..................

---------------~~-

xiv Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy

1. Introduction

1.1 The Sabellic languages

The Sabellic languages were spoken in central and southern Italy. They are attested
IV. South Picene Alphabet by written documents that date from the 7th century BCE to the 1st century AD. These
languages make up one branch of the Italic language family (on which, see below §1.6).
The Sabellic languages may be divided into three groups: an Oscan group, which
includes Oscan, Paelignian, Marrucinian, Vestinian and Hernican; an Umbrian group,
which encompasses Umbrian, Aequian, Marsian, and Volscian; and a Picene group,
<t- ~I A2 A3 which has two members, South Picene and Pre-Samnite. Whether or not these divisions
tf ~I B2 constitute sub-groupings is currently)l 11\atter of scholarly debate.
~J~)
? < 1.2 Distribution of Sabellic languages
r:I I> The Sabellic languages were not indigenous to Italy. They were carried into the
peninsula from the northeast during the 2nd millennium BCE. Before the beginning of
c E1 E2 the historical period, which is approximately 700 BCE, Sabellic tribes already occupied
(/ C1 t:{z F3 the mountainous interior of central Italy and had begun migrating toward the south in a
If a fanlike sweep. By the end of 5th century BCE, Sabellic languages were spoken in
territories stretching from Umbria in central Italy as far south as Bruttium (see map 1).
t I At the beginning of the third century BCE, the Sabellic speech area included northeastern
i M1 1812 m3 t:]4 <X>s Sicily.
In the period before Roman expansion, the Sabellic languages were distributed as
,l k1 (2 follows (see map 2):
I' r Oscan speakers inhabited the territories of Samnium and Campania. Dialects of
Oscan, collectively referred to as North Oscan, were spoken in southern Picenum
l'/t M (modern Abruzzo) by peoples called the Vestini (Teramo, L'Aquila), the Paeligni
l't N (Sulmo, Corfinio), and the Marrucini (Rapino, Chieti). Another Oscan-speaking tribe, the
Hernici, settled in southeastern Latium with their chief center at Anagnia. During the
(/
5th and 4th centuries BCE, Oscan:..speaking Samnites moved into southern portions of the
/l• n peninsula, settling in the territories of Lucania and Bruttium, and ultimately spreading

'l ~I .2 ~3 ~4 0s across the straits of Messana into Sicily.

Umbrian was spoken in the territory of Umbria. The northernmost settlement seems
F I>" to have been the town of Gubbio (Roman Iguvium). The language was spoken as far as
ti ~I s2 south as Mevania. Epigraphic evidence suggests that speakers of Umbrian inhabited the
easternmost portions of the territory of Etruria, in Clusium and environs, before
t T1 I2 t 3 f4 Etruscan expansion pushed them eastward. Tribes speaking varieties of Sabellic related
tt A to Umbrian occupied ·the hill districts of Latium. The Aequiculi had their major
settlement near the modern city of Collemaggiore; the Marsi controlled territory in the
d ~H -'-2 environs of Lake Fucine (Saepinum, Marruvium). The Volsci settled, in southwestern
/ Latium (Satricum) on the western side of the Liris River.
South Picene speakers settled the southern half of Picenum, from Macerata
J
* southward toward the Aternus River valley (modem provinces of Marche and
Abruzzo), their speech area overlapping in part with that of the northernmost varieties
of Oscan. Pre-Samnite is the name given to the language of Sabellic speakers who
established settlements in Campania and Lucania in the 6th century BCE, before the
Figure 4. South Picene alphabet.
 Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy 3
2

