Editing Camunic language (section)

==Language==
[[Image:alfabeto camuno.png|thumb|130px|Alphabet of Sondrio]]
The extant corpus is carved on rock. There are at least 170 known inscriptions, the majority of which are only a few words long. The [[writing system]] used is a variant of the [[Etruscan alphabet|north-Etruscan alphabet]], known as the ''Camunian alphabet'' or ''alphabet of Sondrio''. Longer inscriptions show that Camunic writing used [[boustrophedon]].

Its name derives from the people of the [[Camunni]], who lived during the [[Iron Age]] in Valcamonica and were the creators of many of the stone carvings in the area. [[Abecedarium]]s found in [[Nadro]] and [[Piancogno]] have been dated to between 500 BC and 50 AD.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

The amount of material is insufficient to fully decipher the language. Some scholars think it may be related to [[Raetic language|Raetic]] and to [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]],<ref name=Schumacher2000>{{cite book|first=Stefan |last=Schumacher |editor-first1=Glanville |editor-last1=Price |url=http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631220398_chunk_g97806312203989_ss1-3 |title=Camunic: Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe |website=Blackwell Reference Online |date=2000 |access-date=2018-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314192121/http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631220398_chunk_g97806312203989_ss1-3 |archive-date=14 March 2014 |doi=10.1002/9781405166294|isbn=978-0-631-22039-8 }}</ref><ref>M. G. Tibiletti Bruno. 1978. ''Camuno, retico e pararetico'', in ''Lingue e dialetti dell'Italia antica'' ('Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica', 6), a cura di A. L. Prosdocimi, Roma, pp.&nbsp;209–255. (Italian)</ref> but it is considered premature to make such affiliation.<ref name=EskaWallace>{{cite book |last1= Eska|first1=Joseph F. |author-link1= Joseph F. Eska|last2= Wallace|first2=Rex E. |author-link2=Rex E. Wallace |year=2011 |chapter=Script and Language at Ancient Voltino |editor1-last=Rocca |editor1-first=Giovanna |title=Alessandria. Rivista di glottologia |series=Atti del Convegno Internazionale. Le lingue dell’Italia antica. Iscrizioni, testi, grammatica. Die Sprachen Altitaliens. Inschriften, Texte, Grammatik. In memoriam Helmut Rix (1926-2004) |language=en |volume=V |location=Alessandria |publisher=Edizioni dell’Orso |pages=93–113 }}</ref> Other scholars suggest that Camunic could be a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] or another unknown [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]].<ref name="MARKEY">{{cite book|last1=Markey|first1=Thomas|title=Shared Symbolics, Genre Diffusion, Token Perception and Late Literacy in North-Western Europe|date=2008|publisher=NOWELE}}</ref><ref>Diether Schürr: ''Zur Doppelinschrift von Voltino.'' Studi Etruschi 72, 2006 [2007], p. 335-346.</ref>