Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/42

* ITALIC LANGUAGES. 80 ITALIC LANGUAGES. Indo- Germanic. Oscan. Umbrian. 3 1 u h P b f P b f s s, intervocalic s, z (ssn ])it»l)ably became tt ; s'r became br; rs became r(r) ; final ns became ss) s, intervocalic r (sr became br; rs became rs, s, rf; medial ns became nts, nz; final ns and nts be- came f) THE ITALIC DIAI:eCTS IN DETAIL. OscAN. Oscan was spoken by the Saninites, iMchuiing the Frentani, Hirpini, and Campani, and also in Nortliwestern Apulia, as well as in l.ucania, Bruttium. and Messana in Sicily. These Saninites, in the fifth century B.C., usurped not only the territory but the name of the Osci. who had dwelt in Campania. The Oscan inscriptions number about 230. Jlost of them, however, con- tain entirely, or aliiuist entirely, projier names, and only four — the Bantine tablet, the Cippus of .Miella, the tablet of Agnone, and the Curse of Vibia — are of any considerable length. The first of these, the tabula Bantina, discovered in 1703, is the longest. It is a mutilated bronze plate about fifteen by ten inches, and bears on one side an inscription of ttiirtyeight lines in Oscan, and on the other a Latin text thirty-two lines long. The tablet deals with legal regulations concerning the city of Bantia in Lucania. The Cipjius of Abella, found near .vella in 1745, is a block of hard limestone six feet five inches high, one foot eight inches broad, and eleven inches thick. It contains in fifty-eight short lines of letters about one and one-half inches high an agreement be- tween the towns of Abella and Nola concerning the joint use of a temple of Hercules. The tablet of .gnone, discovered in 1848, is of bronze, with a handle and chain by which it may be hung up, and measures eleven by six inches. It is in- scribed on both sides with forty-seven very short lines, which contain the names of the deities to whom statues in a certain sacred grove be- longed. The "Curse of Vibia." found at Cajiua in 1876, consists of thirteen lines, written on a lead plate about eight and three-quarter by three inches. Besides these inscriptions there are a number of short ones of interest, especially cer- tain road-makers' tablets, dedication-stones, and street-signs found at Pompeii, and several brief heraldic inscriptions from Capua. As a speci- men of Oscan, the following passage may be taken from the Bantine tablet .5-7: Oscan; tjeiiiatucl siplis comcnpi perum dolom mallom slant ioc rornono jnnis Ofsmias toutt)rafi amnud pan pie- isum hratois nuti rndfis iimnuti mini iflia sium flat fienji- iteis) tnnffinufl mainiarf i-nrneis pertunium. Latin; iurato scicnHin-coniitio sine dolo nialo rp ea oomi- tia mapis rH(i publilen? causa quani cninepinm ronimodi ant incomniodi rnnsa et id se de 8ena(tus) sententla inaxi- mte partis perimere. P.y.LloNTAX. Turning from Oscan to the Sa- bellian dialects, the material is far more scanty. The Pfelignian dialect of this group contains about thirty inscriptions, of which the only one of any length is the Herentas-inscription. This text, which is six lines in length, was unearthed in a grave at Pentima in 1877. It is written on the side-face of a block of travertine, two feet seven inches long, two feet five inches from front to back, and aliout eleven and one-r|uarter inches high, and is the epitaph of a ■ priestess named Vibia. This scantiness of material, for a more exact knowledge of this dialect, is the more to be regretted, since I'lelignian may be said to be the dialect intermediate between Oscan and Um- brian, although it stands on the whole more closely to the former than to the latter. As a siiecimen of P;clignian, we may cite from the llerentas, inscription, 5-0: I^i'lignlan; aetata Orata fertlici prairimp Perseponas at Sid. Latin; a>tate cunsumpta (?) fertlll n'guum-iii Perscph- onuj abiit. ilARRUClNlAN. This dialect, which seems from its very scanty reiiiaiiis to be closely akin to the l';elignian, is known from two inscriptions, one from Teate, the centre of the Marrucinian terri- tory, containing merely two ]iroper names, and the other from RapiiKJ, written in twelve slicjrt lines on a rusty bronze tablet about six inches Sfjuare. This dates from about n.c. 250, and is concerned with certain sacrificial rites. Liines 1-5 of the bronze of Hapino may be quoted to give an idea of this dialect: Marrucinian; aisos parrw total M&roucai lixs aslKoas A'rrnler aviatas tontai Maro»rai. Latin: di propitii civitati Marrucffi lex proslciffi feruntur aUHpicatn? civitati Marrncas. Vestinian. To judge from the thirteen words preserved of Vestinian, spoken along the eastern and northern banks of the Aternus, it was appar- ently allied to IVdignian and Marrucinian. JI.R.SLN. The remnants of the Marsian dia- lect, spoken around Marruvium, on Lake Fuci- nus, are contained in .a few very brief inscrip- tions. The dialect shows, in its monophthonga- tion of original diphthongs, a close resemblance to Umbrian. In other respects, Marsian seems to have been very similar to Paelignian and Mar- rucinian. --Kquian. Of the dialects of the .'Equi, who centred around Cliternia and Nerea, no inscrip- tion has been preserved which is free from suspi- cion. If p r u f f a t e (1 ( Latin probavit ) is really an .^^quian form, the dialect would seem to have shown a marked atlinity to Oscan (cf. Oscan p r ti- fatted, 'he approved'). Sabine. Of Sabine also the remains are too scanty to give any inform.ation regarding the dia- lect. Only one inscription, which is very brief, has been preserved, and even this is, according to some of the leading authorities, Vestinian rather than Sabine, Vol-scian. The Volsci. whose capital was Veli- tra". have left one inscription of four lines, known as the Tabula Veliterna. discovered in 1784. and inscribed on a bronze 1% X 9% inches. If we may draw' conclusions from this tablet, it ma.y be said, as stated above, that the Volscian stood the nearest of all the Sabellian dialects to the Umbrian, The scantiness of our sources, however, forbids anv hard and fast conclusion. As a specimen of Volscian, the third line of the tablet of Velletri may be quoted: Volscian: sepia toticu couehriil sepii ferom pibom estu. Latin; eiquis publico conventu secutus erit (?) ferre pium esto. Pr.snestinian. The dialect of Prseneste, one of the cities of Latium, is represented by a few in-