Pre-Samnite language
{{Short description|Ancient Italic language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Pre-Samnite
|states=Italy
|region=Campania
|era={{Citation needed span|6th–5th centuries BCE|date=November 2023}}
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=Italic
|fam3=Osco-Umbrian
|fam4=(unclassified)
|iso3=none
|glotto=pres1240
}}
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.Sabellian Languages, R. E. Wallace, in The Ancient Languages of Europe, Ed. R. D. Woodward.{{page needed|date=October 2022}} Pre-Samnite is recorded in a few short inscriptions dating from around 500 BC.{{cite journal |last1=Piwowarczyk |first1=Dariusz R. |title=Formations of the perfect in the Sabellic languages with the Italic and Indo-European background |journal=Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis |date=2011 |volume=128 |issue=128 |pages=103–126|doi=10.2478/v10148-011-0017-1 }} 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.Sabellian Demonstratives: Forms and Functions, Emmanuel Dupraz.{{page needed|date=October 2022}} 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:{{Cite journal |last=Calabrese |first=Matteo |date=2021-01-01 |title=The sacred law from Tortora |url=https://www.academia.edu/64344624 |journal=Latomus}}
{{Blockquote|text="[πον/πονν]ει ι[ι]οϝιιοι
fεfικεδ [ε]κ[υ] ρε[κ]
[τ]ισυμαδ αματες
[ν]ε πυσμοι αυνοι ϝι[τλοι]
[ε]ντρο[σ]δ οσερϝια[τοδ]
[2]ενς [ν]ει ϙοβετι[ϝ]το α [h]ιρνενι[α]
[ν]οι ϝολαισυμος fυfϝοδ ο fρι
ϙτο[ς] αστ εσ[μ]ι τερμανι[ν]
[πραι]τοϝτιδ νεπ ιες
σ[ϝ]εδ ϝολος fυfυϝοδ
νεπ ιστα[κ] ιοσϙτοδ
αα [h]ιρνενια"}}
The proposed translation for this text reads:
{{Blockquote|text="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:
{{Blockquote|text=[5]ειι[.]οϝιιοι…[--
--]fεfικεδ[.]κ[.]ρε.[--
--]ισυμαδαματεσ[--
--]επυσμοιαυνοιϝι[--
--]ντρο[.]δοσερϝια[--
[2]ενσ[.]ειϙοβετι[.]τοα[.]ιρνενι[
--]οιϝολαισυμοσfυfϝοδο(vacat)fρι[?]
ϙτο[..]αστεσ[.]ιτερμανι[--
--]τοϝτιδνεπιεσε[--
--]σ[.]εδϝολοσfυfυϝοδ
νεπιστα[.]ιοσϙτοδ[--
--]αα[.]ιρνενια
[4-5]νια[.]ε[.]ιι[?]υ[.]αμ[.]υουϝ[6-9]}}Another possibly Pre-Samnite inscription which was probably from Capua reads:{{Cite book |last=Ignasi-Xavier Adiego |first=Lajara |title=Some remarks on the new Opic "Pre-Samnite" inscription of Niumsis Tanunis ( corrected proofs) |url=https://www.academia.edu/30550579 }}
{{Blockquote|text=niumsies tanunies est
paplam tens atriiam fufuhud niumsis tanunis eises ulsu dunum dedum|multiline=true}}
The original text was written in scriptio continua and in the Oscan alphabet.