Osco-Umbrian languages
Encyclopedia : O : OS : OSC : Osco-Umbrian languages
The Osco-Umbrian languages or Sabellic languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken in central and southern Italy before Latin replaced them as the power of the Romans expanded. Quantities of text in Osco-Umbrian have survived.
The following languages belong to this group: languages of the Umbrian group (the Umbrian language, the Aequian language, the Volscian language, and the Marsian language), the Oscan language, and the South Picene language.
Past usage
Sabellic was the name originally given by Theodor Mommsen in his Unteritalische Dialekte to the pre-Roman dialects of Central Italy which were neither Oscan nor Umbrian. Since then, the name has fallen out of use; nowadays, it is used again to describe the Osco-Umbrian languages as a whole. The North Picene language was considered Sabellic; it is now believed to be a non-Indo-European language.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.