South Picene language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
South Picene is an extinct Italic language, belonging to the Sabellic subfamily. It was spoken by the Sabini in east-central and southern Italy during the first millennium BC.
South Picene texts were first translated in 1985; they are written in an unusual version of the Italic alphabet that includes several characters not found in other texts. Since then, South Picene has been identified as a Sabellic language that is neither Oscan nor Umbrian. The writers of South Picene were identified with the historically known tribe of the Sabini, the northern neighbors of the Romans, because of their self-identification as Safinos.
About 50 South Picene inscriptions are known; they were mostly found in Picenum and were created in the 6th through 4th centuries BC. Some South Picene texts were found in Campania, Lucania, and Bruttium; also in Cures, the capital of the Sabini.
[edit] References
- Rix, Helmut (2004). Ausgliederung und Aufgliederung der italischen Sprachen. Languages in Prehistoric Europe. ISBN 3-8253-1449-9
