Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the sixth century BC.

The Osco-Umbrian languages or Sabellic languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken in central and southern Italy before Latin replaced them as the power of the Romans expanded. Quantities of text in Osco-Umbrian have survived.

The following languages belong to this group: languages of the Umbrian group (the Umbrian language, the Aequian language, the Volscian language, and the Marsian language), the Oscan language, and the South Picene language.

[edit] Past usage

Sabellic was the name originally given by Theodor Mommsen in his Unteritalische Dialekte to the pre-Roman dialects of Central Italy which were neither Oscan nor Umbrian. Since then, the name has fallen out of use; nowadays, it is used again to describe the Osco-Umbrian languages as a whole. The North Picene language was considered Sabellic; it is now believed to be a non-Indo-European language.

[edit] External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Sabini.