Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/45

* ITALIC LAIIGXJAGES. scriptions which approximate very closely to Old Latin. Some scholars even regard the Prjenestine texts as Latin. These texts consist for the most part of lists of names of deities inscribed on brass mirrors and cylindrical caskets found in Prtenes- tine tombs. The most interesting relic of this dialect is the famous Prsenestine fibula, a gold brooch of about the sixth century B.C., which gives, therefore, one of the earliest of all Italic inscriptions. This fibula is inscribed in Greek letters, as follows : Prteneetinian: fjiavios fied fhefhaKed wfjuiffLot. Latin; Mauius me facit ^"umasio. Faliscax. Like Pn-enestinian, Faliscan, whicn was spoken around Falisca. near the modern Civita Castellana, is regarded by some authori- ties as a Latin dialect. It is certain that it resembles Latin very closely, but the consistent representation in Old Faliscan of medial Indo- Germanie hh by f, instead of 6, as in Latin, standing in this regard with the Osco-Umbrian, seems sufficient ground for calling it non-Latin. It is, however, Latinian in its inflection, and in the younger Faliscan the dialect is practically identical with Old Latin, if indeed these texts are not Latin rather than Faliscan. The thirty- seven inscriptions are very brief, and consist for the most part of proper names, excepting the younger Faliscan texts, which, although longer, are of no linguistic importance. The following inscription on the patera found near Civita Cas- tellana in 1887 is a good example of this dialect: Faliscan: fnied uino pipafo era carefo. Latin: hodie vlnura bibara eras carebo. UiLBRiAN. The remains of Umbrian are of far greater extent than those of any other non- Latin Italic dialect. Practically all the texts in this dialect are contained in the Iguvine tablets, discovered in 1444 at Gubbio, on the site of the ancient town of Iguvium, or, as it was called in the Jliddle Ages, Eugubium. The Igu- vine tablets seem to have been originally nine, although but seven are still preserved. The tab- lets are of bronze, inscribed, with the exception of the third and fourth, on both sides. They vary in size, the first two being about 22 X 15 inches, the third and fourth about 16 X 12 inches, the fifth about 18 X14 inches, and the last two about 33 X 22 inches. The entire number of lines is 449. The first four and about two-thirds of the fifth are written in the national L'mbrian alphabet, while the last three of the fifth tablet, as well as the sixth and seventh, are written in Latin characters. It seems tolerably certain, both on epigraphical and linguistic evidence, that the portion in the Roman alphabet is much later than that in the epichoric script. The date of the inscriptions, however, apart from this rela- tive one of the several parts with each other, is extremely doubtful. Possibly one will not be far astray in dating them between the third and first centuries B.C. The difference between the Old Umbrian. which is written in the national script, and the New Umbrian. which was inscribed in Latin letters, was probably more apparent than real. Since the Umbrian alphabet lacked signs for 0. <7, d. h. they used instead «. 7,-, t, p. On the other hand, the Latin script could represent the sound of the Umbrian r only by rs. New Umbrian showed, however, a marked deviation from Old Umbrian in the change of final s, re- tained unchanged in the earlier form of the dia- 31 ITALY. lect, to r, as Old Umbrian t u t a s, 'of the city,' but Xew Umbrian totur. There are a few other distinctions which are of minor importance, such as the more closed pronunciation of e in Xew than in Old Umbrian (as Xew Umbrian habitu, 'let him have,' but Old Umbrian h a b et u; X'ew Um- brian ferir, vereir, 'at the gates,' but Old Um- brian veres). The Iguvine tablets are ritual- istic in subject. The texts I.a (which is repro- duced on the accompanying plate) to I.b, and Vl.a to Vl.b 47 deal with the purification of a liigh place near Iguvium, while the remainder of 1., VI., and all of Vll.a treat of the purification of the city itself. The last two tablets, however, are much more detailed than the Old Umbrian. The second tablet is concerned with a lustral sacrifice for the priestly college of the Atiedii, with an optional sacrifice to an infernal deity, and with the rites to be performed at the semi- annual gathering of decuries from ten towns or clans. The third and fourth tablets give in detail the rites for sacrifice to Jupiter, Pomonus, 'esuna, and certain other deities, while the fifth is devoted to resolutions of and enactments con- cerning the same college of Atiedii, who figure so prominently in these inscriptions. To show the difference between Old and X'ew Umbrian, the following passage, taken from I.a 11-13 and VI. b 1-2 may be cited: Old Umbrian; preverestesenakes tre buffetu Marte Krapuvi letu ukrlpe Fisiu tutaper Ikuvlna arvla ustentu vatuva ferine letu punl fetu kutef pesnlmu. New Umbrian: pre rerir tesenocir huftriffetv Marte GrS' bouei ocriper Ileiu totaper liouioa arvio fetu vatuo ferine fetu poni fetu tases persnimu. Latin: pro portis Tessinacis tres boves faclto Marti Gra- bovlo monte-pro Fisio clvitate-pro Ifrlivina arvaliafacito vaticina ferculo faclto posca faclto tacltus precamino. BiBLiOGRAPHT. The most convenient and com- plete edition of the remains of the Italic dialects is Conway, The Italic Dialects (Cambridge, 1897); .more valuable linguistically and gram- matically, although less complete in its collec- tion of texts, is Von Planta. Urnmmatik der osK'isch-umbrischen Dialekte (Strassburg, 1892- 97 ). Both these works contain abundant biblio- graphical material on the older literature on the subject. ITALIENS, e'ta'lyaN', Boulevard des. The most frequented and fashionable of the boule- vards of Paris, named from the old Theatre des Italiens. ITALrENS, Les. See THfi.TBE des Italiens. ITALONE, e'ta-lo'na. A head-hunting Malay people in Xueva Vizcaya Province, Luzon. See Philippixe Islands. ITALY. The central of the three great penin- sulas of Southern Europe. It stretches out in a southeast direction, and is bounded on the north by Switzerland and Austria-Hungary; on the east by Austria-Hungary, the Adriatic, and the Ionian Sea ; and on the southwest and west by the Mediterranean and France. It is sepa- rated from the Balkan Peninsula by the Strait of Otranto. 47 miles in width, and is nearly walled off from the great body of the Continent by the lofty ranges of the .Alps. With its con- tinuation, the island of Sicily, it nearly reaches across the Mediterranean, and is thus exception- ally favored with convenient commercial routes in all directions. Its position also especially adapts Italy for a large sea trade, because it is a part of the shortest route from West and Cen-