| Vestinian | |
|---|---|
Country of the Vestini looking from Pescara to Gran Sasso |
|
| Spoken in | East-central Italy |
| Extinct | ca. 100 BC |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xvs |
Vestinian is a scholarly term referring to an extinct Indo-European language documented only in two surviving inscriptions of the Roman Republic. It is presumed to have been anciently spoken by the tribe of the Vestini, who occupied the region within current Abruzzo from Gran Sasso to the Adriatic Sea in east-central Italy during that time. Vestini is the Roman exonym for the people. Not enough of their presumed language survives to classify it beyond Italic. Vestinian is one of a number of scantily attested Italic languages spoken in small regions of the Appennines directly east of Rome called generally "the minor dialects." There is currently no agreement on their precise classification.[1]
Contents |
Only two inscriptions survive.
CIL 12.394 from near Navelli in the Abruzzo, dated mid-third-century BC, is:[2]
Vestinian text:
Translation into Latin:
Translation into English:
The specifically Vestinian words are data, didet and duno.[3]