To the north of the Messapian linguistic area we find Picene (East Italic), i.e. the pre-Sabellian language spoken in ancient Picenum, a region in eastern central Italy, as well as the pre-Roman iron-age culture associated with it.

Picene may comprise two different languages under the same name. Some of the Picene inscriptions extend back to about the VII century BC and are among the earliest written evidence in Italy. Unluckily the inscriptions, though easily deciphered, are not easily translated. The southern inscriptions are transparently Indo-European, while the north Picene inscriptions pose far more problems, since there is not a single word in the inscriptions that can confidently be translated.

The Novilara inscription,
going back to approx. the end of the VII-beginning of the VI century B.C.
(Roma, Museo Preistorico Pigorini)

The famous Novilara inscription is the longest sample of  north Picene language:

mimnis erut gaarestades rotnem uvlin parten us polem isairon tet sut trat nesi krus tenag trut ipiem rotnes lutuis thalu isperion vul tes rotem teu aiten tasur soter merpon kalatne nis vilatos paten arn uis balestenag ands et sut i akut treten teletau nem polem tisu sotris eus

In 1934 in Capestrano, a small town near L'Aquila, they found the statue of a warrior in a size larger than the natural size.

The statue of a warrior

The statue is said to go back to the VI century BC. It has an inscription approx. 40 characters long, without any break. Here is the detail of the statue with the inscription as it appears in the monumental edition of the book by Giuseppe Moretti: "Il guerriero italico di Capestrano" (1934):

There is no break between the letters. The inscription has been transliterated as follows, but its content is unknown:

makaprihkoramopsutrminisrakinebihipomp...ii

This document may be freely linked to, but the contents may not be reproduced or sold in any form.
All  rights for change without notice reserved