The Masiliana tablet abecedarium, ca. An abecedarium (or abecedary is an Inscription consisting of the letters of the Alphabet, almost always listed in order 700 BC: ABGDEVZHΘIKLMN[Ξ]OPŚQRSTUXΦΨ, read right to left.

Note: This article contains special characters.

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 (e. An alphabet is a standardized set of letters basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a Phoneme, a Spoken language, either Th Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the three Peninsulas of Southern Europe The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch g. Etruscan) languages. The Etruscan Language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria (modern Tuscany plus western

The alphabets derive from Euboean Greek Cumaean alphabet, used at Ischia and Cumae in the Bay of Naples in the eighth century BC. For the mythological figure see Euboea (mythology Euboea ( Modern Greek, Εύβοια - Évia &mdash The Cumae alphabet, was a western variant of the early Greek alphabet, used between the 8th to 5th centuries BC For the comune see Ischia (comune. For the part of the human hip see Ischium Ischia is a Volcanic Island in the There is also a small modern Greek Euboean city called Κυμη, near the ruins of the ancient Cuma The Gulf of Naples is located in the south western coast of Italy ( Province of Naples, Campania region The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. Cumaean, in turn showed strong similarities to the Phoenician alphabet, lending support to theories of Phoenician influence in the West-Central Mediterranean region. The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BC

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. The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. South Picene is an extinct Italic language, belonging to the Sabellic subfamily Venetic is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken in ancient times in the North- Italian Veneto and modern Slovenia, between Messapian (also known as Messapic) is an extinct Indo-European language of South-eastern Italy, once spoken in the region of Apulia. Faliscan, Oscan, Umbrian, North Picene, and South Picene all derive from an Etruscan form of the alphabet. Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. North Picene is an extinct language of eastern Italy that is known from a number of inscriptions dating from the 1st millennium BC, mostly from Picenum. South Picene is an extinct Italic language, belonging to the Sabellic subfamily

The Germanic runic alphabet was most likely derived from one of these alphabets in about the 2nd century. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era.

Etruscan alphabet

See also: Etruscan numerals

Etruscan cippus (grave marker) from the necropolis Crocifisso del Tufo outside Orvieto, Italy, side view showing the inscription in the Old Italic (Etruscan) alphabet. Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing', or simply syllabics, is a family of Abugidas {dubious}} used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian Nearly all the segmental scripts (loosely " Alphabets " but see below for more precise terminology used around the globe appear to have derived from the The Etruscan numerals were used by the ancient Etruscans The system was adapted from the Greek Attic numerals and formed the inspiration for the later Roman Orvieto is a city in southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of

It is not 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. The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest There is also a small modern Greek Euboean city called Κυμη, near the ruins of the ancient Cuma Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black It was in any case a Western Greek alphabet. The Cumae alphabet, was a western variant of the early Greek alphabet, used between the 8th to 5th centuries BC In the alphabets of the West, X had the sound value [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. An abecedarium (or abecedary is an Inscription consisting of the letters of the Alphabet, almost always listed in order Grosseto is a town and Comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. 700 BC, lists 26 letters corresponding to contemporary forms of the Greek alphabet which retained san and qoppa but which had not yet developed omega. San (uppercase Ϻ lowercase ϻ was a letter of the Greek alphabet, appearing between Pi and Qoppa in alphabetical Qoppa or Koppa ( Ϙ) is a letter that was used in early forms of the Greek alphabet, derived from Phoenician Qoph. OMEGA is the premier Counter-terrorism unit of Latvia. Founded in 1992 OMEGA cooperates with many other counter-terrorism units over the world

Comparison of the Western Greek alphabet with archaic and classical Etruscan variants.