arrival of the Oscan-speaking Samnites. the earliest attested stage of Umbrian; the latest inscriptions show influences resulting
from contact with Latin.
Aequian, Marsian, and Volscian, which are the Sabellic varieties most closely
1.3 Sabellic documents
Evidence for the Sabellic languages comes almost exclusively from inscriptions that associated with Umbrian, are sparsely attested. For Aequian there is but a single
were incised on stone, metal, or ceramic. A few dipinti (painted inscriptions) survive; inscription (VM 8). Two inscriptions (VM 1, 2) are assigned to the Volscian corpus. VM
these were discovered in the Campanian city of Pompeii (Osc Po 34-50). A few texts, 1, which is a text incised on a miniature axe-head, is of particular interest because it
e.g., Paelignian Pg 3, Pg 4, and Pg 5, are known from copies in manuscripts of the 16th belongs to the 5th century BCE. Four fragments of inscriptions are attributed to the Marsi
and 17th centuries. Greek and Roman writers of the late Republic and early imperial (VM 4, 5, 6, 7).
period preserved a few Sabellic words and phrases, but these do not add substantially to The South Picene corpus includes 23 inscriptions. They are of great significance
our knowledge of any Sabellic language. because their antiquity; most date to the 6th or 5th centuries BCE. Pre-Samnitic
Sabellic inscriptions belong to well-known epigraphic categories: dedications, inscriptions too are among the oldest in the Sabellic corpus. Ps 4, Ps 5, and *Ps 21 belong
epitaphs, inscriptions on public works, religious regulations, contracts, proprietary to the middle of the 6th century. Taken together the Picene corpus constitutes some of
inscriptions, manufacturer's inscriptions, curses, trademarks, legends on coins, and so the oldest epigraphic material in all of Italic.
forth.
Oscan has the greatest number of inscriptions, approximately 460. They cover a 1.4 Indo-European and Proto-Italic
chronological span of approximately 600 years, from the end of the 6th century BCE to The Sabellic languages are members of the Indo-European language family. Within
the 1st century AD. Most of the inscriptions belong to a two hundred year period from Indo-European, the closest relatives are Latin, spoken originally at Rome and at other
300 BCE to 89 BCE, the latter being the date of the final Sabellic uprising against Rome. settlements in northern Latium, and Faliscan, spoken on the right bank of the Tiber
The nucleus of the Oscan corpus - over a quarter of the texts - comes from the River at Falerii veteres (modern Civita Castellana) and at other small communities in this
Campanian cities of Capua and Pompeii. One of the most important Oscan inscriptions, same area. The Sabellic languages and Latino-Faliscan make up the Italic branch of Indo-
the Cippus Abellanus, a limestone plaque recording an agreement between the cities of European. Four morphological innovations, all of which were shared exclusively by
Nola and Abella regarding the common use of a sanctuary of Hercules, was also Sabellic languages and by Latino-Faliscan, support the reconstruction of an Italic
discovered in Campania. The Tabula Bantina, which is the longest Oscan inscription, was subgroup within the Indo-European family. The evidence is assembled in (1).
