Osci

The Osci (also called Opici, Opsci, Obsci, Opicans, Ancient Greek: Όπικοί, Όσκοί), were an Italic people of Campania and Latium adiectum during Roman times. They spoke the Oscan language, also spoken by the Samnites of Southern Italy. Although the language of the Samnites was called Oscan, the Samnites were never called Osci, or the Osci Samnites. The linguist, Carl Darling Buck, hypothesized that a population originally speaking the same language dissimilated in name only, and that the Romans, encountering the Osci first, gave their name to the entire language.