Camunic language

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The Camunic language is an extinct language that was spoken in the 1st millennium BC in Val Camonica, a valley in the Central Alps. The language is sparsely attested to an extent that makes any classification attempt uncertain—even the discussion of whether it should be considered a pre–Indo-European or an Indo-European language has remained indecisive.<ref>Angelo Martinotti: Le iscrizioni preromane, in U. Sansoni, S. Gavaldo (editors), Lucus rupestris. Sei millenni d’arte rupestre a Campanine di Cimbergo, "Archivi" vol. 18, Esine 2009, pp. 324–337.</ref> Among several suggestions, it has been hypothesized that Camunic is related to the Raetic language from the Tyrsenian language family,<ref name=Schumacher2000/><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. 209–255</ref> or to the Celtic languages.<ref name="MARKEY">Template:Cite book</ref>

Language

File:Alfabeto camuno.png

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 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. Abecedariums found in Nadro and Piancogno have been dated to between 500 BC and 50 AD.Template:Cn

The amount of material is insufficient to fully decipher the language. Some scholars think it may be related to Raetic and to Etruscan,<ref name=Schumacher2000>Template:Cite book</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. 209–255. (Italian)</ref> but it is considered premature to make such affiliation.<ref name=EskaWallace>Template:Cite book</ref> Other scholars suggest that Camunic could be a Celtic or another unknown Indo-European language.<ref name="MARKEY">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Diether Schürr: Zur Doppelinschrift von Voltino. Studi Etruschi 72, 2006 [2007], p. 335-346.</ref>

Transliteration

Glyph	Tibiletti Bruno 1992<ref>Maria Grazia Tibiletti Bruno, Gli alfabetari, Quaderni camuni n° 60, 1992, p. 307. (Italian)</ref>	Zavaroni 2004<ref>Adolfo Zavaroni, Iscrizioni camune Template:Webarchive, 2004. (Italian)</ref>	Martinotti 2009<ref>Angelo Martinotti, Le iscrizioni preromane in Lucus rupestris, 2009, p. 325. (Italian)</ref>
File:Alfabeto camuno-a.svg	-	A	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-a1.svg	Αα	A	A
File:Alfabeto camuno-a2.svg	Αα	A	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-b.svg	Ββ	B	B (V?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-b1.svg	Ββ	B	B (V?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-d.svg	Δδ	-	D
File:Alfabeto camuno-d1.svg	h	D (?)	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-e.svg	Εε	E	E
File:Alfabeto camuno-e1.svg	Εε	E	E
File:Alfabeto camuno-e2.svg	Εε	E	E
File:Alfabeto camuno-f.svg	Ϝϝ	V	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-g.svg	Γγ	G	K (G?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-g1.svg	Γγ	G	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-h.svg	h	H	J (ii/h/η?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-h1.svg	-	H	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-i.svg	Ιι	I	I
File:Alfabeto camuno-i1.svg	Ιι	I	I
File:Alfabeto camuno-k.svg	-	K	K (G?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-l.svg	Λλ	L	L
File:Alfabeto camuno-l1.svg	Λλ	L	L
File:Alfabeto camuno-m.svg	Μμ	M	M
File:Alfabeto camuno-m1.svg	Μμ	M	M
File:Alfabeto camuno-n.svg	Νν	N	N
File:Alfabeto camuno-n1.svg	Νν	N	N
File:Alfabeto camuno-o.svg	Ϙϙ	O	Φ (Q?)
File:Alfabeto camuno-p.svg	-	P	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-p1.svg	Ππ	P	P
File:Alfabeto camuno-r.svg	Ρρ	R	R
File:Alfabeto camuno-r1.svg	Ρρ	R	R
File:Alfabeto camuno-ss.svg	Ξξ	S	χ
File:Alfabeto camuno-ss1.svg	Σσς	S	S
File:Alfabeto camuno-ss2.svg	Σσς	S	S
File:Alfabeto camuno-t.svg	Χχ	T	T
File:Alfabeto camuno-t1.svg	Ττ	T	T
File:Alfabeto camuno-t2.svg	-	T	I
File:Alfabeto camuno-th.svg	Ψψ	Θθ	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-th1.svg	-	Θθ	Θθ
File:Alfabeto camuno-ts.svg	-	TS - Ϸϸ	-
File:Alfabeto camuno-ts1.svg	Φφ	TS - Ϸϸ	χ
File:Alfabeto camuno-uw.svg	Υυ	U - W	U
File:Alfabeto camuno-uw1.svg	-	U - W	U
File:Alfabeto camuno-z.svg	Ζζ	Z	χ
File:Alfabeto camuno-z1.svg	Ζζ	Z	χ

Gallery

• Iscrizione in alfabeto camuno - Parco di Naquane R 50 - Capo di Ponte (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg

  Inscription from Capo di Ponte (Val Camonica)

• Incisione in alfabeto camuno - Foppe R 6 - Nadro (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg

  Inscription from Nadro (Val Camonica)

• Iscrizione - Foppe R 23 - Nadro.jpg

  Inscription from Nadro (Val Camonica)

• Iscrizione - Museo Sondrio (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg

  Inscription from the museum of Sondrio (Valtellina)

See also

• Camunni
• Rock Drawings in Valcamonica
• Val Camonica

References

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Bibliography

• Mancini, Alberto. 1980. "Le iscrizioni della Valcamonica" in Studi Urbinati di storia, filosofia e letteratura. Supplemento linguistico 2, pp. 75–166.
• Mancini, Alberto. 1991. "Iscrizioni retiche e iscrizioni camune. Due ambiti a confronto" in Quaderni del Dipartimento di Linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze 2, pp. 77–93.
• Marchesini, Simona. 2011. "Alla ricerca del modello perduto. Sulla genesi dell’alfabeto camuno", Palaeohispanica 11, pp. 155-171
• Markey, Thomas L. 2008. "Shared symbolics, genre difusion, token perceptions and late literacy in North-western Europe" in NOWELE 54/55, pp. 5–62. {{#invoke:doi|main}}
• Morandi, Alessandro. 2004. Epigrafia e lingua dei Celti d'Italia, vol. II. Celti d’Italia, ed. by Paola Piana Agostinetti (Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica, 12), Roma 2004
• Prosdocimi, Aldo Luigi. 1965. "Per un'edizione delle iscrizioni della Valcamonica", in Studi Etruschi 33, pp. 574–599.
• Schumacher, Stefan. 2007. "Val Camonica, Inschriften" in Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Band 35: Speckstein bis Zwiebel. Ed. Heinrich Beck et al., Berlin – New York, pp. 334–337.
• Tibiletti Bruno, Maria Grazia. 1978. "Camuno, retico e pararetico", in Lingue e dialetti dell'Italia antica ('Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica', 6), ed. by A. L. Prosdocimi, Roma 1978, pp. 209–255.
• Tibiletti Bruno, Maria Grazia. 1990. "Nuove iscrizioni camune" in Quaderni camuni 49-50, pp. 29–171.
• Tibiletti Bruno, Maria Grazia. 1992. "Gli alfabetari" in Quaderni camuni 60, pp. 309–380.

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