Sicanian language
| Sicanian | |
|---|---|
| Sicana | |
| Region | Sicily |
| Ethnicity | Sicani |
| Extinct | c. 300 BCE[citation needed] |
| Greek script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sxc |
| Glottolog | sica1234 |
 Approximate locations of the Sicani and their neighbors, the Elymians and the Sicels, in Sicily around 11th century BC (before the arrival of the Phoenicians and the Greeks). | |
 Tribes of Hellenic Sicily | |
Sicanian is an extinct and unclassified language formerly spoken on the island of Sicily.
History
[edit]Due to the lack of clear linguistic or cultural boundaries between Sicani and Sicel areas to the east, the existence of Sicanian as a distinct language is open to question; it is also unclear whether Sicanian survived as a language as late as the classical period, even in spoken form. On the other hand, the term Sicanian remains useful as a means of identifying the older, possibly non-Indo-European linguistic substrate, geographically overlaid by later arrivals such as Sicel and Elymian.[1]
Documentation
[edit]A few short inscriptions using the Greek alphabet have been found in the Sicanian language.[2] Except for names, they have not been translated, and the language is unclassified due to lack of data.[3]
Classification
[edit]The tentatively-identified "Sicanian" toponyms seem to display similarities with other non-Indo-European substratal languages within the Tyrsenian language family, although these proposed connections remain nebulous.[1]
Toponymy
[edit]Recurring suffixes such as -ina, -ana, -ara, -ssus and -ssa are often found in Sicanian place names (e.g. Camarina, Telmissus and Cimissa), and are thus proposed as a good starting point for identifying Sicanian towns.
References
[edit]- 1 2 Tribulato, Olga (29 November 2012). Language and Linguistic Contact in Ancient Sicily. Cambridge University Press. pp. 164–166. ISBN 9781139851930.
- ↑ The World's Writing Systems. 1996:301.
- ↑ "'Sicanian' at Linguist List". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
