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[German version] The letter Ψ is used in the East Greek alphabets to denote the sound sequence ps; in West Greek alphabets (Greek mainland with the exception of Attica and Corinth, as well as Euboea and Rhodes) it represents kh. It is a symbol later added to the original Greek alphabet (Alphabet C.) and is missing from the archaic southern Greek alphabets (Crete, Melos, Thera) as well as from several East Greek ones; ps is also written as ΦΣ (as in the West Greek alphabets) [1.144; 2.35 f.]. Ψ with the phonetic value kh entered the Etruscan alphabet via the Euboean one (its phonetic val…

[German version] In Latin, consonantal u̯ is designated by the same letter as the vowel /u/ (the modern correlation between phoneme and grapheme was not accepted until Petrus Ramus (*1515) [1. 9]), in Greek, where still extant (Peloponnese, Northern and Central Greece [2. 224]), by digamma. Into the 1st cent. BC, Latin /u̯/ probably had bilabial pronunciation. Since then, fricative pronunciation /ß/ is attested, which often leads to orthographical mix-ups with B (CIL IV 4874 baliat ∼ valeat) [3. 41; 1. 139]. In Greek, u̯ < Proto-Indo-European u̯ is long preserved in Arcadian, …

[German version] A. General Pre-Roman Italian shows an astonishing linguistic variety, which is definable in terms of at least four Indo-European branches, namely the Italic branch ( Latin,  Faliscan,  Oscan-Umbrian,  Venetic), the Celtic branch ( Celtic languages:  Lepontic, Gaulish), the Messapian branch (Illyric?), and the Greek branch (see stemma). Indo-European languages of (as yet) unknown assignment are Sicily's indigenous idioms (see below, end) as well as (presumably) the as yet undeciphere…

[German version] In Greek, the letter Φ originally denotes a voiceless aspirated labial stop ph , which, in inherited words, can be traced back to PIE bh or - before a o i - to gwh (φέρω < * bher-e/o-; φόνος < * gwhón-o-; ὄφις < * 2o(n)gwhi- for Latin anguis, Sanskrit áhi-, Young Avestan. aži-?) [1. 297; 2. 84, 88]. As an 'additional character' to the earliest Greek alphabet (Alphabet C.) it is missing in the archaic alphabets of Crete, Thera and Melos; ΠΗ (Pi + Heta) [3. 35] appears for this if necessary. Its sound value in the Etruscan alphabet (Etruscan) is uncertain; cf. for instance Φ erse  Πε…

[German version] In Greek and Latin, the letter designates a voiced dental or alveolar lateral. In Old Latin, l has two allophones: a velarized ‘dark’ [ł] before a o u, before consonants other than -l, as well at the ends of words, and a palatalized ‘soft’ [] in geminated position and before e and i. Short vowels within syllables were realized as u before [ł], as i before [], cf. Siculus : Sicilia < Greek Σικελός, Σικελία. The preservation of these allophones in post-Classical Latin is indicated on the one hand by (uncertain) evidence in ancient grammarians [1], a…

[German version] In the Latin alphabet, the letter x does not designate its own phoneme, but a combination of /k/+ /s/ [1. 45]. In this form and with this meaning, x was adopted from the West Greek alphabet of Euboea (XENOΦANTO for Ξενοφάντου [2nd plate 48.11]; Italy, alphabetical scripts). In Greek, West Greek X always refers to the combination /k/+ /s/ (as does the East Greek letter Ξ), yet admittedly the etymology of the majority of words with ξ in initial position is unknown (* ks- as in ξύω 'I scrape' with the Proto-Indo-European root * kseu̯- 'to scrape' [3. 341 f.]). In East Greek alp…

[German version] (linguistics). The Greek letter Θ designates a voiceless aspirated dental plosive /th/; this pronunciation is supported through alternate spellings such as Cretan Πυτίο̄ι/ Pytíōi (for Πυθίωι/ Pythíōi), through cases of assimilation or dissimilation (Attic Ἀνθίλοχος/ Anthílochos, Cretan Τευφιλω/ Teuphilō [1. 204, 257; 2. 139-141]) and through the Latin writing of t in early loanwords ( tus, Plaut. from Greek θύος [3. 160]). From the Hellenistic period on, and even earlier in Laconian, evidence increasingly points to spirantic pronunciation [θ] (παρσένε/ par…

[German version] A. Dialectal structure OU (also: 'Sabellic') is a term for a group of languages spoken in eastern central and southern Italy before Romanization (see under D.). It has been possible to discern 14 vernaculars attested in inscriptions. On internal criteria they can be arranged in two dialect groups [1. 108]: the northern, 'Umbro-Sabine' one includes, as the most important representatives, Umbrian (chief towns Iguvium, Tuder), Southern Picene (on the eastern slopes of the Appennines bet…

[German version] In Classical Latin orthography, the letter Q combined with U denotes a monophonemic, voiceless velar stop co-articulated with lip-rounding (Labiovelar). It evolved from the original Indo-European phoneme kw ( quis, neque < * kwis, ne-kwe) or from the phoneme sequence ku̯/ k̑u̯ ( equus < * 1ék̑u̯os) [1. 148]. In Early Latin orthography (7th/6th cent. BC) on the other hand, Q followed the contemporaneous Greek and Etruscan model and denoted any velar ( g, k, qu) before the 'dark' vowels o or u ( QOI, CIL I2 4: qui; EQO, CIL I2 474: ego); for k it is also occasionally used later ( M…

[German version] is sketchily known as a result of c. 280 inscriptions primarily from Falerii that are generally fragmentary (Civita Castellana; after the destruction in 241 BC, Falerii Novi, modern S. Maria di Falleri). They begin around 650 BC (Old F.) with a few longer texts [2. no. 241-243], become more numerous from the 5th cent. onwards (Middle Faliscan; generally stereotypical except for [2. no. 244] foied vino pipafo/pafo, cra carefo = hodie vinum bibam, cras carebo). New Faliscan (from 240 BC onwards) shows a strong Latin influence. In the 2nd cent. BC the l…

[German version] The letter M in Greek and Latin designates a voiced labial nasal. In Latin words final -m was probably almost silent after the nasalization of the preceding vowel, which can be seen on the one hand in the regular slurring of word final ‘vowel + -m’ with the following word's initial vowel in the metre, on the other hand in its orthographic neglect in the inscriptions of the 3rd and early 2nd cents. BC. Even though -m was written consistently again since the middle of the 2nd cent. BC, Priscian and Quintilian attest to continued validity of the special pronunciation of final -m [1]. I…

[German version] In Greek and Latin, this letter denotes a voiceless labial stop. In inherited words in Greek and Latin it is often derived from Proto-Indo-European p (Greek πόσις/ pótis, Latin potis < * pótis) [1. 291; 2. 82; 3. 156]. In all Greek dialects apart from Mycenaean, PIE kw or k̑u̯/ ku̯ is a possible further source. In this case p always appears before a low vowel ( a, o), cf. ποινή 'penalty' < * kwoi̯na ̯2 - (borrowed into Latin as poena) with Avestan kaēnā- 'penalty', Old Church Slavonic cěna 'price', in Aeolic also before e (Attic τεῖσαι/ teîsai  Aeolian πεῖσαι/ peîsai) [1. 294…

[German version] In Greek and Latin, this letter denotes a voiced, dental nasal. In front of s f, n disappeared in Old Latin with lengthening and nasalization of the preceding vowel (abbreviation cos. for cōnsul); yet in standard pronunciation, it was retained by following the written language [2. 145]. In angelus (from Greek ἄγγελος), n stands for the allophone []. In words which Greek and Latin inherited from Proto-Indo-European, n maintains the original n, cf. Greek νέος, Lat. novus < * néu̯o-, Greek ἀντί, Lat. ante < * 2anti. In initial sounds, Greek ν, Lat. n also stand for sn- (Greek…

[German version] In Latin and Greek the letter denotes both the short and long rounded velar vowel. From the 7th cent. the Ionic use of Ω [1. 38] to render the latter in Greek became widespread. Latin grammarians indicate a more open articulation for the short vowel and a more strongly rounded articulation for the long vowel [2], as is also presupposed by the merger of ō und u in many Romance languages, cf. Italian corọna, sọpra < Latin corōna, supra [3. 56]. In Attic-Ionic, by contrast, the compensatory lengthening of ŏ > ū <ΟΥ> (Attic-Ionic τούς < * tons) indicates a closed articulation o…

