The Camunic language is an extinct language that was spoken in the 1st millennium BC in the Valcamonica and the

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Tod ...

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative region ...

, both 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 The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

has remained indecisive. Among several suggestions, it has been hypothesized that Camunic is related to the

Raetic language Rhaetic or Raetic (), also known as Rhaetian, was a language spoken in the ancient region of Rhaetia in the eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times. It is documented by around 280 texts dated from the 5th up until the 1st century BC, which were ...

from the

Tyrsenian language family Tyrsenian (also Tyrrhenian or Common Tyrrhenic), named after the Tyrrhenians ( Ancient Greek, Ionic: ''Tyrsenoi''), is a proposed extinct family of closely related ancient languages put forward by linguist Helmut Rix (1998), which consists of t ...

, or to the

Celtic languages The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

Language

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 A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...

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 Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...

. Its name derives from the people of the

Camunni The Camuni or Camunni were an ancient population located in Val Camonica during the Iron Age (1st millennium BC); the Latin name ''Camunni'' was attributed to them by the authors of the 1st century. They are also called ancient Camuni, to disti ...

, who lived during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

in Valcamonica and were the creators of many of the stone carvings in the area.

Abecedarium An abecedarium (also known as an abecedary or ABCs or simply an ABC) is an inscription consisting of the letters of an alphabet, almost always listed in order. Typically, abecedaria (or abecedaries) are practice exercises. Non-Latin alphab ...

s found in

Nadro Nadro (Nàder in camunian dialect) is an Italian hamlet (''frazione'') of the comune of Ceto ( BS), Lombardy. It has 655 inhabitants. It lies 75 km from Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; ...

and

Piancogno Piancogno ( Camunian: ) is a commune in the Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demo ...

have been dated to between 500 BC and 50 AD. The amount of material is insufficient to fully decipher the language. Some scholars think it may be related to

Raetic Rhaetic or Raetic (), also known as Rhaetian, was a language spoken in the ancient region of Rhaetia in the eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times. It is documented by around 280 texts dated from the 5th up until the 1st century BC, which wer ...

and to Etruscan, but it is considered premature to make such affiliation. Other scholars suggest that Camunic could be a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

or another unknown

.Diether Schürr: ''Zur Doppelinschrift von Voltino.'' Studi Etruschi 72, 2006

007 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

p. 335-346.

Transliteration

Gallery

File:Iscrizione in alfabeto camuno - Parco di Naquane R 50 - Capo di Ponte (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg, Inscription from

Capo di Ponte Capo di Ponte ( Camunian: ) is an Italian comune in Val Camonica, province of Brescia, in Lombardy. Located above sea level, Capo di Ponte (en. "Head of Bridge") owes its name to an ancient settlement to the west of a bridge over the River Ogl ...

(

Val Camonica Val Camonica (also ''Valcamonica'' or Camonica Valley, Eastern Lombard dialect, Eastern Lombard: ''Al Camònega'') is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, Italy. It extends about from the Tonale Pass to ...

) File:Incisione in alfabeto camuno - Foppe R 6 - Nadro (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg, Inscription from

(

) File:Iscrizione_-_Foppe_R_23_-_Nadro.jpg, Inscription from

(

) File:Iscrizione - Museo Sondrio (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg, Inscription from the museum of

Sondrio Sondrio (; lmo, Sùndri; rm, Sunder; archaic german: Sünders or ; la, Sundrium) is an Italian city and ''comune'' and Provincial Capital located in the heart of the Valtellina. , Sondrio counts approximately 21,876 inhabitants (2015) and it is ...

(

)

References

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. *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.

External links