The Relative Chronology of Three Lepontic Sound Changes and an Orthographic Anomaly in Cisalpine Gaul

This paper sets out three sound changes that occurred in the prehistory of Lepontic and argues for them to have taken place in a specific relative chronology. These sound changes are not straightforwardly reflected orthographically in forms that have been borrowed into the Latin epigraphic tradition. It is demonstrated that two of these instances may be accounted for typologically and via Latin orthographic practice, respectively, while the third demands that the Celtic forms were borrowed into Latin prior to the Lepontic sound changes having diffused into Cisalpine Gaulish via a process of dialect levelling.