Messapic (; also known as Messapian; or as Iapygian) is an extinct
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
Paleo-Balkanic language of the southeastern
Italian Peninsula, once spoken in
Salento
Salento (; Salentino dialect, Salentino: ''Salentu''; Griko language, Salento Griko: ) is a Cultural area, cultural, List of historical states of Italy, historical, and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apuli ...
by the
Iapygian peoples of the region: the Calabri and Salentini (known collectively as the
Messapians), the
Peucetians and the
Daunians. Messapic was the pre-
Roman, non-
Italic language of
Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
. It has been preserved in about 600 inscriptions written in an alphabet derived from a
Western Greek model and dating from the mid-6th to at least the 2nd century BC, when it went extinct following the
Roman conquest of the region.
Name
The term 'Messapic' or 'Messapian' is traditionally used to refer to a group of languages spoken by the
Iapygians, a "relatively homogeneous linguistic community" of non-
Italic-speaking tribes (
Messapians,
Peucetians and
Daunians) dwelling in the region of
Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
before the Roman conquest.
However, some scholars have argued that the term '
Iapygian languages' should be preferred for referring to the group of languages spoken in Apulia, with the term 'Messapic' being reserved to the inscriptions found in the
Salento peninsula, where the specific tribe of the Messapians had been living in the pre-Roman era.
The name ''Apulia'' itself derives from ''Iapygia'' after passing from Greek to
Oscan to Latin and undergoing subsequent morphological shifts.
Classification
Messapic was a non-
Italic and non-Greek
Indo-European language
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia ( ...
of
Balkan origin. Modern archeological and linguistic research and some ancient sources hold that the ancestors of the
Iapygians came to Southeastern Italy (present-day
Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
) from the
Western Balkans across the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
during the early first millennium BC.
Paleo-Balkanic
Messapic forms part of the
Paleo-Balkan languages
The Paleo-Balkan languages are a geographical grouping of various Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times. In antiquity, Dacian, Greek, Illyrian, Messapic, Paeonian, Phrygian and Thracian wer ...
. Based upon lexical similarities with the
Illyrian languages
The Illyrian language () was an Indo-European language or group of languages spoken by the Illyrians in Southeast Europe during antiquity. The language is unattested with the exception of personal names and placenames. Just enough information ...
, some scholars contend that Messapic may have developed from a dialect of pre-Illyrian, meaning that it would have diverged substantially from the Illyrian language(s) spoken in the Balkans by the 5th century BC, while others considered it a direct dialect of Iron Age Illyrian. Messapic is today considered an independent language and not a dialect of Illyrian. Although the unclear interpretation of Messapic inscriptions cannot warrant the placement of Messapic in any specific Indo-European subfamily, some scholars place Illyrian and Messapic in the same branch.
Eric Hamp has grouped them under "Messapo-Illyrian", which is further grouped with Albanian under "Adriatic Indo-European". Other schemes group the three languages under "General Illyrian" and "Western Paleo-Balkan".
A number of shared features between Messapic and
Proto-Albanian may have emerged either as a result of linguistic contacts between Proto-Messapic and Pre-Proto-Albanian within the Balkan peninsula in prehistoric times, or of a closer relation as shown by the quality of the correspondences in the lexical area and shared innovations between Messapic and Albanian. Hyllested & Joseph (2022) identify Messapic as the closest language to Albanian, with which it forms a common branch titled ''Illyric''. Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify
Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian.
Illyrian languages
Although the Illyrian languages – and to some extent Messapic itself – are too scarcely attested to allow for an extensive linguistic comparison,
[; ] the Messapic language is generally regarded as related to, though distinct from, the
Illyrian languages
The Illyrian language () was an Indo-European language or group of languages spoken by the Illyrians in Southeast Europe during antiquity. The language is unattested with the exception of personal names and placenames. Just enough information ...
. This theory is supported by a series of similar personal and place names from both sides of the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
. Proposed
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s in Illyrian and Messapic, respectively, include: '
Bardyl(l)is/Barzidihi', '
Teuta/Teutā', 'Dazios/Dazes', 'Laidias/Ladi-', 'Platōr/Plator-', '
Iapydes/
Iapyges', 'Apulus/Apuli', '
Dalmata/Dalmathus', 'Peucetioe/
Peucetii', 'Ana/Ana', 'Beuzas/Bozat', 'Thana/Thana', '
Dei-paturos/
Da-matura'.
