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Glite Dictionary
🧑‍🌾 An ancient person 📜 An old language 📜 An ancient language
Oscan

Oscan

1 9.9
An old language no longer spoken that people once spoke in southern Italy
  • noun
  • /ˈɒskən/
  • Specialized
: osco
  • The Oscan language was used by the Samnites.

Examples

  • The Oscan language was once widely spoken throughout southern Italy.

  • Many ancient inscriptions were found written in Oscan by archaeologists.

  • Few people today can read or understand Oscan scripts carved on those ancient stones.

  • Many ancient texts are written in Oscan.

  • Few people today can read or understand Oscan scripts carved on those ancient stones.

  • Many ancient inscriptions were found written in Oscan by archaeologists.

  • The Oscan language was once widely spoken throughout southern Italy.

Synonyms

Oscan language
vsOscan
  • Specialized
1 9.9

An old language from southern Italy spoken long ago by tribes like the Samnites that people no longer speak

is the shorter name with identical meaning to the longer form

Compounds

Oscan language
  • Specialized
1 9.9

An old language from southern Italy spoken long ago by tribes like the Samnites that people no longer speak

Surface Forms

Oscan singular
Oscans plural

Morphology

Oscan = osc + an

The suffix '-an' clearly marks a language/people relation, but the root 'osc' is an historical ethnonym not a productive English base, so the full meaning is not directly derivable by learners.

Etymology

Oscan comes from the name of an ancient people, the Osci, who lived in southern Italy. So Oscan means 'of the Osci' and is used for their old language, which is no longer spoken.