List of ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes

This is a list of ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes, listed in order of ethnic kinship or the general area in which they lived. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Overview[edit]

Before the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were inhabited by three main peoples or ethnic groups, the Corsi, the Balares, and the Ilienses, each of them divided into several tribes. With the Roman conquest, the province of Sardinia and Corsica was created, becoming the second province of the Roman Republic to be created after that of Sicily.

The ethnic and linguistic affiliation (Paleo-Sardinian language) of the Nuragic people and tribes remains to be further studied, moreover "Nuragic" might have also been a geographical and historical name designating different peoples and languages, rather than indicating a single origin. Current knowledge indicates that they may have been related to the Iberians and the ancient Basque: these peoples were Pre-Indo-Europeans and spoke Pre-Indo-European languages, Proto-Basque (the ancestor of modern Basque) and Iberian.[1] There is also the possibility that the Nuragic peoples may have been related to the Etruscans and other Tyrsenian peoples and languages.[2] One of the Sea Peoples (the Shardana or Sherden) may have been either a population hailing from Sardinia (Ugas 2005, 2016) or a group of tribes that migrated to the island in the Late Bronze Age (Sandars 1978).

If the Corsi, dwelling in Corsica and in the northernmost tip of Sardinia (Gallura), were a subset of the Ligurians[3] and a group of tribes (they probably were an Indo-European people related to the Celts), then they would have been of a different ethnic and linguistic affiliation from the majority of the tribes of Sardinia (although Emidio De Felice found similarities between Paleo-Sardinian and Ancient Ligurian[4]).

The ancient Sardinian and Corsican tribes are the ancestors of most present-day native Sardinians[5] and Corsicans, and their language or languages, like Paleo-Sardinian and Paleo-Corsican, are the substrate of the modern Sardinian and Corsican languages, now part of the Neo-Latin branch.

Ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes[edit]

Ancient peoples and tribes of Corsica and Sardinia; in blue the land dwelt by the Corsi, in red the land dwelt by the Balares (Balari), in yellow the land dwelt by the Ilienses (Iolei) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Ancient tribes of Corsica (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Ancient tribes of Sardinia according to the Greek geographer Ptolemy and Ugas (2005) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Tribes of Sardinia geographic location described by the Romans.

Paleo-Corsicans[edit]

Paleo-Sardinians[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, Paleosardo. Le radici linguistiche della Sardegna neolitica, Berlin/New York (2010)
  2. ^ La lingua dei Sardi Nuragici e degli Etruschi - Massimo Pittau
  3. ^ Ugas 2005, p. 13-19.
  4. ^ Mary Carmen Iribarren Argaiz, Los vocablos en-rr-de la lengua sarda: Conexiones con la península ibérica
  5. ^ Massimo Pittau, La lingua sardiana o dei protosardi, Cagliari, 2001

References[edit]

  • Gabriel Camps, 1988, Préhistoire d’une île, Éditions Errance, Paris.
  • Laurent-Jacques Costa, 2004, Corse préhistorique, Éditions Errance, Paris.
  • Massimo Pittau. (1981). La lingua dei Sardi Nuragici e degli Etruschi. Sassari: ?
  • Massimo Pittau. (1995). Origine e parentela dei sardi e degli etruschi. Sassari: Saggio storico-linguistico.
  • Massimo Pittau. (2001). La lingua sardiana o dei protosardi. Cagliari: ?
  • Ugas, Giovanni (2005). L'alba dei nuraghi. Cagliari: Fabula Editore. ISBN 978-88-89661-00-0.
  • Raimondo Zucca, La Corsica romana, Oristano, S'Alvure, 1996, ISBN 9788873831266.

External links[edit]