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Pre-Samnite was an ancient language spoken in southern Campania, in Italy. The name Pre-Samnite refers to the fact that the language was spoken in early times in an area that was later colonized by Samnites, who spoke Oscan. Pre-Samnite is recorded in a few short inscriptions dating from around 500 BC. The language belongs to the Osco-Umbrian group of languages, and may be closely related to Oscan, but shows a number of archaic features which were lost from Oscan. However, the material is too scant to enable a precise determination of the relation of Pre-Samnite either to Oscan or to the other Sabellian languages.

Sample text

The following text is a proposed reconstruction of a Pre-Samnite inscription found in Tortora:

"ει ιοϝιιοι

fεfικεδ κ ρε

ισυμαδ αματες

ε πυσμοι αυνοι ϝι

ντροδ οσερϝια

ενς ει ϙοβετιτο α ιρνενι

οι ϝολαισυμος fυfϝοδ ο fρι

ϙτο αστ εσι τερμανι

τοϝτιδ νεπ ιες

σεδ ϝολος fυfυϝοδ

νεπ ιστα ιοσϙτοδ

αα ιρνενια"

The proposed translation for this text reads:

"Whenever one sacrificed (a yearling lamb) to Jovius, thus they very rightly decreed: no one shall observe this yearling lamb’s entrails by speaking; no one shall libate in the vase nor on the flawless roasted (entrails) by uttering words; and at this border sign before the city no one shall libate on these flawless (entrails) or pour broth on this vase."

Another proposed reconstruction of the Tortora inscriptions reads:

ειιοϝιιοι…[--

--]fεfικεδκρε.[--

--]ισυμαδαματεσ[--

--]επυσμοιαυνοιϝι[--

--]ντροδοσερϝια[--

ενσειϙοβετιτοαιρνενι[

--]οιϝολαισυμοσfυfϝοδο(vacat)fρι

ϙτοαστεσιτερμανι[--

--]τοϝτιδνεπιεσε[--

--]σεδϝολοσfυfυϝοδ

νεπισταιοσϙτοδ[--

--]ααιρνενια

νιαειιυαμυουϝ

Another Pre-Samnite inscription which was probably from Capua reads:

niumsies tanunies est paplam tens atriiam fufuhud niumsis tanunis eises ulsu dunum dedum

The original text was written in scriptio continua and in the Oscan alphabet.

References

1. ^ Sabellian Languages, R. E. Wallace, in The Ancient Languages of Europe, Ed. R. D. Woodward.
2. Piwowarczyk, Dariusz R. (2011). "Formations of the perfect in the Sabellic languages with the Italic and Indo-European background". Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis. 128 (128): 103–126. doi:10.2478/v10148-011-0017-1.
3. Sabellian Demonstratives: Forms and Functions, Emmanuel Dupraz.
4. ^ Calabrese, Matteo (2021-01-01). "The sacred law from Tortora". Latomus.
5. ^ Ignasi-Xavier Adiego, Lajara. Some remarks on the new Opic "Pre-Samnite" inscription of Niumsis Tanunis ( corrected proofs).

• Osco-Umbrian languages
• Samnites