Siculian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Siculian |
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|---|---|
| Sicel | |
| Region | Sicily |
| Era | attested late 6th century to 4th century BCElinglist |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
| Writing system | Greek alphabet |
| Linguist List | scx |
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|
Siculian (or Sicel) is an extinct Indo-European language spoken in central and eastern Sicily by the Sicels. It is attested in less than thirty inscriptions from the late 6th century to 4th century BCE, and in around twenty-five glosses from ancient writers.
Classification
Ancient sources state that Siculians entered Sicily from the Italian Peninsula either around the 13th century or the middle of the 11th century BCE (or in two waves), driving the prior inhabitants, the Sicanians and Elymians, to the west of the island.
The prevalent modern view is that Siculian was an Italic language, although the scarcity of sources and the difficulties in interpreting inscriptions and glosses make it impossible to come to a definitive conclusion.
Attestations
They used the Greek alphabet, along with a native one based upon Western Greek scripts, probably the Euboic-Chalkidic version. According to scholar Markus Hartmann, "of the fewer than thirty inscriptions in total, only six appear to be at least in part intelligible and to be Siculian (i.e., most certainly neither Greek nor belonging to some other Italic or pre-Italic language)."
ΝΕΝΔΑΣ Π̣Υ̣[----]Σ ΤΕΒΕΓ ΠΡΑΑΡΕΙ ΕΝ ΒΟ[.]ΡΕΝΑΙ ϜΙΔΕ ΠΑΓΟΣΤΙΚΕ ΑΙΤΕ[--]ΛΥΒΕ
nendas ˌ puṛẹṇọṣ ˌ tebeg ˌ praarei ˌ en ˌ bo?renai ˌ vide ˌ pagostike ˌ aite?ṇ?ụbe.
tamuraabesakedqoiaves ˌ eurumakes ˌ agepipokedḷutimbe levopomanatesemaidarnakei- buṛeitaṃomịaetiurela
ΙΑΜ ΑΚΑΡΑΜ ΕΠΟΠΑΣ ΚΑΑΓΙΙΕΣ ΓΕΠΕΔ ΤΟΥΤΟ FΕΡΕΓΑΙ ΕΣΗΕΙΚΑΔ[.]
ΑΛΑ
iamˌakaramˌe?p??asˌkaag?esˌgẹpẹḍ2te?toˌveregai- es? ˌ eka ˌ doara[ịẹạḍ]
nunus ˌ teṇti ˌ mím ˌ arustainam ˌ íemitom ˌ esti ˌ durom ˌ nanepos ˌ durom ˌ íemitom ˌ esti ˌ velíom ˌ ned ˌ emponitantom ˌ eredes ˌ vịino ˌ brtome
See also
In Spanish: Idioma sículo para niños
