Paeligni

PAELIGNI, a people of ancient Italy, first mentioned as a member of a confederacy which included the Marsi, Mar rucini, and Vestini (qq.v.), with which the Romans came into conflict in the second Samnite War, 325 B.C. (Liv. viii. 29). On the submission of the Samnites (q.v.) they all came into alliance with Rome in 305-02 B.C. (Liv. ix. 45, x. 3, and Diod. xx. Ioi). Each of them was an independent unit. Thus the Vestini issued coins in the 3rd century; each of them appears in the list of the allies in the Social War (Appian, B.C., i. 39). The moun tain fortress of Corfinium was chosen as the rebel capital. It was renamed Vitellio, the Oscan form of Italia, a name which appears, written in Oscan alphabet, on the coins struck there in 90 B.C.

The inscriptions show that the dialect spoken by these tribes was substantially the same from the northern boundary of the Frentani to some place in the upper Aternus valley not far from Amiternum (mod. Aquila). This dialect closely resembled the Oscan of Lucania and Samnium, though presenting some peculi arities of its own, which warrant, perhaps, the use of the name 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 sibila tion of consonantal i and the assimilation of -di- to some sound like that of English j (denoted by$ in the local variety of Latin alphabet), as in vidadu, "viamda," i.e., "ad-viam"; Musesa=Lat. Mussedia; and the loss of d (in pronunciation) in the 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 writing.

The name

Paeligni may belong to the NO-class of Ethnica (see SABINI), but the difference that it has no vowel before the suffix suggests that it may rather be parallel with the suffix of Lat. privignus. If it has any connection with Lat. paelex, "concubine," it is conceivable that it meant "half-breeds," and Was coined in contempt by the conquering Sabines, who turned the touta Marouca into the community of the Marrucini (q.v.). For the history of the Paeligni after 90 B.C. see the references given in C. I. L., ix. 290 and 296. None of the Latin inscriptions of the district need be older than Sulla, but some of them both in language and script show the style of his period (e.g., 3087, 3137) ; and, on the other hand, as several of the native inscrip tions, which are all in the Latin alphabet, show the normal letters of the Ciceronian period, there is little doubt that the Paelignian dialect lasted down to the middle of the 1st century B.C.

Paelignian and this group of inscriptions generally form a most important link in the 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 Sulmona were both created by the late Professor Antonio de Nino, who rescued every Paelignian monument that we possess.

For further details and the text of the inscriptions, the place names, etc., see R. S. Conway, The Italic Dialects, pp. 235 et seq., and the earlier authorities there cited.