Marsian language

"Marsian" redirects here. Not to be confused with Martian.

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.

Marsian
Native to	Marruvium
Region	Marsica in Abruzzo
Ethnicity	Marsi
Era	300-150 BC[1]
Language family	Indo-European Italic Osco-Umbrian Umbrian Marsian
Writing system	Inscriptions in votive offerings
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ims
Linguist List	ims
Glottolog	mars1253
Marsian

Silver denarius, coinage of the Marsian Confederation, during the Social War (89 BC). The retrograde legend right (UILETIV [víteliú = Italia]^[a]) is in Oscan

Phonology

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

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

Reproduction of the inscription

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

1. 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

1. "Marsian". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2024. 300-150 BC.
2. Conway 1897, pp. 289–299.
3. Conway 1911

Bibliography

• Conway, Robert Seymour (1897). The Italic Dialects Edited with a Grammar and Glossary. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 289–299.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Conway, Robert Seymour (1911). "Marsi". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. Endnote:
  • Conway, R. S. The Italic Dialects. pp. 290 seq. (from which some portions of this article are taken; on the Fucino-Bronze, ib. p. 294)