Gaulish - RIG G-64
Saint Rémy de Provence (Roman Glanum) - 1st century BC
MATPE BOΓΛA NEIKA BOBPA TOYΔE KANTEN
Transcription in to Roman script and divided into words:
MATREBO GLANEIKABO BRATOU DEKANTEN
‘To the mother-goddesses of Glanum, [X gave] a tithe in gratitude’
This inscription is a dedication to the the mother goddesses of Glanum (where the inscription was found). The last two words are part of a longer formula which is found on a number of inscriptions from this area: dede bratou dekantem; its meaning has been debated but seems to mean something like ‘X (the name of a person) gave a tithe in gratitude’. The inscription is written in Greek script, but is distinctively Gaulish in its language: note the dative plural in -bo- (where Latin would have -bus) and the word dekanten for a tithe (the tenth part of the produce).
M. Lejeune, Recueil des inscriptions gauloises: I Textes gallo-grecs (Paris, 1985), G-64, pp. 76–8
