Umbrian language

From Freepedia

This article is about the ancient language. See Umbrian language (Romance) for the modern Italian dialect.

Umbrian, an Indo-European language of the Italic family, is a dead language formerly spoken in the ancient Italian region of Umbria.

It is known primarily from the Tabulae Iguvinae (Iguvium = modern Gubbio), seven bronze plates which contain some notes on the ceremonies and statutes for priests. These are written in the Old Italic alphabet.

Currently, the term is used to indicate a regional dialect of the Italian language; it is not very distinctive as compared say to Sicilian or Milanese.