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William Dalrymple (historian)
| Vestinian | |
|---|---|
 Country of the Vestini looking from Pescara to Gran Sasso | |
| Region | East-central Italy |
| Era | ca. 250–100 BC[1] |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xvs |
xvs | |
| Glottolog | vest1239 |
Vestinian is an extinct Italic language documented only in two surviving inscriptions of the Roman Republic. It is presumed to have been anciently spoken by the tribe of the Vestini, who occupied the region within current Abruzzo from Gran Sasso to the Adriatic Sea in east-central Italy during that time. Vestini is the Roman exonym for the people. Not enough of their presumed language survives to classify it beyond Italic. Vestinian is one of a number of scantily attested Italic languages spoken in small regions of the Apennines directly east of Rome called generally "the minor dialects". There is currently no agreement on their precise classification.[2] However, de Vaan's consensus classification has it as Osco-Umbrian, closely related to Oscan (see Italic languages § Classification).
Corpus
Only two inscriptions survive.
Sample text
CIL 12.394 from near Navelli in the Abruzzo, dated mid-third-century BC, constitutes one of the few attestations of any Vestinian language or later dialect of Latin. The inscription appears to display a dialect formed from the fusion of Latin with another, presumably local language.[3] The inscription reads:[4]
Vestinian text:
- t.vetio | duno | didet | herclo | iovio | brat | data
Translation into Latin:
- T. Vetius donum dedit Herculi Jovio. Grate data.
Translation into Italian:
- Tito Vezio ha dato un dono a Ercole Giovo. Dato con gratitudine.
Translation into Spanish:
- Tito Vecio le dio un don (regalo) a Hércules Jovio. Dado con gratitud.
Translation into English:
- Titus Vetius gave (this as) a gift to Hercules Jove. Gratefully given.
References
- ^ "Vestinian". Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ Stuart-Smith 2004, p. 123
- ^ Adams 2007, p. 74.
- ^ Baldi, Philip (2002). The foundations of Latin. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 140.
Bibliography
- Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004). Phonetics and philology: sound change in Italic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Adams, J. N. (2007). The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88149-4.