Pre-Samnite was an ancient language spoken in southern

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

, in Italy. The name ''Pre-Samnite'' refers to the fact that the language was spoken in early times in an area that was later colonised by Samnites, who spoke

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including t ...

.Sabellian Languages, R. E. Wallace, in The Ancient Languages of Europe, Ed. R. D. Woodward. Pre-Samnite is recorded in a few short inscriptions dating from around 500 BC.Formations of the perfect in the Sabellian languages with the Italic and Indo-European background. D. Piwowarczyk. The language belongs to the Sabellian group of languages, and may be closely related to Oscan, but shows a number of archaic features which were lost from Oscan.Sabellian Demonstratives: Forms and Functions, Emmanuel Dupraz. However, the material is too scanty to enable a precise determination of the relation of Pre-Samnite either to Oscan or to the other Sabellian languages.

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