Until about 600 BC, the archaic form of the Etruscan alphabet remained practically unchanged, and the direction of writing was free. From the 6th century, however, evolutions of the alphabet took place, guided by the phonology of the Etruscan language, and letters representing phonemes nonexistent in Etruscan were dropped. By 400 BC, it appears that all of Etruria was using the classical Etruscan alphabet of 20 letters, mostly written from left to right:

An additional sign 𐌚, in shape similar to the numeral 8, transcribed as F, was present in both Lydian and Etruscan (Jensen 513). Etruria &mdash usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia &mdash was a region of Central Italy, located in an area Lydian was an Indo-European language spoken in the region of Lydia in western Anatolia (present-day Turkey) 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. A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate Syllables which make up Words A symbol in a syllabary typically represents an optional

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. The Osci, which may also be referred to by the names of Opici Opsci (for the fertility goddess Ops) and Obsci (Oscans or Opicans in English were historic inhabitants U came to be used to represent Oscan o, while Ú was used for actual Oscan u.

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. Lugano ( Latin language: Luganum) is a town (52993 inhabitants a total of 130000 people in the agglomeration in the south of Switzerland, in the Lepontic is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul (today's Northern Italy) between 700 The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The alphabet has 17 letters, derived from the archaic Etruscan alphabet:

The alphabet does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced occlusives, i. Voice or voicing is a term used in Phonetics and Phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. e. 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. Glozel ( is a hamlet in central France, part of the commune of Ferrières-sur-Sichon, Mayet de Montagne, Allier, some 17 km from

Raetic alphabets

The alphabet of Sanzeno (also, of Bolzano), about 100 Raetic inscriptions. Sanzeno is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Trento in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about For the mathematician see Bernard Bolzano; for other uses see Bolzano (disambiguation. For the modern Romance languages spoken in Switzerland and North-Eastern Italy see Rhaeto-Romance languages.

The alphabet of Sondrio, west Raetian and Camunic inscriptions. Sondrio (Sundrium Sondrio Lombard: Sùndri, Sunder is an Italian town and Comune located in the heart of the Valtellina Camunic is an extinct language once spoken by the Camunni tribe that dwelt in the Val Camonica, Brescia, Italy.

The alphabet of Magrè, east Raetian inscriptions. Margreid an der Weinstraße ( Italian: Magrè sulla strada del vino; Latin: Margretum) is a Comune (municipality in

Venetic alphabet

Alphabet of Este: Similar but not identical to that of Magrè, Venetic inscriptions. Venetic is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken in ancient times in the North- Italian Veneto and modern Slovenia, between

Camunic alphabet

Inscripted abecedarium on rock engraves in Valle Camonica. Camunic is an extinct language once spoken by the Camunni tribe that dwelt in the Val Camonica, Brescia, Italy. An abecedarium (or abecedary is an Inscription consisting of the letters of the Alphabet, almost always listed in order Val Camonica is a valley in the lower Alpine regions of Lombardy, between the Province of Brescia and Province of Bergamo, Italy. Valcamonica Lombard valleys of the biggest and as famous as for its battails facts in ancient stories to noble families and very honorable and men who were distinguished for letters for weapons

Latin alphabet

Duenos inscription, 6th century BC

Main article: history of the 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). The Duenos Inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts dating from the early 6th century BCE The Latin alphabet originated in the 7th century BC, undergoing a history of 2500 years before emerging as one of the dominant Writing systems in use today Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is all The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. The Cumae alphabet, was a western variant of the early Greek alphabet, used between the 8th to 5th centuries BC

Unicode

Unicode range U+10300–U+1032F is reserved for "Old Italic" without specification of a particular alphabet (i. In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's e. the Old Italic alphabets are considered equivalent, and the font used will determine the variant).

See also

• Cumae alphabet
• Negau helmet
• Alphabets of Asia Minor

External links

• Etruscan Texts Project: A searchable online database of Etruscan inscriptions. The Cumae alphabet, was a western variant of the early Greek alphabet, used between the 8th to 5th centuries BC Negau helmet refers to one of 28 bronze Helmets (23 of which are preserved dating to ca Various Alphabetic writing systems were in use in Iron Age Anatolia to record Anatolian dialects and the Phrygian language.
• Old Italic Unicode
• The Etruscan alphabet (Omniglot)
• Old Italic alphabets (Omniglot)
• Etruscan (Ancient Scripts)
• Oscan (Ancient Scripts)