modern language. All relevant information can be found here: www.moderngaulish.com. Please feel free to use it as you see fit.

Enjoy.

Steve

[TheOldNorth]

lindos means pool, as in a pool of water in Gaulish

[TheOldNorth]

All those who are interested in the actual Gaulish language beware. This is more of a conlang than an actual reconstruction, as it sees what would happen if you modernized Gaulish using a similar system of linguistic shifts & changes that other celtic languages today have gone through. It is how ever unknown whether or not Gaulish went through these sound changes.

[TheOldNorth]

How is the sound of a dead language known? Where does the evidence come from? Comparing it to other languages?

It is guessed how the language sounds by using inscriptions found in the Latin & Greek alphabets as well as from comparing it with a speculated proto-celtic

[TheOldNorth]

Superb! I commend those who were behind this effort! :clap:

THere is a well established Yahoo Group that engage in such reconstruction. There IS a lot of material, and the gaps can be filled with Welsh and Irish reconstructions. :thumb001:


Hehe, ditto to both! :D
Immi daga uimpi geneta, Girl? - Welsh geneth?
lana beððos et' iouintutos. Grave? and? something-folk?
Blatus ceti, cantla carami. Blatos was a Celtic personal name. See Blatobulgia in the modern county of Dumfriesshire...

In blatugabagli uorete, Interesting compound in light of the above. Voreda was the old name of Penrith or somewhere nearby.
cante snon celiIui in cete! Sing is most likely, but if it's a noun then 'edge' would be a good bet...

Vrit- me lindos dubnon -piseti Lake Deep (perhaps!) See Welsh Llyn and the well known British element Dubno- (Dubnoglassio > Douglas)

N'immi mapos, immi drucocu. Son?
In cetobi selgin agumi, HAHAHAAAA!!! I understand this!!!! HUNTING IN THE WOOD!!!!!! Ceto- as in Letocetum (Grey Wood Llwytcoed > Liccid-feld > Lichfield, c.f. the first element of Cheetham, Cheadle, etc.). Selg- as in the name of the Selgovae tribe, related to a Welsh word beginning with hel-, concerning hunting.


Ne moi iantus gnaton uorega, Birth in some manner. Mac- is -gnatos in Gaulish.
iantus drucocunos uoregon, Language (- W. iaith)? BAd-Dog?!?
cante toi in medie cete. Singing to you in the middle of the wood???

eððiIo de iantu in cridie. Cradle? Welsh ?cryd??
VediIumi: cante moi uosta! WE know???

Ne, a gnata, cante t' usstami, Just reminds me of Russian for lips/mouth...
ne uostami, ne te carami. Summat involving love or friendship.


FASCINATING! A great find, Inese! :thumbs up

I've studied gaulish for that last couple of years, & I know that Blatus is flower, Geneta is girl, lindos dubnon is deep pool, Mapos is son, & cridie is likely a declined version of cridion which is heart or center. Carami means "I love".
Interestingly enough when listening to the song, I understand the part where he says "ne te carami." which means "I don't love you."

[TheOldNorth]

How can a language of which almost nothing is known and no inscriptions or literature remain, be reconstructed, let even sung? This is entriely ridiculous. The old Gaulish didn't certainly sound this way. But nevertheless not a bad song. I've seen already some songs sung in invented, non-existent languages and "words" (in fact, groups of phonemes) which have no meaning. ;)

We know a fair deal about Gaulish from lone words into Gallo-latin which are to this day found in French & English, as well as various Gaulish inscriptions which are usually dedicated to gods, or people. The words that we don't know can easily be reconstructed using Proto-Celtic & Welsh as well as Old irish (although using old irish may be a bit of a stretch considering it's not nearly as closely related to Gaulish, which we know do to both comparative linguistics, & Romans saying that the languages of Britain & Gaul were very similar.)