UMBRIAN. The remains of Umbrian are of far greater extent than those of any other non Latin Italic dialect. Practically all the texts in this dialect are contained in the Iguvine tablets, discovered in 1444 at Gubbio, on the site of the ancient town of or, as it was called in the Middle Ages, Eugubium. The Igu vine tablets seem to have been originally nine, although but seven are still preserved. The tab lets are of bronze, inscribed, with the exception of the third and fourth, on both sides. They vary in size, the first two being abont 22 X 15 inches, the third and fourth about 16 X 12 inches, the fifth about 18 X14 inches, and the last two about 33 X 22 inches. The entire number of lines is 449. The first four and about two-thirds of the fifth are written in the national Umbrian alphabet. while the last three of the fifth tablet, as well as the sixth and seventh, are written in Latin characters. It seems tolerably certain, both on epigraphical and linguistic evidence, that the portion in the Roman alphabet is much later than that in the epichoric script. The date of the inscriptions, however, apart from this rela tive one of the several parts with each other, is extremely doubtful. Possibly one will not be far astray in dating them between the third and first centuries B.C. The difference between the Old Umbrian, which is written in the national script, and the New which was inscribed in Latin letters, was probably more apparent than real. Since the Umbrian alphabet lacked signs for o. g, d, b, they used instead u, k, t, p. On the other hand. the Latin script could represent the sound of the Umbrian r only by rs. New Umbrian showed, however, a marked deviation from Old Umbrian in the change of final s, re tained unchanged in the earlier form of the dia lea, to as Old Umbrian t u t a s, 'of the city,' but New Umbrian toter. There are a few other distinctions which are of minor importance, such as the more closed pronunciation of 0 in New than in Old Umbrian (as New Umbrian liabitu, 'let him have,' but Old Umbrian ha bet u; New Um brian rerir, vereir, 'at the gates,' but Old Um brian v e r e s). The Iguvine tablets are ritual
istic in subject. The texts La (which is repro duced on the accompanying plate) to II, and VI.a to VII 47 deal with the purification of a high place near Iguvium, while the remainder of I., VI., and all of V1La treat of the purification of the city itself. The last two tablets, however, are much more detailed than the Old Umbrian. The second tablet is concerned with a lustral sacrifice for the priestly college of the Atiedii, with an optional sacrifice to an infernal deity, and with the rites to be performed at the semi annual gathering of decuries from ten towns or clans. The third and fourth tablets give in detail the rites for sacrifice to Jupiter, Pomonus, Vesuna, and certain other deities, while the fifth is devoted to resolutions of and enactments con cerning the same college of Atiedii, who figure so prominently in these inscriptions. To show the difference between Old and New Umbrian, the following passage, taken from La 11-13 and VI. b 1-2 may be cited: Old Umbrian: preveres tesenakes tre but fetu Marte Krapuvi fetu ukripe Fish' tutaper Ikuvina arvia ustentu vatuva terine fetu puni fetu kutet pesnlmu.
New Umbrian: pre rerir tesenocir buf triffetu Marte Gra bond ocriper Fisin totaper lionise seek, fete vatuo ferine fete poni fetu tases persnimu.
Latin: pro portis Tessinacis tres bores tacit° Marti Gra bovio monte-pro Fisio civitate-pro Iguvina arvaliafacito vaticina ferculo facito posca facito taeitus preeamin0.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The most convenient and comBibliography. The most convenient and com- plete edition of the remains of the Italic dialects is Conway, The Italic Dialects (Cambridge, 1897) ; .more valuable linguistically and gram matically. although less complete in its collec tion of texts, is Von Planta, qraitimatik der oskiseh-ambrisclien Dialekte (Strassburg, 1892 97). Both these works contain abundant biblio graphical material on the older literature on the subject.