The Iberian language describes a linguistic group identified with the Iberian civilization (7th century BC – 1st century BC), formed in the eastern and south-eastern regions of the Iberian peninsula. The substratum of the Sardinian language has also been identified as Iberian or close to Iberian. These indigenous languages became extinct by the 1st to 2nd centuries AD, after being gradually replaced by Latin. Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it once inhabited by the Iberians, who spoke the Iberian language. ... topographic map of the Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Iberian seems to be a language isolate. It is certainly not an Indo-European language. Links with other languages have been put forward, but they have not been demonstrated. One such proposed link was with the Basque language (Basque-Iberism), but this theory has been discredited. A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genetic relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been proven to descend from a common ancestor to any other language. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The Iberian scripts appear to be based on Phoenician syllabary. The scripts were shared with the unrelated Celtiberian language. photograph of Botorrita 1 (both sides) The Iberian scripts are two scripts (or two styles of the same script) found on the Iberian peninsula, the Northeast and South Iberian script. ... Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Phoenicia /Canaan (now Lebanon, coastal Syria and northern Israel ). Phoenician is a Semitic language of the Canaanite subgroup, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... Celtiberian (also Hispano-Celtic) is an extinct Celtic language spoken by the Celtiberians in northern Spain before and during the Roman Empire. ...

Geographic distribution

The Iberian language spread along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

In the north, the Iberian language reached the south of France up to the Hérrault river. Important written remains have been found in Ensérune, between Narbonne and Béziers in France, in an oppidum with mixed iberian and celtic elements. Cathedral in Narbonne. ... Béziers (Besièrs in Occitan) is a city in Languedoc, in the southwest of France. ... To the Romans, an oppidum was the main settlement in any administrative area. ...

The southern limit would be Porcuna, in Jaén (Spain), where splendid sculptures of Iberian ridders have been found. Pueblo de la provincia de Jaén en Andalucía (Spain). ... Jaén Province may refer to Jaén Province, Spain Jaén Province, Peru This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Towards inland the exact distribution of the iberian language is uncertain. It seems that the culture reached the inland through the Ebro river (Iberus in Latin) up to Salduie (Zaragoza) but not farther. The Ebro (Greek: Έβρος, Latin: Iberus, Spanish: Ebro, Catalan: Ebre) is one of the major rivers of Spain. ...

Among the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula it is believed that the following were of Iberian lenguage: Ausetani (Pyrenees), Ilergetes (Lleida and Huesca up to the Pyrenees), Indigetes (coast of Girona), Laietani (Barcelona), Cassetani (Tarragona), Ilercavones (Murcia and Levante up to Tarragona), Edetani (Valencia, Castellón and Teruel), Contestani (Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena and Albacete), Bastetani (Granada, Almería and Murcia) and Oretani (Jaén, Ciudad Real, Albacete and Cuenca). Turduli and Turdetani are believed to be of Tartessian language. Lleida province Lleida is a province of eastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. ... Huesca province Huesca is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Aragon. ... Girona province Girona is a province of eastern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. ... Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. ... Categories: Spain geography stubs | Catalonia | Provinces of Spain ... Capital Murcia Area  – Total  – % of Spain Ranked 9th  11 313 km²  2,2% Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density Ranked 10th  1 226 993  2,9%  108,46/km² Demonym  – English  – Spanish  Murcian  murciano/a Statute of Autonomy June 19, 1982 ISO 3166-2 MU Parliamentary representation  – Congress seats  – Senate... Valencia province Valencia (Castilian Spanish: Valencia /balenθja/; Valencian Catalan: València /vałεnsia/) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Country. ... Castellón province Castellón (Spanish) or Castelló (Catalan/Valencian) is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Country, Spain. ... Categories: Spain geography stubs | Aragon | Provinces of Spain ... For other places of the same name, see Cartagena. ... Albacete province Albacete is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. ... Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. ... Almería province Almería is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. ... Ciudad Real is a province of central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile_La Mancha. ... Cuenca province Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. ... The Turduli were an ancient celtiberian tribe akin to the Lusitanians, living in the south of modern Portugal, in the east of the province of Alentejo, along the Guadiana valley. ... The Tartessian language is seemingly unrelated to all other languages, including Indo-European or Iberian language families, and is therefore considered a language isolate. ...

History

The origin of the language is unknown. There are three main hypothesis to explain the origin of the language:

• African hypothesis: it propose that the language arrived from the north of Africa. This hypothesis links the iberian with Berber languages.
• Native hypothesis: it assumes that Iberian language was the language of the native people settled in the Iberian peninsula in the Neolithic.
• European hypothesis: in recent years a new theory has appear. It links the arrival of Basques/Aquitani and Iberians to the Pyrenees and the Iberian peninsula with the arrival of the urnfield culture.

Afro-Asiatic - Berber The Berber languages (or Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... The Aquitanii (Latin for Aquitanians) were a people of horsemen living in what is now SW France, between the Pyrenees and the Garonne. ... The Urnfield culture of central European culture is dated roughly between 1300 BC and 750 BC. The name describes the custom of cremating the dead and placing them in cemeteries. ...

Further reading

• Correa, J.A. (1994), "La lengua ibérica", Revista Española de Lingüística 24/2, 263-287.
• Quintanilla, A., Estudios de Fonología Ibérica, Vitoria-Gasteiz 1998, ISBN 84-8373-041-3.
• Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús, Análisis de Epigrafía Íbera, Vitoria-Gasteiz 2004, ISBN 84-8373-678-0.

External links

• Iberian Epigraphy by Jesús Rodríguez Ramos