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PAELIGNI

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 446 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAELIGNI , a See also:

people of See also:ancient See also:Italy, first mentioned as a member of a confederacy which included the See also:Marsi, See also:Marrucini and See also:Vestini (qq.v.), with which the See also:Romans came into conflict in the second Samnite See also:War, 325 B.C. (Lrw. viii. 29). On the submission of the See also:Samnites they all came into See also:alliance with See also:Rome in 305—302 B.C. (Liv. ix. 45, X. 3, and nod. xx. lox), the Paelignians having fought hard (Diod. xx. 90) against even this degree of subjection. Each of them was an See also:independent unit, and in none was there any See also:town or community politically See also:separate from the tribe as a whole. Thus the Vestini issued coins in the 3rd See also:century; each of them appears in the See also:list of the See also:allies in the Social War (See also:Appian, B.C. i. 39, with J. Beloch, Der italische Bund unter rbmiseher Hegemonie, p.

51). How purely See also:

Italic in sentiment these communities of the See also:mountain countryremained appears from the choice of the mountain fortress of See also:Corfinium as the See also:rebel See also:capital. It was renamed Vitellio, the Oscan See also:form of Italia, a name which appears, written in Oscan See also:alphabet, on the coins struck there in 90 B.C. (see R. S. See also:Conway, The Italic Dialects, p. 216). The See also:inscriptions we possess are enough to show that the See also:dialect spoken by these tribes was substantially the same from the See also:northern boundary of the See also:Frentani to some See also:place in the upper Aternus valley not far from See also:Amiternum (mod. See also:Aquila), and that this dialect closely resembled the Oscan of Lucania and Samnium, though presenting some peculiarities of its own, which See also:warrant, perhaps, the use of the name See also:North Oscan. The clearest of these is the use of postpositions, as in Vestine Poimunie-n, " in templo Pomonali "; pritrom-e, i.e. in proximum, " on to what lies before you." Others are the sibilation of consonantal i and the assibilation of -di- to some See also:sound like that of See also:English j (de-noted by in the See also:local variety of Latin alphabet), as in vidadu, " viamdo," i.e. " ad-viam "; Musesa = L'at. Mussedia ; and the loss of d (in See also:pronunciation) in the See also:ablative, as in aetatu firata fertlid (i.e. aetate fertili finita), where the contrast of the last with the other two forms shows that the -d was an archaism still occasionally used in See also:writing.

The last See also:

sentence of the interesting See also:epitaph from which this phrase is taken may be quotes_ as a specimen of the dialect; the See also:stone was found in Pentima, the ancient Corfinium, and the very perfect See also:style of the Latin See also:alpha-See also:bet in which it is written shows that it cannot well be earlier than the last century B.C.: " Eite uus pritrome pacris, puus ecic lexe lifar," " ite vos porro pacati (cum See also:bona See also:pace), qui hoc scriptum (hbar, 3rd decl. neut.) legistis." The form lexe (2nd plur. perf. indic.) is closely parallel to the inflection of the same See also:person in See also:Sanskrit and of quite unique linguistic See also:interest. The name Paezigni may belong to the NO-class of Ethnica (see See also:SABINI), but the difference that it has no vowel before the suffix suggests that it may rather be parallel with the suffix of See also:Lat. privignus. If it has any connexion with Lat. paelex, " concubine," it is conceivable that it meant " See also:half-breeds," and was a name coined in contempt by the conquering Sabines, who turned the tonta Maronca into the community of the Marrucini (q.v.). But, when unsupported by See also:direct See also:evidence, even the most tempting See also:etymology is an unsafe See also:guide. For the See also:history of the Paeligni after 90 B.C. see the references given in C. I. L. ix. 290 (Sulam, esp. See also:Ovid, e.g. See also:Fasti, iv. 79, Arnor. ii. 16; See also:Florus ii.

9; Caes., B.C., i. 15) and 296 (Corfinium, e.g. Diod. Sic. See also:

xxxvii. 2, 4, Caes., B.C., i. 15). None of the Latin inscriptions of the See also:district need be older than See also:Sulla, but some of them both in See also:language and script show the style of his See also:period (e.g. 3087, 3137); and, on the other See also:hand, as several of the native inscriptions, which are all in the Latin alphabet, show the normal letters of the Ciceronian period, there is little doubt that, for religious and private purposes at least, the Paelignian dialect lasted down to the See also:middle of the 1st century B.C. Paelignian and this See also:group of inscriptions generally form a most important See also:link in the See also:chain of the Italic dialects, as without them the transition from Oscan to Umbrian would be completely lost. The unique collection of inscriptions and antiquities of Pentima and the museum at See also:Sulmona were both created by the See also:late See also:Professor See also:Antonio de Nino, whose brilliant gifts and unsparing devotion to the antiquities of his native district rescued every single Paelignian See also:monument that we possess. For further details and the See also:text of the inscriptions, the place-names, &c.. see R. S.

Conway, The Italic Dialects, pp. 235 sqq., and the earlier authorities there cited. (R. S.

End of Article: PAELIGNI

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