discovered in the territory of Lucania in the town of Bantia. The Tabula Bantina is a
bronze tablet incised with statutes pertaining to municipal administration. The bronze (1) Morphological innovations in Proto-Italic
dates to 100 BCE.
The North Oscan languages, Vestinian, Marrucinian, Hernican, and Paelignian, are a. imperfect subjunctive suffix *-se-, e.g., Oscan fusid 'should be', 3SG IMPF ACT SUBJ,
represented by a smaller number of inscriptions. The largest segment, somewhere in the Latin foret 3SG IMPF ACT SUBJ< Proto-Italic *fu.sed
range of 65, belongs to Paelignian (Pg 1-59, nPg1a-8). Unfortunately, most of the b. imperfect indicative suffix *-fa-, e.g., Oscan fufans 'they were', 3PL IMPF ACT, Latin
documents are epitaphs recording only the names of the deceased. Vestinian and portiibant 'they were carrying', 3PL IMPF ACT ( *-fii- > -bii- in the Latin of Rome)
Marrucinian each have six inscriptions (MV 1-12). The most important Marrucinian c. gerundive formation with suffix *-dno-, e.g., Oscan upsannam 'build', GRDV, ACC SG
inscription (MV 1), a lex sacra known as the Bronze of Rapino, is of moderate length and FEM, Umbrian pihaner 'purify', GRDV, GEN SG MASC (*-nd- > -n(n)- in Sabellic), Latin
provides information about isoglosses separating North Oscan from the Oscan spoken operandam 'build', GRDV, ACC SG FEM
in the territories of Samnium and Campania. Hernican is known from three recently d. lSG PRES ACT of the verb 'to be', e.g., Pre-Samnite esum, South Picene esum, Latin
recovered inscriptions (He 1-3), one of which dates to the 5th century BCE (He 1). esom <Proto-Italic *esom < Proto-Indo-European *h1esmi
Even though the number of Umbrian inscriptions is small - no more than 40 - the
corpus is arguably the most important in ancient Italy due to the Tabulae Iguvinae In addition to morphological innovations, a significant phonological development
(Iguvine Tablets). The bronze tablets, which were discovered at Gubbio (Roman may also be cited as an Italic innovation, namely, the treatment of the Proto-Indo-
Iguvium) in 1444, were incised with the ritual regulations and cultic instructions of a European (PIE) voiced aspirates *bh, *dh, *gn, *gh, *gwh. In word-initial position, as
religious fraternity known as the Atiedian brotherhood. The Tabulae date to the first half shown in (2a), the PIE voiced aspirates developed to Proto-Italic voiceless fricatives ( *bh,
of the 3rd century BCE for Tablets I-Vb7 and to the end of the 2nd century BCE for Tablets *dh > f; *gn/*gh > x). In medial position, as shown in (2b), the PIE aspirates developed to
Vb8-VII. Despite the relative lateness of the tablets, many of the ritual procedures and Proto-Italic voiced fricatives (*bh > f3, *dh > <J, etc.), reflexes of which survived in the
regulations stem from earlier Italic traditions. In addition to the Tabulae Iguvinae, Sabellic languages, Faliscan, and rural Latin dialects. In the Latin of Rome the reflexes of
Umbrian is attested through short inscriptions dating from the 7th to the 1st centuries the aspirates developed to voiced stops in this environment.
BCE. The oldest, the so-called Poggio Sommavilla inscription (Um 2), gives insight into
 Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy 5
4 Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy

