Marsian language
| Marsian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Marruvium |
| Region | Marsica in Abruzzo |
| Ethnicity | Marsi |
| Era | 300-150 BC[1] |
| Inscriptions in votive offerings | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ims |
ims | |
| Glottolog | mars1253 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| File:Linguistic Landscape of Central Italy.png Marsian | |
The Marsian language is the extinct language of the Marsi. It is classified by the Linguist List as one of the Umbrian group of languages.
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Their language differs very slightly from Roman Latin of that date; for apparently contracted forms, such as Fougno instead of Fucino, may really only be a matter of spelling. In final syllables, the diphthongs ai, ei, and oi all appear as e. On the other hand, the older form of the name of the tribe (dat. plur. Martses = Lat. Martiis) shows its derivation and exhibits the assibilation of -tio- into -tso-, proper to the Oscan language but strange to classical Latin.
Corpus
[edit | edit source]The Marsian inscriptions are dated by the style of the alphabet from about 300 to 150 BC (the middle Roman Republic). Conway lists nine inscriptions, one from Ortona and two each from Marruvium, Lecce, Trasacco and Luco. In addition, there are a few glosses, a few place names and a few dozen personal names in Latin form.[2]
Bronze of Lake Fucinus
[edit | edit source]
The Bronze of Lake Fucinus was an inscribed bronze plaque found in 1877 near Luco during the draining of the lake, from an ancient settlement that had been covered by the lake. The bronze was placed in the Museum of Prince Alessandro Torlonia, where it was photographed for publication. It was lost in 1894 and it has not been seen since. The text of the plaque is as follows:[2]
- caso cantouio | s aprufclano cei | p apur finem e..| salicom
- en ur | bid casontonio | socieque dono | m ato.er.a[n]ctia | pro
- le[gio]nibus mar | tses.
It seems to be or describe a votive offering (donom) perhaps of boars (apruf) to the local goddess(es) Anctia (a[n]ctia) on behalf of the Marsian Legions (pro le[gio]nibus martses).[3]
Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ For the phonetic transcription from Oscan to Latin alphabet see, for example, this page Archived 2015-10-25 at the Wayback Machine or this one. All of the Oscan monetary legends are retrograde, just like the one running clockwise on the copy reproduced in the margin.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Conway 1897, pp. 289–299.
- ^ Conway 1911
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Endnote:
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). (from which some portions of this article are taken; on the Fucino-Bronze, ib. p. 294)
