Sicilian language
Sicilian (Lingua Siciliana) is the Romance language spoken in Sicily, Italy.It is currently spoken by the 5,000,000 inhabitants of Sicily, plus another 2,000,000 Sicilians around the world.
History
Pre-historic Sicily was inhabited by at least three ancient tribes--the Elymi, the Sicani, and the Siceli, all of whom are genetically linked to North Africans and Celts. It is more then likely, that the North Africans reached the island by sailing the width of the Mediterranean
south to north); the Celts, on the other hand, took the overland route. The archaeological record shows that during the Neolithic, large groups of Celtic peoples migrated from the Caucuses region to the Mediterranean coast of Italy and established communities in and around present-day Milan.
The Greek presence in Sicily began with the arrival of Mycenaean colonists in 734 BC. For the next 500 years, Greeks, from a variety of "city states" would continue to be the most dominate influence on Sicilian culture; their hegemony was finally broken by the legions of republican Rome.
Just prior to the outbreak of the First Punic War c 250 BC., a Roman expeditionary force (the first Roman military operation outside the Italian peninsula), landed on Sicily to break the siege of Syracuse. Early in the campaign, the Roman legion was severely mauled by an army lead by King Pyrrhus of Epheris. Pyrrhus would eventually pay dearly for his victory, for the Romans had inflicted heavy casualties on his forces, and although they were defeated, they weren't beaten, they regrouped and a few days later, renewed the attack. In a series of running battles, Roman forces decimated what was left of Pyrrhus's army. Tactical victory, had become a strategic defeat, Pyrrhus was forced to flee to safety; his army surrendered a few days later. What remains of Greek influence on Sicilian culture, is readily discernable in their modern Lexicon.
By far the greatest impact on the Sicilian language was the Vulgar Latin spoken by the Roman occupation troops who garrisoned Sicily after Rome annexed the island (after the end of the First Punic War, c 261 BC). Rome would continue to influence Sicilian culture until her administrative collapse around 450 AD. For a brief period after the fall of Rome, Goth and Visigoth barbarians managed to gain some degree of political/military control on the island, but their presence did not impact the linguistic or cultural history of Sicilian society.
In 535 AD, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, and for a the second time in Sicilian history, the Greek language became a familiar sound across the island. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was once again invaded by a distant people. The Arabian Emirs who ruled Sicily, however, were progressive monarchs; during their reign, the Sicilian people enjoyed economic prosperity, and intellectual enlightenment. But the Arabs did more than simply influence the local dialect, they gave the island people a gift of knowledge in the form of architecture, science, and mathematical skills that would benefit all future generations of Sicilians.
Re-written and edited by Joseph Triola Jr. 4/15/04
Successive conquests by the Normans, Spaniards, Catalans, and finally, unification with Italy, also made significant contributions to Sicilian culture.