Everything about Old Italic Alphabet totally explained
Old Italic refers to several now extinct
alphabet systems used on the
Italian Peninsula in ancient times for various Indo-European (predominantly
Italic) and non-Indo-European (for example
Etruscan) languages.
The alphabets derive from
Euboean Greek Cumaean alphabet, used at
Ischia and
Cumae in the
Bay of Naples in the
eighth century BC. Cumaean, in turn showed strong similarities to the
Phoenician alphabet, lending support to theories of Phoenician influence in the West-Central
Mediterranean region.
Various
Indo-European languages belonging to the
Italic branch (
Faliscan and members of the
Sabellian group, including
Oscan,
Umbrian, and
South Picene, and other Indo-European branches such as
Venetic and
Messapic) originally used the alphabet. Faliscan,
Oscan,
Umbrian,
North Picene, and
South Picene all derive from an Etruscan form of the alphabet.
The
Germanic runic alphabet was most likely derived from one of these alphabets in about the
2nd century.
Etruscan alphabet
It isn't clear whether the process of adaptation from the
Greek alphabet took place in
Italy from the first colony of Greeks, the city of
Cumae, or in
Greece/
Asia Minor. It was in any case a
Western Greek alphabet. In the alphabets of the West, X had the [ks], Ψ stood for [kʰ]; in Etruscan: X = [s], Ψ = [kʰ] or [kχ] (Rix 202-209).
The earliest Etruscan
abecedarium, the Marsiliana d'Albegna (near
Grosseto) tablet which dates to c. 700 BC, lists 26 letters corresponding to contemporary forms of the Greek alphabet which retained
san and
qoppa but which hadn't yet developed
omega.
|
𐌁 |
𐌂 |
𐌃 |
𐌄 |
𐌅 |
𐌆 |
𐌇 |
𐌈 |
𐌉 |
𐌊 |
𐌋 |
𐌌 |
|
𐌎 |
𐌏 |
𐌐 |
𐌑 |
𐌒 |
𐌓 |
𐌔 |
𐌕 |
𐌖 |
𐌘 |
𐌙 |
| in transliteration, |
|
B |
G |
D |
E |
V |
Z |
H |
Θ |
I |
K |
L |
M |
|
Ξ |
O |
P |
Ś |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
Y |
Φ |
Ψ |
Etruria was using the classical Etruscan alphabet of 20 letters, mostly written from left to right:
|
𐌂 |
𐌃 |
𐌄 |
𐌅 |
𐌆 |
𐌇 |
𐌈 |
𐌉 |
𐌋 |
|
𐌍 |
𐌐 |
𐌑 |
𐌓 |
𐌔 |
𐌕 |
𐌖 |
𐌘 |
𐌙 |
𐌚 |
|
C |
D |
E |
V |
Z |
H |
Θ |
I |
L |
|
N |
P |
Ś |
R |
S |
T |
U |
Φ |
Ψ |
F |
An additional sign, in shape similar to the numeral 8, transcribed as F, was present in both
Lydian and Etruscan (Jensen 513). Its origin is disputed; it may have been an altered B or H or an ex novo creation (Rix 202). Its sound value was /f/ and it replaced the Etruscan FH. Some letters were, on the other hand, falling out of use: B and D were apparently considered superfluous over P and T. K was dropped in favour of G (also transcribed as C). O disappeared and was replaced by U. In the course of its simplification, the redundant letters showed some tendency towards a
syllabary: C, K and Q were predominantly used in the contexts CE, KA, QU.
This classical alphabet remained in use until the 2nd century BC when it began to be contaminated by the rise of the
Latin alphabet. Soon after the Etruscan language itself became extinct.