b. the development of PIE labiovelars to labials, e.g., Oscan pis 'anyone', INDEFINITE
(2) Development of PIE *bh in Italic PRO, NOM SG MASC< *kwis; South Picene pis 'anyone', INDEFINITE PRO NOM SG MASC <
*kwis; Umbrian pffi. 'whatever', INDEFPRO, NOM/ ACC SG NEUT< *kwid-f(d)
a. *bh > f- in word-initial position, e.g., Oscan fratnim 'brother', GEN PL M1Y'C, Umbrian
fratrom 'brotherhood', GEN PL MASC, Latin friiter 'brother', cp. Greek <pp<X'Tl]p 'member 1.6 Subgrouping within Sabellic
of a phrany, Old Indic bhratar-, Old Irish brathair, Gothic brol5ar, etc., < Proto-Indo- Whether or not ~he grouping of the Sabellic languages into three camps - an Oscan
European *b"reh2ter 'brother', NOM SG MASC ?roup, ~n ~mbn~n. group, and a Picene group - accurately reflects the
b. *bh > -P- in medial position, e.g., Oscan mefiai [meByay] 'middle', LOC SG FEM, South interrelationships existing among these languages is a matter of debate among scholars.
Picene mefifn [meByep.] 'middle', LOC SG, Latin medius, cp. Old Indic madhyas, Gothic Some argue that a. more ~ccurate vi~w is one that recognizes an intermediate stage of
mil5jis, etc., < Proto-Indo-European *medhyos NOM SG MASC Oscan a~d Umbnan umty .foll.owmg the dissolution of the Proto-Sabellic speech
co~uruty. ~upporters of this view argue that evidence for a stage of Oscan-Umbrian
1.5 Proto-Sabellic umty ~o:nes m the form of 3rd plural secondary ending -ns that developed from Proto-
Examination of the Sabellic languages reveals morphological innovations that permit Sabellic -nd. Compare~ for example, the secondary 3rd plural ending -ns in members of
the grouping of these languages into a sub-branch distinct from Latin and Faliscan. The the ?s~an ai:id U~bnan groups, e.g., Oscan pnifattens 'approved', 3PL PERF ACT;
most important innovations are described in (3). Paehgruan co1satens manage, take care of, 3PL PERF ACT; Umbrian dirsans 'give', 3PL PRES
'
'I
ACT SUBJ, to the secondary endings in the South Picene group, e.g., -din Pre-Samnite
(3) Morophological innovations in Sabellic fuffotl 'they were', 3PL PERF ACT, and -h in South Picene adstaitih 'they set up' 3PL PERF
ACT. The ~s~an and Umbrian endings reflect a sound change *-nd > *-nn > *-,;followed
a. the spread of the i-stem genitive singular ending *-eis to o-stem and consona!'t-stem
inflection, e.g., Oscan o-stem sakarakleis 'sanctuary', GEN SG NEUT; South Picene o-
br the addition of an -s that spread from the 1st plural inflectional ending -ms, cp. South
Picene adst~e.oms 'we set up''. The endings of the Picene group are best derived directly
stem katiieis 'Gavius', PRAE, GEN SG MASC, Umbrian kapres 'goat', GEN SG MASC< from th~ on~mal Proto-~abelh~ e~ding *-nd and not treated as a further development of
*kapreis . . ~he ending -ns. Followmg this lme of argumentation, Oscan and Umbrian share an
b. the spread of the o-stem accusative singular ending -om to consonant-stem inflection, intermediate stage of development that sets them apart from members of the Picene
