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Denarius of Marsican Confederation with Oscan legend.

Languages in Iron Age Italy, 6th century BC

Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes Umbrian, Latin, and Faliscan. It was spoken in Samnium and in Campania, as well as in Lucania, Ager Bruttius, and Abruzzo. Oscan is known from inscriptions beginning in the 5th century BC. The most important Oscan inscriptions are the Tabula Bantina and the Cippus Abellanus. Oscan was written in the Latin and Greek alphabets, as well as in a variety of the Old Italic alphabet.

Dialects of Oscan include Samnite, Marrucine, Paelignan, Vestinian, Sabine, and Marsian.

Oscan had much in common with Latin, though there are also many striking differences, and many common word-groups in Latin were absent and represented by entirely different forms. For example, Latin volo, velle, volui, and other such forms from the Proto-Indo-European root *wel ('to will') were represented by words derived from *gher ('to desire'): Oscan herest ('he wants, desires') as opposed to Latin vult (id.). Latin locus (place) was absent and represented by slaagid (place).

In phonology, Oscan also showed differences from Latin: Oscan 'p' in place of Latin 'qu' (Osc. pis, Lat. quis); 'b' in place of Latin 'v'; medial 'f' in contrast to Latin 'b' or 'd' (Osc. mefiai, Lat. mediae).

Oscan is considered the most conservative of all the known Italic languages, and among all Indo-European languages it is rivaled only by Greek in the retention of the inherited vowel system with the diphthongs intact.

ekkum[svaí píd herieset
trííbarak[avúm tereí púd
liímítú[m] pernúm [púís
herekleís fíísnú mefi[ú
íst, ehtrad feíhúss pú[s
herekleís fíísnam amfr 
et, pert víam pússtíst 
paí íp íst, pústin slagím
senateís suveís tangi
núd tríbarakavúm lí
kítud. íním íúk tríba
rakkiuf pam núvlanús 
tríbarakattuset íúk trí
barakkiuf íním úíttiuf 
abellanúm estud. avt
púst feíhúís pús físnam am
fret, eíseí tereí nep abel
lanús nep núvlanús pídum
tríbarakattíns. avt the 
savrúm púd eseí tereí íst,
pún patensíns, múíníkad ta[n 
ginúd patensíns, íním píd e[íseí 
thesavreí púkkapíd ee[stit 
a]íttíúm alttram alttr[ús
h]erríns. avt anter slagím 
a]bellanam íním núvlanam 
s]úllad víú uruvú íst . edú  
e]ísaí víaí mefiaí teremen 
n]iú staíet. 

• Buck, Carl Darling. 1904. A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian. With a Collection of Inscriptions and a Glossary. Reprinted by Evolution Publishing, 2005.

• Salvucci, Claudio R. 1999. A Vocabulary of Oscan. Evolution Publishing.

• Oscan vocabulary.
• Electronic edition of Buck's Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian.