Vestinian language

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]

Vestinian
Country of the Vestini looking from Pescara to Gran Sasso
RegionEast-central Italy
Eraca. 250–100 BC[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3xvs
xvs
GlottologNone

Corpus

Only two inscriptions survive.

Sample text

CIL 12.394 from near Navelli in the Abruzzo, dated mid-third-century BC, is:[3]

Vestinian text:

t.vetio | duno | didet | herclo | iovio | brat | data

Translation into Latin:

T. Vetius donum dedit Herculi Jovio. Grate data

Translation into English:

Titus Vetius gave (this as) a gift to Hercules Jovius. Gratefully given.

References
  1. Vestinian at MultiTree on the Linguist List
  2. Stuart-Smith 2004, p. 123
  3. 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.

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