Re: Semitic/Celtic Ties

At 7:31 am -0800 8/3/99, Edward Heil wrote:
>Plautus' play "Poenulus," or "The Little Carthaginian," contains several
>lines of gobbledygook which is supposed to be Carthaginian speech, or
>Punic.
>
>I played Antamoenides, the Miles Gloriosus or Vainglorious Soldier, in a
>goofy production of this comedy at UNC-Chapel Hill a few years ago.
>
>While researching the Poenulus, our director ran across a fascinating
>[read: crackpot] article by a 19th century linguist who claimed that
>Punic was actually an ancient Celtic dialect.  He broke the gobbledygook
>apart into words (there were no spaces in the original, of course),
>interpreted them very imaginatively as old Celtic roots, making
>sentences whose meanings made sense in the context of the play.
>
>He therefore concluded that the Carthaginians were actually
>proto-Welshmen *rather than* Semites.
>
>But our present conversation makes me wonder: "Why not both?"
I think not :)

Actually it's very easy to interpret an obscure text as any language you
want if you've got a bit of imagination.  Just as a trial I once took an
obscure 'Eteocretan' insciption and tried to "translate" it as though it
were Celtic.  It was much easier than I expected - and that one even had
spaces marked!

"Ah, who shall make thy soul tp stand in paradise? THE VIRGIN" - it read.
"Evidence" for a Celtic civilization in Crete worshipping the Mother
Goddess?  Not likely!  I was well aware of the weaknesses that any serious
an objective Celticist would soon spot.  But I've a feeling I could easily
have persuaded the gullible.

I guess the 19th cent. crackpot did persuade the gullible, i.e. himself :)

No - Punic inscriptians do survive - they clearly spoke a Semitic language
- the Phoenician of their motherland.

Ray.