Editing Oscan language (section)

{{Short description|Extinct language of southern Italy}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Old Norse]] or Old Scandinavian, sometimes abbreviated "OScan"}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Oscan
| region           = south and south-central [[Italy]]
| states           = [[Samnium]], [[Campania]], [[Lucania]], [[Calabria]] and [[Abruzzo]]
| era              = attested 5th century BCE–1st century CE<ref name="ancientscript">{{cite web |url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/oscan.html |title=Oscan |publisher=Ancient Scripts |access-date=4 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025161323/http://www.ancientscripts.com/oscan.html |archive-date=25 October 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| extinct          = >79 AD<ref name=Schrijver2/>
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3             = [[Osco-Umbrian languages|Osco-Umbrian]] (Sabellic)
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Italic language|Proto-Italic]]
| script           = [[Old Italic alphabet]]
| iso3             = osc
| linglist         = osc
| glotto           = osca1245
| glottorefname    = Oscan
| imagecaption     = Oscan inscription from around 300–100 BCE
| image            = OsqueBritishMuseum.jpg
| imagescale       = 
| map              = Iron_Age_Italy.png
| mapcaption       = Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age [[Italy]] in the sixth century BCE
| notice           = IPA
| dia1             = [[Hernici#Language|Hernican]]
| dia2             = [[Marrucini#Language|Marrucinian]]
| dia3             = Oscan proper
| dia4             = [[Paeligni#Language|Paelignian]]
| dia5             = [[Vestinian language|Vestinian]]?
}}
'''Oscan''' is an extinct [[Indo-European language]] of southern [[Italy]]. The language is in the [[Osco-Umbrian]] or Sabellic branch of the [[Italic languages]]. Oscan is therefore a close relative of [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]] and [[South Picene]]. 

Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including the [[Samnium|Samnites]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Monaco |first=Davide |date=4 November 2011 |title=Samnites the People |url=http://www.sanniti.info/smpeople.html |access-date=4 November 2011 |website=Samniti.info}}</ref> the [[Lucanians|Lucani]], the [[Aurunci]] ([[Ausones]]), and the [[Sidicini]]. The latter two tribes were often grouped under the name "[[Osci]]". The Oscan group is part of the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic family, and includes the Oscan language and three variants ([[Hernici#Language|Hernican]], [[Marrucini#Language|Marrucinian]] and [[Paeligni#Language|Paelignian]]) known only from inscriptions left by the [[Hernici]], [[Marrucini]] and [[Paeligni]], minor tribes of eastern central Italy. Adapted from the [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] alphabet, the Central Oscan alphabet was used to write Oscan in [[Campania]] and surrounding territories from the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE until at least the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lejeune |first=Michel |date=1970 |title=Phonologie osque et graphie grecque |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1970_num_72_3_3871 |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |language=fr |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=271–316 |doi=10.3406/rea.1970.3871 |issn=0035-2004}}</ref>