Sabellian (language)
| Osco-Umbrian | |
|---|---|
| Sabellian | |
| Geographic distribution: |
Ancient south and central Italy |
| Linguistic classification: |
Indo-European
|
| Glottolog: | sabe1249 |
Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the sixth century BC
|
|
Osco-Umbrian, Sabellian or Sabellic languages is a group of Italic languages, a group of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Central and Southern Italy before Latin replaced them as the power of Ancient Rome expanded. The languages are known almost exclusively from inscriptions, principally of Oscan and Umbrian, but there are also some Osco-Umbrian loanwords in Latin.
Umbrian, Volscian, Sabine, South Picene, Marsian, Paelignian, Hernican, Marrucinian, Oscan, Pre-Samnite have been attested.
Aequian and Vestinian may also have been part of this group.
These have traditionally been ascribed to an Oscan group or an Umbrian group. However, they are all poorly attested, and such a division is not supported by the evidence. It appears that they may have formed a continuum, with Umbrian in the north, Oscan in the south, and the 'Sabellic' languages in between (see next section) having features of both.
Sabellic was originally the collective ethnonym of the Italic people who inhabited central and southern Italy at the time of Roman expansion. The name was later used by Theodor Mommsen, in his Unteritalische Dialekte to describe the pre-Roman dialects of Central Italy that were neither Oscan nor Umbrian.
...
Wikipedia