Marsian

See also: marsian

English

Etymology

From Marsi +‎ -an.

Proper noun

Marsian

1. The extinct (since ca. 150 BC) Osco-Umbrian language of the Marsi, native to Marruvium.
   • 1940, E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, published 1959, page 59:

     Caso Cantovios and allies. Bronze plate found in the Fucine Lake. Dialect-Latin or mixed Marsian and Latin.

   • 1999, Philip Baldi, The Foundations of Latin (Trends in Linguistics; Studies and Monographs 117), Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 128:

     Though much of what remains of Marsian is of doubtful status and meaning, the following inscription (plate 3), from Antinum, is relatively unambiguous.

   • 2004, Jane Stuart-Smith, Phonetics and Philology: Sound Change in Italic, Oxford University Press, page 125:

     There is little evidence for Marsian, the language of the Marsi, a people who occupied the area south of the Fucine Lake. Marsian is mainly attested in a few short inscriptions from the third and second centuries bc: VM 3–7.

Adjective

Marsian (not comparable)

1. Relating to the Marsi.
   • 1824, Belisarius, by Marmontel; and Numa Pompilius, by Florian. With a Biographical Introduction., London, page 223:

     To this signal honour many warriors aspired. Among these was distinguished the valiant Aulon, a descendant of Cacus, who, instead of a sword or javelin, carried an axe of such an enormous magnitude, that no one among the Marsi, except himself, could wield; Pentheus also, who was equally active in the practice of war, and who numbered among his ancestors the unfortunate Marsias, the father of the Marsian people;

   • 1940, E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, published 1959, page 59:

     Caso Cantovios Aprufclanos [set up] pillars at the Esalican boundary in the city Casontonia; and his allies brought a sacred gift to Angitia on behalf of Marsian legions.

   • 2007, J. N. Adams, The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC–AD 600, Cambridge University Press, page 214:

     The Marsi attracted some notice. A term from this region was consiligo: Col. 6.5.3 praesens etiam remedium cognouimus radiculae, quam pastores consiliginem uocant: ea Marsis montibusplurima nascitur (‘an efficacious remedy we have also found to consist of the root which shepherds call consiligo. This grows in abundance in the Marsian mountains’), […].

Translations

relating to the Marsi

• Latin: mārsicus

Further reading

• Marsian language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia