Falisci

Map of early Italic and surrounding languages.
Map c. 450 BC
View from the general vicinity of Falerii to Monte Soratte on the southern border.

The Falisci[a] were an Italic tribe who lived in what is now northern Lazio, on the Etruscan side of the Tiber River.[1] They spoke an Italic language, Faliscan, closely related to Latin. Originally a sovereign state, politically and socially they supported the Etruscans, joining the Etruscan League. This conviction and affiliation led to their ultimate near destruction and total subjugation by Rome.

Only one instance of their own endonym has been found to date: an inscription from Falerii Novi from the late 2nd century AD refers to the falesce quei in Sardinia sunt, "the Faliscans who are in Sardinia", where falesce is the nominative plural case. An Etruscan inscription calls them the feluskeś. The Latin cannot be far different from the original name. The -sc- suffix is "distinctive of the Italic ethnonyms".[2]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Louise Adams Holland (1925). The Faliscans in prehistoric times. American Academy in Rome.
  2. ^ Bakkum 2009, pp. 25–26.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search