Glossary · Term

Messapic language

Messapic was an extinct Indo-European language of the Messapians of south-eastern Italy, in the Salento peninsula of Apulia. It is known from several hundred inscriptions written in an alphabet adapted from the Greek alphabet of Taras, dating mainly from the sixth to the first centuries BCE. It is not closely related to the other languages of ancient Italy, and some scholars link it with Illyrian.

Messapic language
Image: Mark Landon · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Messapians

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APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Messapic language. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/messapic-language
MLA
“Messapic language.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/messapic-language. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Messapic language.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/messapic-language.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Messapic language’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/messapic-language (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