Oscan language

Not to be confused with Old Norse or Old Scandinavian, sometimes abbreviated "OScan".

Oscan
Denarius of Marsican Confederation with Oscan legend
Native toSamnium, Campania, Lucania, Calabria and Abruzzo
Regionsouth and south-central Italy
Extinct>79 AD[1]
Early forms
Dialects
Old Italic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3osc
osc
Glottologosca1245
Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy in the sixth century BCE
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian and South Picene.

Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites,[3] the Aurunci (Ausones), and the Sidicini. The latter two tribes were often grouped under the name "Osci". The Oscan group is part of the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic family, and includes the Oscan language and three variants (Hernican, Marrucinian and Paelignian) known only from inscriptions left by the Hernici, Marrucini and Paeligni, minor tribes of eastern central Italy. Adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, the Central Oscan alphabet was used to write Oscan in Campania and surrounding territories from the 5th century BCE until at least the 1st century CE.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schrijver2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Oscan". Ancient Scripts. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  3. ^ Monaco, Davide (4 November 2011). "Samnites the People". Samniti.info. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  4. ^ Lejeune, Michel (1970). "Phonologie osque et graphie grecque". Revue des Études Anciennes (in French). 72 (3): 271–316. doi:10.3406/rea.1970.3871. ISSN 0035-2004.