e.g., Oscan n-stem tanginom 'opinion, decision', ACC SG FEM . _ group..
c. personal pronouns and reflexive pronouns augmented by the particle -om, e.g.,
Umbrian tiom 'you', 2ND PERS PRO, ACC SG, South Picene tiom 'you', 2ND PERS PRO, 1.7 Death of the Sabellic languages
ACC SG; Umbrian miom 'me', lST PERS PRO, ACC SG; Oscan siom 'himself', REFLEXIVE !he Sabellic languages di~ n~t survi~e Roman expansion. The languages spoken in
PRO, ACC SG MASC Latium succumbed to Romaruzation earher than those in Umbria, Campania, and points
d. the development of the deponent/passive infinitive suffix -fir/-fi, e.g., Oscan sakraf:ir fur~her south. In Latium and in adjacent areas, speakers of Sabellic languages shifted to
'to be consecrated', PRES DEP/PASS INF; Umbrian pihafi 'to be purified', PRES DEP/PASS Latin before the .end of the Roman Republic (ca. 30 BCE). In some parts of the peninsula,
INF. Umbrian reflects the original form of the suffix; the Oscan suffix -fir reflects a howev~~' Sabelhc speakers were more tenacious. Epigraphic evidence from the city of
secondary development involving the addition of the passive ending -r. . . ~om~en demonstrates t~a~ Osca~ was still spoken when Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the
e. the development of a contrast between primary and secondary endmgs m the oty in AD 79. Even .so, it is unlikely that any Sabellic language survived as a native
deponent/passive, e.g., primary -te(r) in Umbrian tene 'is given', 3SG PRES DEP/PASS; tongue beyon~ the first century AD. By this time the territories of the Sabellic peoples
secondary-tur in Umbrian emantur 'are taken', 3PL PRES DEP/PASS SUBJ. This contrast were securely incorporated both politically and culturally into the Roman empire.
was eliminated in Oscan in favor of -ter and in South Picene in favor of -tor.
1.8 Additional Reading
Prominent phonological innovations shared by all Sabellic languages include the ~eferences to the major publications on Sabellic inscriptions are given in §8.5. For the
syncope of short vowels in word-final syllables before -s and the change of PIE notion Proto-Italic and for discussion of the linguistic evidence to support it see Joseph
labiovelars to labials. Examples are in (4). & W~ace (1987:675-677) and Rix (1994). Rix (2003) is a comprehensive overview of the
Sabellic group of languages. Issues surrounding the sub-grouping of the Sabellic
(4) Phonological innovations in Sabellic ~an~a~es are. discussed in Adiego Lajara (1990) and (1992). For the Pre-Samnite
inscription designated as Ps *21 see Russo (2005).
a. the syncope of short vowels in word-final syllables before -s, e.g., Oscan htirz /horts/
'grove, wood', NOM SG MASC < *ghortos; South Picene manus 'hands', ABL SG PL <
*manufos; Umbrian emps 'purchased', NOM SG MASC < *emptos
 Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy 7

