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An extinct member of the * Celtic branch of * Indo-European and probably closely akin to * Gaulish (see * Continental Celtic ). The remnants of Lepontic have been found in the area of the great lakes in northern Italy, the centre of which is the Lake of Lugano (see map 10). The 70 or so inscriptions and coin-legends may be dated approximately to between the 6th and 1st centuries BC. They provide only a fragmentary knowledge of the language. Lepontic is the oldest known Celtic language. The appearance of Lepontic is usually associated with the Golasecca culture, which was present in the region from the 7th c. BC onwards. The inscriptions are brief (one to seven words) and most contain stereotyped phrases. They are written in the so-called ‘Lugano alphabet’, which is a variant of the North * Etruscan alphabet. There are a number of funerary steles inscribed with the name of the deceased and, often, with the word pala , which presumably means ‘stele’. Three longer inscriptions have come to light. The Prestino Stone (from near Como) and the Vergiate Stone (now in Milan) each contain one complete sentence and mention the name of the deceased as well as the person responsible for erecting the monument. A vase found in a grave in Ornavasso probably contained ‘wine from Naxos’ (uinom našom) as a gift for the deceased, Latumaros and Sapsuta. 1981 . I Celti d'Italia . Pisa . . ... log in or subscribe to read full text