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Sicel language
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Sicel language

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History

Sicel language, language spoken by the ancient Siculi (Sicels) in Italy and Sicily. The language is known from four inscriptions dating from the 3rd century bc and from several coins dating from the 6th and 5th centuries bc.

After the Greek settlements in Sicily, the Siculi became Hellenized and substituted Greek for their original language. Scholars believe Sicel to have been an Indo-European language, primarily on the basis of the word esti, “is” (Latin: est; Greek: esti), and the grammatical endings of some words.