Pre-Samnite language

Pre-Samnite
Native toItaly
RegionCampania
Era6th–5th centuries BCE[citation needed]
Indo-European
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologpres1240

Pre-Samnite was an ancient language spoken in southern Campania, in Italy. The name Pre-Samnite refers to the fact that the language was spoken in early times in an area that was later colonized by Samnites, who spoke Oscan.[1] Pre-Samnite is recorded in a few short inscriptions[1] dating from around 500 BC.[2] The language belongs to the Osco-Umbrian group of languages, and may be closely related to Oscan, but shows a number of archaic features which were lost from Oscan.[3] However, the material is too scant to enable a precise determination of the relation of Pre-Samnite either to Oscan or to the other Sabellian languages.

  1. ^ a b Sabellian Languages, R. E. Wallace, in The Ancient Languages of Europe, Ed. R. D. Woodward.[page needed]
  2. ^ Piwowarczyk, Dariusz R. (2011). "Formations of the perfect in the Sabellic languages with the Italic and Indo-European background". Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis. 128 (128): 103–126. doi:10.2478/v10148-011-0017-1.
  3. ^ Sabellian Demonstratives: Forms and Functions, Emmanuel Dupraz.[page needed]