Celtic in Greek characters and implications for Greek and Celtic phonology

Abstract This paper examines the use of the characters t h eta ⟨θ⟩ and k h i ⟨χ⟩ in Transalpine Celtic inscriptions engraved in Greek characters. Since /t h / and /k h /, respectively, were not needed for Celtic, it is conventionally presumed that these characters were repurposed in these inscriptions, t h eta ⟨θ⟩ as the tau Gallicum phoneme and k h i ⟨χ⟩ as the allophone [x] of the phoneme /k/ before /t/. It is argued that, in fact, the aspirated voiceless plosives of ancient Greek had become fricatives in southern Transalpine Gaul before the Celts of the region started employing Greek characters to engrave inscriptions in their language, and thus that t h eta ⟨θ⟩ and k h i ⟨χ⟩ in Transalpine Celtic inscriptions were employed with their proximate phonemic values in Greek. We thus can determine a proximate terminus ante quem for the frication of the ancient Greek aspirated voiceless plosives in southern Transalpine Gaul, which leads to the prospect for Transalpine Celtic having contrasted its plosive series not via the Laryngeal feature [voice], but via [spread glottis].