Sabellian languages
| Osco-Umbrian | |
|---|---|
| Sabellian | |
| Geographic distribution |
Ancient south and central Italy |
| Linguistic classification |
Indo-European
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| Glottolog | sabe1249 |
Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the sixth century BC
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The Osco-Umbrian, Sabellian or Sabellic languages are a group of Italic languages, the 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 and Pre-Samnite have been attested.
Aequian and Vestinian may also have been part of the group.
They have traditionally been ascribed to either 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.
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