[German version] In Greek and Latin, the letter T denotes a voiceless dental plosive. For Latin, the  assibilation to ts in front of i̯ is not attested prior to inscriptions from the 2nd or 3rd cent. AD (CIL VIII 12396: Laurentzio; CIL VII 21540: Crescensa; with 'inverse' spelling CIL VI 34637: nacione [1. 154]). In inherited words, t can frequently be traced back to Proto-Indo-European t (Greek τατός/ tatós, Latin in-tentus < * tn̥-tó- 'tense' [1. 153; 2. 291; 3. 82]). In Greek, further possible sources are * th < Proto-Indo-European * dh before aspirates (τίθημι/ títhēmi < * thi-thē- < * d…

[German version] In Greek and Latin, the letter R denotes a voiced alveolar trill ('R rolled with the tip of the tongue'); however, the aspirated r in ῥ θρ φρ χρ (cf. Latin rhetor, Armen. xṙetor for Greek ῥήτωρ, Latin Trhaso for Greek Θράσων) was voiceless [1. 39 f.; 2. 32; 3. 65, 204]. In inherited Greek and Latin words, r is derived from Proto-Indo-European r (Greek τρεῖς, Latin trēs < Proto-Indoeuropean* tréi̯es 'three'). In initial position, Greek ῥ- can be traced back to sr- or u̯r- , which in Latin appears as fr- or r- (Greek ῥῖγος, Latin frīgus 'coldness'< * srīg- became Polish śryż 'drift…

[German version] In Latin, the letter designates the high back rounded vowel /u/. In Greek, this pronunciation is attested for Boeotian, Laconian, Arcado-Cypriot and Pamphylian (Boeotian τούχαν ∼ Attic τύχην); in Attic and (Eastern) Ionic we find /ü/ from earliest times [1. 181-183]. Proto-Indo-European u, ū ( u) is represented in Greek as υ, ῡ, in Latin as u, ū  (Greek ζυγόν, Latin iugum 'yoke', Greek θῡμός 'courage', Latin fūmus 'smoke' < Proto-Indo-European * i̯ugó-, * dhu2mó-). A new /ū/ (written as ου) emerged in Greek through monophthongization (σπουδή 'zeal' < * spou̯da2-), …

[German version] The Phoenician alphabet knew of the two sibilants Ṣādē and Šin, which were continued in Greek as San () and Sigma (Σ), respectively. In the 6th cent. BC, San was used in Corinth, Crete, Sicyon and on the Doric islands except for Rhodos. Sigma was used in all other places and came to be established everywhere in the 5th cent. [1. 33 f.]. In Greek and Latin, the letter denotes a voiceless alveolar fricative ('sibilant') [2. 43; 3. 35]. Proto-Indo-European s is preserved in Greek in few contexts only, esp. next to (voiceless) stops and in final position (Greek στατός, Latin statu…

[German version] In Greek, the letter Z originally designated a voiced dental affricate /dz/ [1. 56-59]. This is supported by the development of Greek ζ from di̯/gi̯/gwi̯ in words inherited from Proto-Indo-European (Greek Ζεύς < *di̯ēu̯s, πεζός 'pedestrian' < * pedi̯o-, Ionian Doric μέζω < * meĝ-i̯os-a 'bigger' from μέγα, νίζω * nigw-i̯e/o- [2. 330; 3. 91]; in Aeolian also from secondary di̯, cf. Aeolian ζά ∼ διά). Yet the pronunciation /zd/ must have developed early; it leads to spellings such as ὄζος 'twig' (Aeolian ὄσδος) < * o-sd-o- (Gothic asts 'branch'), ἵζω 'sit' < * si-sd-ō, θύρ…

[English version] A. Dialektgliederung Als O.-U. (auch: “Sabellisch”) wird eine Gruppe von Sprachen bezeichnet, die im östl. Mittelitalien sowie in Süditalien vor der Romanisierung (s.u. D.) gesprochen wurden. Derzeit sind 14 Idiome in epigraphischer Bezeugung faßbar, die nach inneren Kriterien zu zwei Dial.-Gruppen geordnet werden können [1. 108]: Der nördl., “umbrosabinischen” gehören an als wichtigster Vertreter das Umbrische (Hauptorte Iguvium, Tuder), das Südpikenische (am östl. Appennin-Abhang…