2. Alphabets arc, ~ys~em. one being more common in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE and system two
flourishing m the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. Still, the chronological fit is not perfect, and
2.1 Introduction there are some inscriptions in which scribes made use of spellings from both systems.
The Sabellic languages were written in alphabets that derived from three sources:
Etruscan, Italiote Greek, and Republican Latin. The variety of alphabet that Sabellic Table2.1 Vowels in the Oscan-Greek Alphabet
scribes employed depended on the date at which they became literate, on the source
from whom the alphabet was borrowed - Etruscan, Greek, or Roman -, and on the system 1 system2
variety of alphabet employed by that source. Some Sabellic peoples borrowed from
multiple sources, depending on where they settled and depending on the peoples with fey/ €L
'rlL
whom they were in close contact. /e, e/ € €L
joy/ OL (l)L
2.20scan /ow/ of oof, oou
Oscan documents display the greatest diversity in terms of alphabet. Inscriptions /of .o (I)

were written in alphabets borrowed from Etruscans, Italiote Greeks, and Romans. /u,u/ \)
O\J
Inscriptions from Campania and Samnium were composed in an alphabet that was /yu/ L\J \)

borrowed from Etruscans who had colonized the coastal areas of Campania. In the
territories of Lucania and Bruttium, Oscan inscriptions were written in an alphabet 2.3Umbrian
derived from the Ionic alphabet of the Greek colonists of Magna Graeca. Inscriptions Umbrian was written in alphabets derived from different Etruscan models. One of
dating from the end of the 2nd century BCE, including the important Tabula Bantina and the most famous Umbrian inscriptions, the one incised on a statue of a warrior (Um 16)
iii
the corpus of North Oscan inscriptions, were written in a Republican Latin alphabet. ~ecov~red from.Todi, was _w~tten in an alphabet similar to that used by Etruscans who
The Oscan alphabet borrowed from Campanian Etruscan sources was formed no inhabited the crty of Volsimi (modem Orvieto). The alphabet used to write Umbrian
later than the last quarter of the 5th century BCE. This alphabet spread throughout inscriptions froin Colfiorito may have originated from this same area. The idea that
Oscan-speaking Campania and soon thereafter into Samnium. At the beginning of the Umbrian scribes borrowed from Etruscans inhabiting settlements in this part of Etruria
3rd century BCE the alphabet underwent an important reform. Two letters were added is supported by the fact that ?amma, rather than kappa, was used to spell the voiceless
in order to represent more accurately the phonology of Oscan mid-vowels. The letters i velar /k/. In contrast, Iguvme Tablets I-Vb7 were inscribed in an Etruscan-based
and u.were modified by diacritics to create signs for the front mid-vowel phonemes /e/ alphabet in which the letter gamma was not part of the signatory. This alphabet had a
and /e/, and for the back mid-vowel phoneme /of. These signs are transcribed as i and northern ~truscan som:ce: perhaps deriving from Perusia or Cortona (see Fig. 3).
u respectively. This chronological stage of the alphabet was codified as the National The chief characteristic of the Umbrian alphabet used to write the Iguvine Tablets I-
Oscan script. For the alphabet and letterforms see Fig. 1. Vb7 w~s the absence of the signs gamma, delta, and omicron. Kappa represented the voiced
The degree of variation in the forms of letters in the national alphabet was relatively and voiceless velar stops (/g/and /k/); tau represented the voiced and voiceless dental
circumscribed, being limited in large part to stylistic differences and to differences stops <jd/ and /t/). Upsilon was used for all rounded back vowels (/q/, /of, /of, ju/,
dictated by the direction of writing (sinistroverse vs. dextroverse). and (uf)._The letter beta was included in this script, although it is not clear whether it
The Oscan-Greek alphabet was borrowed during the fourth century BCE, the period was inherited from the Etruscan alphabet that served as its model or was re-borrowed
at which Oscan speakers came into contact with Greek communities already established from an~ther sour~e. Even so, both pi and beta were used to spell the voiced stop /b/,
in Lucania and Bruttium. This alphabet is depicted in Fig. 2. The most notable feature is e.g., hapmaf, ha~ma /habina-/ 1ambs', ACC PL FEM. The inherited inventory of signs
the letter representing the phoneme I fl. It was created on the model of the letter fin the was augmented ~n order to represent two new Umbrian phonemes, namely /s/ and
National Oscan alphabet. Over the course of two centuries it went through several /'6/. A letter. havmg the form of a retrograde d was used to write the palatal fricative
permutations until it reached its ultimate form, a shape similar to the modem English so~d (see Fig. 3, c;;1 and ft2). The voiced fricative /'6/ was written by means of a letter
letter J (see Fig. 2, letter fsc). In some varieties of the Oscan-Greek script, the letter zeta having the shape of a retrograde P (see Fig. 3, r). '
was used to represent the phone [z], which was the intervocalic pronunciation of the Tablets Vb8, ~, and VII and a. sma~l number of Umbrian inscriptions dating to the
phoneme /s/. This sign was then borrowed into the Republican Latin alphabet and was l~t an~ 2nd centur~es BCE w~r.e written m a ~~publican Latin alphabet. The inventory of
used to spell this sound in the Oscan Tabula Bantina, e.g., ezum 'to be'. signs included a sigma modified by the addition of an oblique stroke in the upper left
The Oscan-Greek alphabet represented the mid vowels, the high vowels, and the qu~drant of the sign space. This letter stood for the palatal fricative /s/. It is transcribed
diphthongs whose nuclei were mid vowels in two ways. Table 2.1 summarizes the bys.
differences in the two spelling 'systems'. For the most part, they follow a chronological
 Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy Sabellic Languages of Ancient Italy 9
8