Albanian
The linguistic data of
Albanian can be used to compensate for the lack of fundamental information on Illyrian, since
Proto-Albanian (the ancestor language of
Albanian) was likewise an Indo-European language certainly spoken in the Balkans in antiquity, and probably since at least the 7th century BC, as suggested by the presence of archaic loanwords from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
.
A number of linguistic
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s with Albanian have been proposed, such as Messapic ''aran'' and Albanian ''arë'' ("field"), ''biliā'' and ''bijë'' ("daughter"), or ''menza-'' and ''mëz'' ("
foal
A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...
").
[; ; ; ; ] The
toponomy points to a link between the two languages, as some towns in Apulia have no etymological forms outside Albanian linguistic sources. Other linguistic elements such as
particles,
preposition
Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
s,
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
es,
lexicon
A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
, but also
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s,
anthroponyms and
theonyms of the Messapic language find singular affinities with Albanian. Some
phonological data can also be compared between the two languages, and it seems likely that Messapic belongs, like Albanian, to a specific subgroup of the Indo-European languages that shows distinct reflections of all the three
dorsal consonant rows. In the
nominal context, both Messapic and Albanian continue, in the masculine terms in ''-o-'', the Indo-European ending ''*-osyo'' (Messapic ''-aihi'', Albanian ''-i / -u'').
Regarding the verbal system, both Messapic and Albanian have formally and semantically preserved the two Indo-European
subjunctive and
optative moods. If the reconstructions are correct, we can find, in the preterital system of Messapic, reflections of a formation in ''*-s-'' (which in other Indo-European languages are featured in the suffix of the sigmatic aorist), as in the 3rd sg. ''hipades/opades'' ('he dedicated' < ''*supo-dʰeh₁-s-t'') and in the 3rd pl. ''stahan'' ('they placed' < ''*stah₂-s-n°t''). In Albanian, this formation was likewise featured in the category of aorists formed with the suffix ''-v-''. However, except for the dorsal consonant rows, these similarities do not provide elements exclusively relating Messapic and Albanian, and only a few
morphological data are comparable.
History
The development of a distinct
Iapygian culture in southeastern Italy is widely considered to be the result of a confluence of local Apulian material cultures with Balkanic traditions following the cross-
Adriatic migrations of proto-Messapic speakers in the early first millennium BC.
The Iapygians most likely left the eastern coasts of the Adriatic for the
Italian Peninsula from the 11th century BC onwards, merging with pre-existing
Italic and
Mycenean cultures and providing a decisive cultural and linguistic imprint. Throughout the second half of the 8th century, contacts between Messapians and Greeks must have been intense and continuous; they began to intensify after the foundation of
Taras by
Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
n colonists around the end of the century. Despite its geographical proximity with
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...
, however, Iapygia was generally not encompassed in
Greek colonial territories, and with the exception of Taras, the inhabitants were evidently able to avoid other Greek colonies in the region. During the 6th century BC Messapia, and more marginally Peucetia, underwent Hellenizing cultural influences, mainly from the nearby Taras. The use of writing systems was introduced during this period, with the acquisition of the Laconian-Tarantine alphabet and its progressive adaptation to the Messapic language. The oldest known Messapic texts date to the 6th century–early 5th century BCE.

The relationship between Messapians and Tarantines deteriorated over time, resulting in a series of clashes between the two peoples from the beginning of the 5th century BC. After two victories of the Tarentines, the Iapygians inflicted a decisive defeat on them, causing the fall of the aristocratic government and the implementation of a democratic one in Taras. It also froze relations between Greeks and the indigenous people for about half a century. Only in the late-5th and 6th centuries did they re-establish relationships. The second great Hellenizing wave occurred during the 4th century BC, this time also involving Daunia and marking the beginning of
Peucetian and
Daunian epigraphic records, in a local variant of the Hellenistic alphabet that replaced the older Messapic script.
Along with Messapic,
Greek and
Oscan were spoken and written during the Romanization period all over
Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
, and bilingualism in Greek and Messapic was probably common in southern Apulia at that time. Based upon the legends of the local currencies promoted by Rome, Messapic appears to have been written in the southern zone, Oscan in the northern area, while the central sector was a trilingual area where Messapic, Greek and Oscan co-existed in inscriptions. Messapic epigraphic records seem to have ended by the 2nd century BC. During the 1st century BCE, the language was replaced by Latin, which is the origin of the modern Italian Sallentine dialects of the region.
