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

Valcamonica Val Camonica (also ''Valcamonica'' or Camonica Valley, 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 Corna Trentapassi, in the ...

and the Valtellina in

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 regions ...

, 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, Dutch ...

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

, or to the Celtic languages.

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 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.

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 alphabe ...

s found in

Nadro Nadro (Nàder in camunian dialect) is an Italian hamlet (''frazione'') of the comune of Ceto (BS), Ceto (Province of Brescia, BS), Lombardy. It has 655 inhabitants. It lies 75 km from Brescia, along the ''strada Statale 42 del Tonale e della ...

and

Piancogno Piancogno ( Camunian: ) is a commune in the Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it ...

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 and to

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **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 Fo ...

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

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

( Val Camonica) 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 ...

( Valtellina)

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