Osco-Umbrian languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Languages in Iron Age Italy, 6th century BC
Enlarge
Languages in Iron Age Italy, 6th century BC

The Osco-Umbrian languages or Sabellic languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken in central and southern Italy before Latin replaced them as the power of the Romans expanded. Quantities of text in Osco-Umbrian have survived.

The following languages belong to this group: languages of the Umbrian group (the Umbrian language, the Aequian language, the Volscian language, and the Marsian language), the Oscan language, and the South Picene language.

[edit] Past usage

Sabellic was the name originally given by Theodor Mommsen in his Unteritalische Dialekte to the pre-Roman dialects of Central Italy which were neither Oscan nor Umbrian. Since then, the name has fallen out of use; nowadays, it is used again to describe the Osco-Umbrian languages as a whole. The North Picene language was considered Sabellic; it is now believed to be a non-Indo-European language.

This Indo-European languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../o/s/c/Osco-Umbrian_languages_06e8.html"
In other languages