Proto-Iberian

Proto-Iberian
Dankwā/Ibērom
Pronunciation	[/ˈdan.kwaː/]
Created by	Iohanen
Setting	Iberia
Ethnicity	East Iberians/Graeco-Iberians
Language family	Indo-European Proto-Iberian
The borders of the Iberian Empire

The Proto-Iberian language is the ancestor language (though not really proto-) of the Iberian branch of the Indo-European languages. The Proto-Iberian language presumably had begun to separate from the Proto-Indo-European language in the 1st millenia to 5th century BC, becoming a proper language in the mid of the 7th century BC.

The Iberians as an ethnicity are known to have appeared as a very small group of tribes in East Iberia that later united and expanded to the entirety of Iberia (that would later result into two distinct languages) within the centuries. Its vocabulary is almost entirely derived from Proto-Indo-European with exceptions of late borrowings from Ancient Greek and, sometimes, Latin.

Terminology

The language name derives itself from an Ancient Greek reborrowing that comes from the River Ibēr (actual River Ebro in Spain), named by the Celtici.

History

The Iberian tribes territory in 800 BC. The Vrāteres were not Iberians (Ibēres) but a Celto-Iberian tribe that was later assimilated.

The Iberian peoples are an Indo-European people that first appeared during the Atlantic Bronze Age, migrating from the Southwest of modern France to the Southeast of Iberia. There, they developed into many divided tribes who would later - with the arrival of the Ancient Greeks and their contact with them - reunite into a single tribe ruled by a so called Teutārēks (a leader similar to a king without leadership of the army). Their territory was about the same until the arrival of the Ancient Greeks in Emporion.

When the Greeks arrived and founded the cities of Rhode and Emporion, the Iberians had already expanded into the region and thereafter established commercial relations with them. As the time passed and the contact became stronger, the Iberians adopted Greek technologies (state and army organization, philosophy, capital, etc.), including their alphabet, and parts of culture/religion (architecture, gods, statues). After about 100 years of direct contact (c. 480 BC), the Greeks were integrated into the new Iberian state, though the contact with Massalia was kept and Emporion and Rhode became the main commercial centres in Iberia.

With the new concepts adopted from the Greeks, the Iberians seeked to expand westwards to gather more resources and comercialize them (mostly with Greeks and Romans). The tribes located in the center of Iberia were quickly dominated as they had a similar culture and language as the Iberians. While expandind westwards, they found the bellicose tribes of the Callaeci and Lusitani, which resisted against their control. After years of war, the Lusitani had accepted a truce as being a state under Iberian control, holding total state autonomy while having to provide soldiers or army supplies if needed. The Callaeci still resisted until much after.

Map of the Iberian state in 140 BC.

At the start of the 1st century AC, the Proto-Iberian language had already started to diverge into more languages. The reason for its late preservation is the fact that it was, at early, an isolated language compared to other European languages.

Romanization

Romanizing is pretty straightforward, there are only 5 vowels (all of which have long variants) and 17 consonants that are one-to-one correspondences totalizing 27 letters.

Romanization of Proto-Iberian
Aa	Āā	Bb	Dd	Ðð	Ee	Ēē	Ff	Gg	Ii	Īī	Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Ōō	Pp	Rr	Ss	Tt	Uu	Ūū	Vv	Ww	Zz

Phonology

Consonants

Proto-Iberian Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d		k g	kʷ ɡʷ
Fricative	f v	ð (θ)	s z
Approximant				j		w
Lateral			l
Trill		r

• [θ] is an allophone of [ð] on initial position.
• [z] appears in between vowels and only in native words of Proto-Indo-European origin. It can be sometimes considered an allophone of [s] before a nasal. Example: auzom ("gold")

Vowels

Proto-Iberian vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		ä äː

• At a later stage of the language, [i] could be realized as [ɪ].

Diphthongs

Proto-Iberian diphthongs

		-i/j		-u/w
a-	ā-	aj	aːj	aw	aːw
e-	ē-	ej	eːj	ew	eːw
o-	ō-	oj	oːj	ow	oːw