2.4 South Picene bars was used for the phoneme Isl. Inscription Um 2 attests what may well be the
The South Picene alphabet was probably an offshoot of a 7th century Etruscan earliest example of If/ in the form of the figure 8.
alphabet (see Fig. 4), although a Greek model is not out of the question. This alphabet An archaic Volscian inscription from Satricum (MV 1) may also be placed within this
first took root in the territory traditionally labeled as Sabine. But when the earliest South same writing tradition. In MV 1 the letter wau (Fig. 4, v3) had the value of a long back
Picene inscriptions make their appearance in the middle of the 6th century BCE, the vowel phoneme, either lo/ or lul. Samekh stood for the sound lhl. The phoneme /f/
script had already developed distinctive characteristics. The orientation of some letters was made by arranging three puncts vertically, a form reminiscent of the South Picene
was different than that found in other Sabellic writing systems. For example, lambda and sign for If/. The style of punctuation in this inscription is also worthy of note. Words
upsilon were generally written upside down. Some letters were written in a minimalist were separated by four puncts. Five puncts marked the end of the text.
style. The letter omicron, which stood for the vocalic phoneme lol, and the letter ef, How these Palaeo-Sabellic alphabets are to be linked is not clear. It is tempting to
which stood for the voiceless fricative If/, were reduced to points,· and: respectively. think of a unitary Palaeo-Sabellic script that was the source for the South Picene,
Other letters were modified along the lines of this minimalist style. The horizontal Umbrian, Volscian, and the Pre-Samnite writing systems, but the different forms of
stroke of tau was reduced to a point (see Fig. IV, t3 and ti), as was the crossbar of the some letters, e.g., those representing /f/ and Is/, and the different phonological values
alpha (see Fig. IV, as). Another distinctive feature of the alphabet was the letter wau, of other letters, e.g., wau =If/, lw/, and /o/, impede efforts to reconstruct such an
which developed a very unusual shape (see Fig. IV, Vt and v:z); it evolved to a form that alphabet and its subsequent regional developments.
resembles a C with a wing at the top and the bottom.
Two letters were added to the South Picene signatory to represent long mid-vowel 2.6 Republican Latin alphabet
phonemes. The letter upsilon, augmented by means of a vertical diacritic, was assigned Sabellic peoples in central Italy, most of whom became literate after contact with
the value of the back vowel /o/ (see Fig. IV, u). The letter heta was recycled in several Romans, wrote in a Republican Latin alphabet. In several instances, there were additions
distinctive forms to spell the long front vowel le/ (see Fig. IV, i). to or modifications of the inherited inventory of signs. In Paelignian, for example, the
South Picene inscriptions show a fair number of regional peculiarities, both in terms sign delta D was modified by means of a diacritic D and was then employed in several
of letterforms and in terms of the phonological values assigned to them. For example, inscriptions to represent the outcome of the assibilation of a voiced dental stop, e.g.,
the letter i had five regional variants (see Fig. IV, i1-s). Sigma was generally made with Paelignian petiedu 'Petiedia', NOMEN, NOM SG FEM. In Vestinian, a four-bar sigma was
four bars, but in a few inscriptions it was written with three. Gamma stood for I gl in used to represent the outcome of an earlier *ps cluster, e.g., Vestinian osens 'they made',
some inscriptions; kappa and qoppa represented lkl. In others, kappa was used for both 3PL PERF ACT < *opsens.
the voiced and the voiceless velar stops. The scribe who incised SP TE 5 used a sign with
the shape of a 6-point star, possibly a reconfiguration of the letter samekh, to spell a 2.7 Directionality and punctuation
palatal fricative Isl (transcribed s). The sound developed as the outcome of the Sabellic inscriptions composed in an Etruscan-based alphabet were generally written
palatalization of a voiceless velar before the palatal vowels i and e, e.g., sidom 'this here' from right-to-left, but inscriptions written in dextroverse direction are found from time
< *kidiim (see Fig. 4 for this letterform). to time. Oscan inscriptions in the Greek alphabet were consistently written from left-to-
right, as were Sabellic inscriptions in the Latin alphabet, including Tablets Vb8, VI, and
2.5 Palaeo-Sabellic Alphabets VII of the Tabulae Iguvinae. Several South Picene inscriptions were set out in
The earliest Pre-Samnite inscriptions, PS 2, 3 and *21, were written in an alphabet boustrophedon style ('as the ox plows'), others in a style called 'Schlangenscrift', where
similar to that used to write South Picene inscriptions, both in terms of the shapes of the the lines of writing have a serpentine shape, and still others in what appears to be a
letterforms and in terms of their orientation. For example, a letter similar to South Picene combination of the two styles just described.
v1 is found in the Pre-Samnite inscriptions mentioned above (see Fig. IV), although in Most Sabellic inscriptions in Etruscan-based alphabets had some form of punctuation
Pre-Samnite it had a different phonological value (= lfl). A distinctive feature of Pre- to s~parate words, although a few of the earliest inscriptions were written scriptio
Samnite inscriptions written in this script was the letter representing Isl. It had the co~tm.ua. Punctuation separating ~ords was customarily a single point appearing at
form of a tree with four or six branches. Other Pre-Samnite inscriptions were composed nud-line level, but word-punctuation also took the form of double or triple points, the
in alphabets deriving from Campanian Etruscan or Italiote Greek sources. latter being particularly common on South Picene inscriptions in' order to avoid
Palaeo-Umbrian inscriptions belonging to the 7th and 6th centuries BCE were also confusion with the signs for If/: and for /o/ · . In contrast, punctuation was used in
composed in an alphabet belonging to the South PicenelPre-Samnite alphabetic Oscan inscriptions written in the Oscan-Greek alphabet primarily in official inscriptions.
tradition. Even so there are features that set these alphabets apart. For example, in the For private inscriptions - funerary texts, curses, and dedications - scriptio continua was
Umbrian inscription recovered from Tolfa in Etruria (Um 4) the scribe represented the the norm.
phoneme If/ by means of a letter in the form of an arrow. A sigma with eight very short
 10 Sabe/lie Languages of Ancient Italy