Oscan alphabet
The
Osci probably adopted the archaic Etruscan alphabet during the 7th century BC, but a recognizably Oscan variant of the alphabet is attested only from the 5th century BC; its sign inventory extended over the classical Etruscan alphabet by the introduction of long vowel variants of I and U, transcribed as Í and Ú. U came to be used to represent Oscan
o, while Ú was used for actual Oscan
u.
| 𐌀 |
𐌁 |
𐌂 |
𐌃 |
𐌄 |
𐌅 |
𐌆 |
𐌇 |
𐌈 |
𐌋 |
𐌌 |
𐌍 |
𐌐 |
𐌑 |
𐌓 |
𐌔 |
𐌕 |
𐌖 |
𐌚 |
𐌞 |
𐌝 |
| A |
B |
G |
D |
E |
V |
Z |
H |
I |
L |
M |
N |
P |
Ś |
R |
S |
T |
U |
F |
Ú |
Í |
Alphabet of Lugano
The Alphabet of Lugano, based on inscriptions found in northern Italy, in the area of
Lugano, was used to record
Lepontic inscriptions, among the oldest testimonies of any
Celtic language, in use from the 7th to the 5th centuries BC. The alphabet has 17 letters, derived from the archaic Etruscan alphabet:
| 𐌀 |
𐌄 |
𐌉 |
𐌊 |
𐌋 |
𐌌 |
𐌍 |
𐌏 |
𐌐 |
𐌓 |
𐌔 |
𐌕 |
𐌈 |
𐌖 |
𐌅 |
𐌗 |
𐌆 |
| A |
E |
I |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
R |
S |
T |
Θ |
U |
V |
X |
Z |
The alphabet doesn't distinguish
voiced and unvoiced
occlusives, for example P represents /b/ or /p/, T is for /t/ or /d/, K for /g/ or /k/.
Z is probably for /t
s/. U /u/ and V /w/ are distinguished. Θ is probably for /t/ and X for /g/. There are claims of a related script discovered in
Glozel.
Raetic alphabets
The alphabet of
Sanzeno (also, of
Bolzano), about 100
Raetic inscriptions.
The alphabet of
Sondrio, west Raetian and
Camunic inscriptions.
The alphabet of
Magrè, east Raetian inscriptions.
Venetic alphabet
Alphabet of Este: Similar but not identical to that of Magrè,
Venetic inscriptions.
Inscripted
abecedarium on
rock engraves in
Valle Camonica.
Latin alphabet
21 of the 26 archaic Etruscan letters were adopted for
Old Latin from the
7th century BC, either directly from the
Cumae alphabet, or via archaic Etruscan forms, compared to the classical Etruscan alphabet retaining B, D, K, O, Q, X but dropping Θ, Ś, Φ, Ψ, F (Etruscan U is Latin V, Etruscan V is Latin F).
| 𐌀 |
𐌁 |
𐌂 |
𐌃 |
𐌄 |
𐌅 |
𐌆 |
𐌇 |
𐌉 |
𐌊 |
𐌋 |
𐌌 |
𐌍 |
𐌏 |
𐌐 |
𐌒 |
𐌓 |
𐌔 |
𐌕 |
𐌖 |
𐌗 |
| A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
Z |
H |
I |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
V |
X |
Unicode
Unicode range U+10300–U+1032F is reserved for "Old Italic" without specification of a particular alphabet (for example the Old Italic alphabets are considered equivalent, and the font used will determine the variant).
| Letter |
ranslit. |
ame |
Letter |
ranslit. |
ame |
Letter |
ranslit. |
ame |
| 𐌀 |
a |
a |
𐌁 |
b |
be |
𐌂 |
c |
ke |
| 𐌃 |
d |
de |
𐌄 |
e |
e |
𐌅 |
v |
ve |
| 𐌆 |
z |
ze |
𐌇 |
h |
he |
𐌈 |
þ |
the |
| 𐌉 |
i |
i |
𐌊 |
k |
ka |
𐌋 |
l |
el |
| 𐌌 |
m |
em |
𐌍 |
n |
en |
𐌎 |
š |
esh |
| 𐌏 |
o |
o |
𐌐 |
p |
pe |
𐌑 |
ś |
she |
| 𐌒 |
q |
ku |
𐌓 |
r |
er |
𐌔 |
s |
es |
| 𐌕 |
t |
te |
𐌖 |
u |
u |
𐌗 |
x |
eks |
| 𐌘 |
ph |
phe |
𐌙 |
ch |
khe |
𐌚 |
f |
ef |
| 𐌛 |
ř |
ers |
𐌜 |
ç |
che |
𐌝 |
í |
ii |
| 𐌞 |
ú |
uu |
𐌠 |
I |
1 |
𐌡 |
V |
5 |
| 𐌢 |
X |
10 |
𐌣 |
L |
50 |
|
|
|
Further Information
Get more info on 'Old Italic Alphabet'.
|
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