Phonology
A characteristic feature of Messapic is the absence of the Indo-European phonological opposition between the vowels /u/ and /o/, the language featuring only an o/u
phoneme
A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
. Consequently, the superfluous letter /u/ (
upsilon
Upsilon (, ; uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; ''ýpsilon'' ) or ypsilon is the twentieth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value of 400. It is derived from the phoenician alphabet, Phoenician Waw (letter), waw ...
) was not taken over following the initial period of adaption of the
Western ("red") Greek alphabet. The 'o/u' phoneme existed in opposition to an 'a/o' phoneme formed after the phonological distinction between ''*o'' and ''*a'' was abandoned. The
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
(PIE) vowel /o/ regularly appears as /a/ in inscriptions (e.g., Venas < *Wenos; menza < *mendyo; tabarā < *to-bhorā). The original PIE phonological opposition between ''ō'' and ''o'' is still perceptible in Messapic. The
diphthong
A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
''*ou'', itself reflecting the merged diphthongs ''*ou'' and ''eu'', underwent
sound change to develop into ''ao'', then into ''ō'' (e.g., *Toutor > Taotor > Θōtor).
The dental affricate or spirant written Θ is frequently used before the sounds ''ao-'' or ''o-'', where it is most likely a replacement for the older letter

. Another special letter,

, occurs almost exclusively in Archaic inscriptions from the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Multiple
palatalizations have also taken place, as in '
Zis' < *dyēs, 'Artorres' < *Artōryos, or 'Bla(t)θes' < *Blatyos (where '(t)θ' probably denoted a dental affricate or spirant /ts/ or /tš/). Proto-Indo-European *''s'' was rather clearly reflected in initial and intervocalic positions as Messapic ''h'', with notable examples including ''klaohi'' and ''hipa'', but note ''Venas'' with *''s'' in final position.
The Proto-Indo-European
voiced aspirates ''*bh'' and ''*dh'' are certainly represented by the simple unaspirated voiced
obstruents /b/ and /d/ in Messapic (e.g., 'berain' < *bher-; '-des' < *dʰeh₁). On the other hand, the outcomes of the Indo-European palatal, velar, and labiovelar stops remain unclear, with slender evidence.
Alphabet
The Messapic alphabet is an adaptation of the
Western ("red") Greek alphabets, specifically the
Laconian-
Tarantinian version. The actual Messapic inscriptions are attested from the 6th century BC onward, while the
Peucetian and
Daunian epigraphic record (written in a local variant of the Hellenistic alphabet rather than in the older Messapic script) only begins in the 4th century BC.
Messapic
The Greek letter Φ (/pʰ/) was not adopted, because it would have been superfluous for Messapic. While
zeta "normally" represented the voiced counterpart to /s/, it may have been an affricate in some cases. The value of Θ is unclear, but is clearly dental; it may be an affricate or a spirant. In any case it appears to have arisen partly as the reflex of the segment *''ty''.
Apulian
The script used in northern Apulia was rather peculiar, and some consider it to be a distinct writing system named ''Apulian''.
A notable difference between the Apulian alphabet and the Laconian-Tarentinian Messapic alphabet was the use of Η (''eta'') for /ē/ rather than /h/.
Inscriptions
The Messapic language is a 'fragmentary language' (), preserved only in about 600 inscriptions from the mid-6th up until the late-2nd century BC. Many of them consist of the personal names of the deceased engraved in burial sites (36% of the total), and only a few inscriptions have been definitely deciphered. Some longer texts are also available, including those recently found in the Grotta della Poesia (
Roca Vecchia), although they have not been fully exploited by scholars yet. Most of the Messapic inscriptions are accessible in the ''Monumenta Linguae Messapicae'' (MLM), published in print in 2002.
Lexicon
Toponymy/Anthroponymy
Inherited
Only Messapic words regarded as 'inherited' from its precursor are hereunder listed, thus excluding loanwords from Greek, Latin or other languages.
