Faliscan language
The
Faliscan language, the language of the ancient
Falisci, is preserved for us in some 36 short
inscriptions, dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, and is written in a variety of the
Old Italic alphabet derived from the Etruscan, and written from right to left, but showing some traces of the influence of the
Latin alphabet. Its most characteristic signs are- 51 a, z, 'F', 51 r,
As a specimen of the language may be quoted the words written round the edge of a picture on a
patera, the genuineness of which is established by the fact that they were written before the glaze was put on:
"foied vino pipafo, cra carefo," i.e. in Latin
"hodie vinum bibam, cras carebo" (
R. S. Conway,
Italic Dialects, p. 312, b). This shows some of the phonetic characteristics of the Faliscan language, such as the following:
#The retention of medial
f which in Latin became
b;#The representation of an initial
Proto-Indo-European gh by
f (
foied, contrast Latin
hodie);#The
palatalization of
d+ consonant
i into some sound denoted merely by
i- the central sound of
foied, from
fo-dsid;#The loss of final
s, at all events before certain following sounds (
cra beside Latin
cras);
Other characteristics, appearing elsewhere, are:#The retention of the
velars (Fal.
cuando = Latin
quando; contrast Umbrian pan(n~u);)#The assimilation of some final consonants to the initial sound of the next word:
"pretod de zenatuo sententiad" (Conway,
lit. cit. 321),
"praetor de senatus sententia" (
zenatuo for
senafuos, an archaic genitive).
For further details see Conway, ib. pp. 370 if., especially pp. 384-385, where the relation of the names
Falisci,
Falerli to the local hero
Halaesus (e.g.
Ovid,
Fasti, iv. 73) is discussed, and where reason is given for thinking that the change of initial
f (from an original
bh or
dh) into an initial
h was a genuine mark of Faliscan dialect.
It seems probable that the dialect lasted on, though being gradually permeated with Latin, till at least
150 BC.
In addition to the remains found in the graves, which belong mainly to the period of Etruscan domination and give ample evidence of material prosperity and refinement, the earlier strata have yielded more primitive remains from the Italic epoch. A large number of inscriptions consisting mainly of proper names may be regarded as Etruscan rather than Faliscan, and they have been disregarded in the account of the dialect just given. It should perhaps be mentioned that there was a town Feronia in
Sardinia, named probably after their native goddess by Faliscan settlers, from some of whom we have a votive inscription found at S Maria di Falleri.
The National Etruscan Museum of
Villa Giulia, Rome, holds Faliscan artifacts.
