Everything about Oscan Language totally explained
Oscan, the language of the
Osci, is in the
Sabellic branch of the
Italic language family, which is a branch of
Indo-European that also includes
Umbrian,
Latin, and
Faliscan.
It was spoken in
Samnium and in
Campania, as well as in
Lucania, Ager Bruttius (modern
Calabria) and
Abruzzo. Oscan is known from
inscriptions beginning in the
5th century BC. The most important Oscan inscriptions are the
Tabula Bantina and the
Cippus Abellanus. Oscan was written in the
Latin and
Greek alphabets, as well as in a variety of the
Old Italic alphabet.
Dialects of Oscan include
Samnite,
Marrucine,
Paelignan,
Vestinian,
Sabine, and
Marsian.
Oscan had much in common with Latin, though there are also many striking differences, and many common word-groups in Latin were absent and represented by entirely different forms. For example, Latin
volo,
velle,
volui, and other such forms from the
Proto-Indo-European root *wel ('to will') were represented by words derived from *gher ('to desire'): Oscan
herest ('he wants, desires', English cognate 'yearns', Spanish
quiere) as opposed to Latin
vult (id.). Latin
locus (place) was absent and represented by
slaagid (place).
In
phonology, Oscan also showed differences from Latin: Oscan 'p' in place of Latin 'qu' (Osc.
pis, Lat.
quis); 'b' in place of Latin 'v'; medial 'f' in contrast to Latin 'b' or 'd' (Osc.
mefiai, Lat.
mediae). This is like the P-Celtic/Q-Celtic rift in the
Celtic languages.
Oscan is considered the most conservative of all the known Italic languages, and among all Indo-European languages it's rivaled only by
Greek in the retention of the inherited vowel system with the
diphthongs intact.
Example of an Oscan text (the Cippus Abellanus)
ekkum[svaípíd herieset
trííbarak[avúm tereí púd
liímítú[m] pernúm [púís
herekleís fíísnú mefi[ú
íst, ehtrad feíhúss pú[s
herekleís fíísnam amfr
et, pert víam pússtíst
paí íp íst, pústin slagím
senateís suveís tangi
núd tríbarakavúm lí
kítud. íním íúk tríba
rakkiuf pam núvlanús
tríbarakattuset íúk trí
barakkiuf íním úíttiuf
abellanúm estud. avt
púst feíhúís pús físnam am
fret, eíseí tereí nep abel
lanús nep núvlanús pídum
tríbarakattíns. avt the
savrúm púd eseí tereí íst,
pún patensíns, múíníkad ta[n
ginúd patensíns, íním píd e[íseí
thesavreí púkkapíd ee[stit
a]íttíúm alttram alttr[ús
h]erríns. avt anter slagím
a]bellanam íním núvlanam
s]úllad víú uruvú íst . edú
e]ísaí víaí mefiaí teremen
n]iú staíet.
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