The perfect in Oscan and Umbrian

Abstract

A long-standing problem in the reconstruction of proto-Italic has been the wide discrepancy between the Oscan/Umbrian and Latin perfectum markers. Latin for the most part employs either -s- or -u-/-v- throughout its perfect system, e.g. serp-s-it ‘he crawled’ (cf. pres. serp-it), al-u-it ‘he nourished’ (cf. pres. al-it), amā-v-it ‘he loved’ (cf. pres. ama-t). On the other hand, Osean and Umbrian have apparently created a number of new perfect formations: an f-perfect, shared by both (O. aíkda-f-ed ‘he decreed’, U. ateřa-f-ust ‘he will have made the circuit’); a -tt-formative found only in Osean (dadíka-tt-ed ‘he dedicated’) and in a few of the Minor Dialects; the -l- and *-nky- types, both peculiar to Umbrian (ape-l-ust ‘he will have offered up’, purdi-nsi-ust ‘he will have offered’).