2.8 Additional Reading 3. Phonology

Cristofani (1979) is a good resource for the introduction of the alphabet to central
Italy and its subsequent diffusion to Sabellic speaking peoples. Lejeune (1970) and (1972) 3.1 Introduction
provide a thorough introduction to the Oscan alphabets and to the regional peculiarities The phonological inventories of the three groups of Sabellic languages were similar
of Oscan writing systems. Maggiani (1984:217-237) describes the alphabet of the Iguvine in most respects. This is not surprising given the languages' close genetic relationship.
Tablets. Rocca (1996:12-16 [Tables 15-16]) covers the paleographic features of the various The major differences are to be found in the vowel systems. Umbrian and other
local Umbrian writing systems. Marinetti (1985:47-60 [Tables 59-60]) is the seminal languages of this group changed Proto-Sabellic diphthongs into long vowels.
discussion of the South Picene alphabet. See Adiego Lajara (1990b) for an emendation to
Marinetti's treatment of the letter h. Russo (2005:38-41) summarizes recent scholarly 3.2 Oscan
debate about the phonological value of the letter v1 (Fig. IV) in Pre-Samnite inscriptions, The consonant inventory of Oscan is set out in Table 3.1. There were two sets of stop
including the recently recovered inscription from Tortora (PS 20). For discussion of the consonants; one set was voiceless, the other voiced. The fricatives were voiceless. The
relationship of the South Picene alphabet to Sabellic alphabets in Campania see Rix semivowels, nasals, liquid, and rhotic were voiced in all environments.
(2005).
iii Table3.1 Oscan consonants

labials dentals palatals velars glottal

vlss stops /pl /ti /k/

vd stops /bl /di /g/
fricatives If! /sf /h/
nasals /m/ /n/
liquid III
rhotic /r/
semivowels /y/ /w/
/p/ pus 'who', pis 'anyone', /t/tanginud, tanginud 'consenf, /k/ kumbened 'it was agreed', censaum 'to
take the census'
/b/ brateis 'favor', brateis 'favor', /d/deded 'he gave', deiuast 'he will swear', /g/ genetai 'Geneta'
THEONYM, ligud 'law, regulation'
/ml maatreis 'mother', manim 'hand', /n/ niir, nerum 'leader, hero'
/fl faamat 'calls to arms', factud 'let him make', /s/ sum 'lam', sit 'let it be', /h/ heriiad 'he may desire',
herest 'he will desire'
/I/ Hkitud, licitud 'it shall be permitted', /r/regaturei 'director', herest 'he will desire'
/y/ iuvei 'Jove' THEONYM, iouiois 'of Jove' [Paelignian], /w/ veru 'gate', uincter 'he is convicted'

The fricatives If/and /s/ were voiced in intervocalic position. In inscriptions written
in the Latin alphabet, the letter z stood for the sound derived from an intervocalic *s,
e.g., ezum [ezum] 'to be', PRES INF ACT; egmazum [egmazum] 'affairs', GEN PL FEM. In the
Oscan-Greek alphabet,· the fricative /fl was occasionally spelled by means of ~ in
intervocalic position, e.g., µE~LTI'IL 'Mefitis', 1HEONYM, DAT SG FEM and <J1'o:~o:Ao:vo 'set
up', GRDV, ACC PL NEUT, a spelling that is generally considered to indicate that /fl was
voiced in this context.
The phoneme /h/was restricted to word-initial position. When the letter h was
written between vowels, it had the function of marking vocalic hiatus, e.g., Oscan
stahint 'they stand', which stands phonemically for /staep.t/ or /staep.t/.
All geographical varieties of Oscan palatalized consonants (except for fricatives and
semivowels) before the semivowel /y/. The evidence suggests that the outcome of

i
t
I
.b