Language contact
Italic

Since its settlement, Messapic was in contact with the
Italic languages
The Italic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, whose earliest known members were spoken on the Italian Peninsula in the first millennium BC. The most important of the ancient Italic languages ...
of the region. In the centuries before Roman annexation, the frontier between Messapic and
Oscan ran through Frentania-
Irpinia-
Lucania-Apulia. An "Oscanization" and "Samnitization" process gradually took place which is attested in contemporary sources via the attestation of dual identities for settlements. In these regions an Oscan/Lucanian population and a large Daunian element intermixed in different ways.
Larinum, a settlement which has produced a large body of Oscan onomastics is described as a "Daunian city" and
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
who was from
Venusia in the transboundary area between the Daunians and the Lucanians described himself as "Lucanian or Apulian". The creation of Roman colonies in southern Italy after the early 4th century BCE had a great impact in the Latinization of the area.
A small corpus of Messapic vocabulary did pass into Latin. They include ''baltea'' from ''balta'' (swamp), ''deda'' (nurse), ''gandeia'' (sword), ''horeia'' (small fishing boat), ''mannus'' (pony/small horse) from ''manda''. Messapic was an intermediary for the passing of several, mostly ancient Greek words, into Latin such as ''paro'' (small ship) from Greek ''paroon''. The Latin form of ''Odysseus'', ''Ulixes'' might derive from a Messapic variant like the ethnonym ''Graeci'' which may have been used in its original form by Illyrians for their Greek neighbours in Epirus. A Messapic morphological intermediary has been proposed for Latin ''lancea'' (spear) and ''balaena'' (from Greek ''phallaina''). In literature, Horace and Ennius who came from the region are the only authors of Roman antiquity who have preserved the non-Italic word ''laama'' (swamp) which might be Messapic.
Ancient Greek
The Messapic verbal form ''eipeigrave'' ('wrote, incised'; variant ''ipigrave'') is a notable loanword from Greek (with the initial stem ''eipigra-'', ''ipigra-'' deriving from
''epigrá-phō'', ἐπιγράφω, 'inscribe, engrave'), and is probably related to the fact that the Messapic alphabet has been borrowed from an Archaic Greek script. Other Greek loanwords include ''argora-pandes'' ('coin officials', with the first part deriving from ἄργυρος), and names of deities like ''
Athana'' and perhaps ''Aprodita'', however the latter name is considered to be a Messapic theonym of an
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
goddess. It coincides with the
Proto-Albanian ''*apro dītā'' 'come forth brightness of the day/dawn', which could be the original source of the Ancient Greek
Aphrodite
Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
, and which is preserved in the Albanian phrase ''
afro dita'' 'come forth the day/dawn', referring to the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, and also used to refer to
Prende, the dawn goddess, goddess of love, beauty, fertility, health and protector of women, in the
Albanian pagan mythology, the equivalent of Ancient Greek Aphrodite.
The origin of the Messapic goddess ''Damatura/Damatira'' is debated: scholars like
Vladimir I. Georgiev (1937),
Eqrem Çabej,
Shaban Demiraj (1997), or
Martin L. West (2007) have argued that she was an Illyrian goddess eventually borrowed into Greek as
Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...
, while others like
Paul Kretschmer (1939),
Robert S. P. Beekes (2009) and
Carlo De Simone (2017) have argued for the contrary. More recently it is considered a Messapic theonym of an Indo-European goddess by Marchesini (2021).
See also
*
Paleo Balkan languages
*
List of ancient peoples of Italy
This list of ancient peoples living in Italy (geographical region), Italy summarises the many different Italian populations that existed in antiquity. Among them, the Roman people, Romans succeeded in Romanization (cultural), Romanizing the entir ...
Sources
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
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Further reading
* Lomas, Kathryn. "Crossing Boundaries: The Inscribed Votives of Southeast Italy." Pallas, no. 86, 2011, pp. 311–329. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43606696. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
*
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* ''Messapische Studien''. Inschriften mit Kommentar, Skizze einer Laut- und Formenlehre. Von Otto Haas Universitätdozent - Wien. Heidelberg: Carl Winter - Universitätsverlag. 1962.
External links
Civiltà messapica
Telegraph Newspaper Online, November 19, 2005.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messapian Language
Unclassified Indo-European languages
Languages of ancient Italy
Salento
Paleo-Balkan languages
Languages attested from the 6th century BC
Languages extinct in the 1st century BC
Illyrian languages