Editing Messapic language (section)

{{Short description|Extinct Indo-European language of Southeastern Italy}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Messapic
| altname          = Messapian
| nativename       = 
| region           = [[Apulia]]n region of [[Italy]]
| era              = attested 6th to 2nd century BC{{Sfn|Matzinger|2015|p=57}}{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|pp=1839–1840}}
| ref              = linglist
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = (?) [[Albanoid]]<ref>{{harvnb|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=235}}; {{harvnb|van Driem|2022|pp=1055–1056}}; {{harvnb|Friedman|2020|p=388}}; {{harvnb|Majer|2019|p=258}}; {{harvnb|Trumper|2018|p=385}}; {{harvnb|Trask|2019|pp=14, 159, 210}}; {{harvnb|Yntema|2017|p=337}}; {{harvnb|Mërkuri|2015|pp=65–67}}; {{harvnb|Ismajli|2015|p=45}}; {{harvnb|Demiraj|2004|pp=58–59}}; {{harvnb|Hamp|1996|pp=89–90}}.</ref>{{efn|Due to the relatively poor knowledge of Messapic, its belonging to the IE branch of Albanian has been described by some as currently speculative,{{sfn|Hyllested|Joseph|2022|p=240}} although it is supported by available fragmentary linguistic evidence that shows common characteristic innovations and a number of significant lexical correspondences between the two languages.<ref>{{harvnb|Trumper|2018|pp=383–386}}; {{harvnb|Friedman|2020|p=388}}; {{harvnb|Friedman|2011|pp=275–291}}.</ref>|group=note}}
| script           = [[Messapic language#Alphabet|Messapic alphabet]]<ref>{{harvnb|Marchesini|2023a|p=10}}.</ref>
| map              = Iron Age Italy.svg
| mapcaption       = Ethnolinguistic map of Italy in the [[Iron Age]], before the [[Roman conquest of Italy|Roman expansion and conquest of Italy]]
| iso3             = cms
| linglist         = cms
| glotto           = mess1244
| glottorefname    = Messapic
| ethnicity        = [[Iapygians]]
| image            = Iscrizione funeraria messapica, III-II sec. a.C. -FG5.jpg
| imagecaption     = 3rd/2nd century BC Messapic inscription
}}
'''Messapic''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɛ|ˈ|s|æ|p|ɪ|k|,_|m|ə|-|,_|-|ˈ|s|eɪ|-}}; also known as '''Messapian'''; or as '''Iapygian''') is an extinct [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] [[Paleo-Balkan languages|Paleo-Balkanic language]] of the southeastern [[Italian Peninsula]], once spoken in [[Salento]] by the [[Iapygians|Iapygian]] peoples of the region: the Calabri and Salentini (known collectively as the [[Messapians]]), the [[Peucetians]] and the [[Daunians]].{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|p=1839}}{{Sfn|Small|2014|p=18}} Messapic was the pre-[[Roman Republic|Roman]], non-[[Italic languages|Italic]] language of [[Apulia]]. It has been preserved in about 600 inscriptions written in an alphabet derived from a [[Archaic Greek alphabets|Western Greek model]] and dating from the mid-6th to at least the 2nd century BC, when it went extinct following the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] conquest of the region.{{Sfn|Marchesini|2009|ps=: "L'orizzonte cronologico più antico dell'epigrafia messapica, almeno allo stato attuale della documentazione, è da collocare quindi alla metà circa del VI secolo, stando alla cronologia dei testi più antichi di cui abbiamo parlato sopra. Più difficile è invece formulare ipotesi per quanto riguarda il limite cronologico inferiore. Per il momento l'evidenza ci mostra che non si hanno iscrizioni messapiche databili oltre il II sec. a.C."|pp=80, 141}}{{Sfn|Matzinger|2015|p=57}}{{Sfn|De Simone|2017|pp=1839–1840}}