![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/gallisch-latein-titelbild-300x225.jpg)
Gaulish and Latin in the Swiss Plateau
Before the national languages established themselves across the territory of what is now Switzerland, its inhabitants spoke the Gaulish language, which later gave way to Latin. Inscriptions offer small insights into the language culture some 1800 years ago.
![Switzerland at the time of the Roman conquest (1 BCE).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-schweiz-zur-zeit-der-romischen-erorberung-300x191.jpg)
![Celtic inscription (Korisios) on a sword found in an old channel of the Thielle river in Port, from circa 100 BCE.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/2018/10/Keltische-Inschrift-auf-Schwert-300x123.jpg)
![Wall painting with the inscription ‘CATENI MIO TOMAPOBI’ in a Roman Villa in Meikirch near Bern.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/mapobi-1-300x198.jpg)
![Wall painting with the inscription ‘CATENI MIO TOMAPOBI’ in a Roman Villa in Meikirch near Bern.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/mapobi-2-300x198.jpg)
![Detail of an inscription in Latin on a former altar stone dedicated to the Celtic horse goddess Epona.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/salodurum-inschrift-epona-300x167.jpg)
The spindle whorls with the Latin-Gallic inscriptions ‘nata vimpi curmi da’ (Pretty girl, give beer!) and ‘marcosior Maternia’ (I want to ride Materna) were recreated for a touring exhibition by the European Research Council. YouTube / PottedHistory
Multilingual Switzerland
In Switzerland, you can hear countless dialects, accents, types of slang and immigrant languages in addition to the four national languages. Visit the National Museum Zurich for a sensory journey through Switzerland’s language areas. Find out through interactive sound technology how the predecessors of our languages emerged, evolved or died out, how new linguistic and cultural borders arose and how they were (and still are) disputed.