Ethnic identity of ancient Sicilians

[SeekTruthFromFacts]

@Pangur Bán:

Interesting ideas.... references?

 

[markdienekes]

The Greeks called the original native peoples of Sicily the Elymi, Sicani and Sicels. The Sicels spoke an Indo-European language. The Elymian language is thought to be related to the Ligurian language (from northern Italy).

The Sicani are thought to be the original inhabitants and Thucydides claims they came from Iberia, though of course this is unknown. They have found cave paintings from about 8000 BC thought to be Sicani, but modern scholars believe the Sicani were in-fact an Illyrian tribe who had gained dominance over aboriginals on the island...

 

[GoodGame]

I'm mostly interested in the argument that Sicillian = Italian, and also the argument that Sicillian is the oldest Romance language (on the strength of the vulgar latin-speaking population)

I found this article interesting: http://www.mangolanguages.com/blog/around-the-world/sicilian-and-italian-whats-the-difference/

In short, Sicilian and Italian are distinct languages, with the Italian influence only going back as far as the reunification of Italy.


I think to discuss this topic, you have to look at the language and etymology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_language

If one looks at etymological contribution, Greek, Arab, Norman France play a big role.


I wonder if it's not if Sicillians are Italians, but if Italians are Sicilians?

It was during the reign of Frederick II (or Frederick I of Sicily) between 1198 and 1250, with his patronage of the Sicilian School of poetry, that Sicilian became the first of the Italic idioms to be used as a literary language (Cipolla 2004 p. 141). The influence of the school and the use of Sicilian itself as a poetic language was acknowledged by the two great Tuscan writers of the early Renaissance period, Dante and Petrarch. The influence of the Sicilian language should not be underestimated in the eventual formulation of a lingua franca that was to become modern Italian

Given that Sicillian has a very complex etymology and several unique dialects, I'd definitely rule that Scilians are their own unique melting pot, and not a derivative.

 

[holy king]

after carefully weighing the arguments presented in this thread i have decided to go with dennis hopper.