Italic Languages

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Italic Languages

 

a group of Indo-European languages, including the now extinct Latin, Faliscan, Umbrian, and Oscan languages, as well as a large number of dialects.

The Italic languages were spoken in the territory of central and southern Italy. About 300 inscriptions written in Oscan, Umbrian, and Faliscan (using the Latin, Etruscan, and Greek alphabets) have been preserved. The most important records of the Italic languages are the Iguvine Tables (about 4,000 words, dating from the third to second century B.C.), found in 1444 near Gubbio (in Umbria), which contain a description of Umbrian rituals. The other records consist of coin legends, grave inscriptions, dedications, and inscriptions on landmark stones.

REFERENCES

Tronskii, I.M. Ocherki iz istorii latinskogo iazyka. Moscow-Leningrad, 1953.
Tsvetaev, I. Sbornik osskikh nadpisei s ocherkom fonetiki, morfologii i glossariem. Kiev, 1877.
Vetter, E. Handbuch der italischen Dialekte. Heidelberg, 1953.
Bottiglioni, G. Manuate dei dialetti italici. Bologna, 1954.
Devoto, G. Tabulae Iguvinae, 3rd ed. Rome, 1962.
Pisani, V. Manuale storico delta lingua latina, vol. 4:Le lingue dell’Italia antica oltre il latino, 2nd ed. Turin, 1964.

M. L. VOSKRESENSKH

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.