Botorrita plaque
It is the longest inscription in Celtiberian consisting of a text in 11 lines, on the front face, continued by a list of names on the back side.
[6] On the first side, David Stifter (2001), for example, indicates that
The sequences with nelitom and nekue ... litom with infinitive in -aunei are clearly something like '(it is) not permitted to ...', and mentions some kind of monetary and property fines for ignoring the prohibitions.
In lines 3 and 6, stena may be related to the word for "thunder" and the name of the Celtic storm god, Taranos (< *Taran-), forms also seen on Botorrita III below.
bōs, OHG chuo, Sanksrit gáu-, Tokarian A ko, Armenian kov... through Proto-Celtic *bow- whence OIr.
[14] The form at the end of line 4, kabizeti, can be derived from *gabiyeti, a third person singular present indicative (or subjunctive?
[22] And for togoitei ios vramtiom-ve auzeti aratim-ve dekametam datuz in A.10, De Bernardo (2009) translates: "In Togotis, he who draws water either for the green or for the farmland, the tithe (of their yield) he shall give.
The names are in the Celtiberian formula, e.g. lubos kounesikum melnunos, is 'Lubo of the Kounesiko (people), [son] of Melnon'; for this reason, it has been suggested that
[25] Whether this means the sign
It is generally agreed that kamanom in A.5 means "path," a form also seen in Gaulish, borrowed into Late Latin as cammīnus, and from there into the modern Romance languages.
[27] This bronze plaque, also known as Tabula Contrebiensis, is inscribed in Latin and was discovered in an illegal excavation of the Contrebia Belaisca site, and was obtained in December 1979 by editor Guillermo Fatás Cabeza.
[29] The present members of the Contrebian senate are to judge whether the Sosilestani have the right to sell their land to the Salluenses who plan to build a canal on it, against the wishes of the neighboring Allavonenses.
)Botorrita III, discovered in 1979, is inscribed in four columns on one side of a plaque, introduced by a heading of two lines.
If Lambert is correct in his determination that eskeninum is a genitive plural agreeing with the pronoun, and from *eks- plus the cognate of Latin genuinus, and that alba is a borrowing from Latin in the meaning "public list of names" (originally written on a white board), a partial translation of the second line might be: "...[this is] the public list of the names of those very authentic [authorities/individuals]..." In the first line, nouiz may be from *nowija- "new."
[30] It is notable and rare for this region in this time period for such a public list to include so many female names and references—apparently nearly 30.
[31] In lines 1.14, 1.45, 1.46, and 3.18 (always in second position), the form loukanikum may contain the Proto-Indo-European *leukós "bright, shining" seen also in the Celtic tribal name Leuci.
[33] On the name mezu-kenos in lines 1.46, 1.60, 2.4, 2.12, 2.21, 3.11, 3.29, and 4.9 (always in first position, syntactically so in 3.11), Ranko Matasovic notes: "The root [PCelt.
*genan < *genh1-en > Old Irish gein a neuter -n stem meaning ‘birth, conception’] is attested in Celtiberian as the second element of the compound PN Mezu-kenos (= OIr.
"[34] The first element seems to be from Proto-Celtic *medu- < PIE *medhu- "mead", making the compound equivalent to the Gaulish personal name Medu-genos, Ogam MEDDOGENI, Old Irish Midgen, and Old Welsh Medgen which allows the reconstruction of the Proto-Celtic personal name *Medu-genos.
'[36] Matasovic says of kalmikom (2.26) that it may be related to Middle Irish calma "strong, brave; strength fortitude" and Old Welsh celmed "skilled" all going back to Proto-Celtic *kalmiyo-, a root with no clear Indo-European connections, so perhaps borrowed from a non-Indo-European source.
The two-line multiple genitives in 3.23-3.24 are unique in the text: retukeno : elkueikikum / kentisum : tuateros-kue "of the sons and of the daughter of the Re(x)-tu-genoi ('right born, lawful' < *h₃reg-tō-genos, Gaulish Rextugenos), the Elkueikikoi ("those with horses that have wheels/chariots" if from *ekue-kykloi; speaking against this interpretation are the many other forms that begin elk- in the list)."
"[47] Xavier Delamarre and John T. Koch argue that the term uiroku (< *wiro-kū) in 1.5, 1.51 and 3.26 means 'man-dog' (i.e. werewolf).
[48][49] Blanca María Prósper interprets the word letontu as pertaining to the semantic field of Proto-Indo-European *pléth₂us ('flat, vast, broad').
[50] It is also suggested that Toutinokum refers to a family name and derives from the widespread Celtic (and Indo-European) stem *teut/tout- ('people, tribe').
[51][52] Jürgen Untermann notes that some of the names may be of Latin origin: markos (3.43), titos (2.9), lukinos, balakos sekonzos (4.18) = Flaccus Secundus, sekontios (3.16), bolora = Flora, bubilibor = Publipor; while others may be of Greek origin: antiokos (4.13) = Antiochus, bilonikos (3.28, 3.51) Philonicus, tais (2.31) Thais.
"[54] Names with claimed Iberian elements include biurtilaur (1.37), anieskor (4.27), bilosban (4.34), and bartiltun : ekarbilos (2.50), karbilikum (3.39).
