the tribes they conquered; hence the Marruci became the Marrucini, the *Arici became Aricini, and it seems at least probable that the forms Sidicini, Carecini, and others of this shape are the results of this same process. The conclusion suggested is that these -CO- tribes occupied the centre and west coast of Italy at the time of the Etruscan invasion (see Etruria: Language); whereas the -NO- tribes only reached this part of Italy, or at least only became dominant there, long after the Etruscans had settled in the Peninsula.
It remains, therefore, to ask whether any information can be had about the language of this primitive -CO- folk, and whether they can be identified as the authors of any of the various archaeological strata now recognized on Italian soil. If the conclusions suggested under Sabini may be accepted as sound we should expect to find the Volsci speaking a language similar to that of the Ligures, whose fondness for the suffix -sco- we have noticed (see Ligures), and identical with that spoken by the plebeians of Rome, and that this branch of Indo-European was among those which preserved the original Indo-European Velars from the labialization which befell them in the speech of the Samnites. The language of the inscription of Velitrae offers at first sight a difficulty from this point of view, in the conversion which it shows of q to p; but it is to be observed that the Ethnicon of Velitrae is Veliternus, and that the people are called on the inscription itself Velestrom (genitive plural); so that there is nothing to prevent our assuming that we have here a settlement of Sabines among the Volscian hills, with their language to some extent (e.g. in the matter of the diphthongs and palatals) corrupted by that of the people round about them; just as we have reason to suppose was the case with the Saline language of the Iguvini, whose very name was later converted into Iguvinates, the suffix -ti- being much more frequent among the -CO- tribes than among the Sabines (see Sabini).
The name Volsci itself is significant not merely in its suffix; the older form Volusci clearly contains the word meaning “marsh” identical with Gr. ἔλος, since the change of *velos- to *volus- is phonetically regular in Latin. The name Marica (“goddess of the salt-marshes”) among the Aurunci appears also both on the coast of Picenum and among the Ligurians; and Stephanus of Byzantium identified the Osci with the Siculi, whom there is reason to suspect were kinsmen of the Ligures. It is remarkable in how many marshy places this -co- or -ca- suffix is used. Besides the Aurunci and the dea Marica and the intempestaeque Graviscae (Virg. Aen. x. 184), we have the Ustica cubans of Horace (Odes i. 17, 11), the Hernici in the Trerus valley, Satricum and Glanica in the Pomptine marshes.
For the text and fuller account of the Volscian inscription, and for other records of the dialect, see R. S. Conway, The Italic Dialects, pp. 267 sqq. (R. S. C.)
VOLSINII, an ancient town of Etruria, Italy. The older Volsinii occupied in all probability the isolated tufa rock, so strongly defended by nature, upon which in Roman times stood the town which Procopius (B.G. ii. 11 seq.) calls Oύρβιβεντός (Urbs vetus, the modern Orvieto). This conjecture, first made by O. Müller, has been generally accepted by modern archaeologists; and it is a strong point in its favour that the bishop of Orvieto in 595 signs himself episcopus civitatis Bulsiniensis (Gregor. Magn. Registr. v. 57a; cf. ii. 11, vi. 27). It had, and needed, no outer walls, being surrounded on all sides except the S.W. by abrupt tufa cliffs; but a massive wall found by excavation on the S.W. side of the town may have belonged to the acropolis. No remains of antiquity are to be seen within the city; but at the foot of the hill on the N. a large Etruscan necropolis was found in 1874, dating from the 5th century B.C. The tombs, constructed of blocks of stone and arranged in rows divided by passages (like houses in a town), often had the name of the deceased on the façade. Many painted vases, &c., were found; some of the best are in the Museo Civico at Orvieta. Tombs with paintings have also been found to the W. of the town on the way to Bolsena.
Volsinii was reputed the richest of the twelve cities of Etruria. Wars between Volsinii and Rome are mentioned in 392, 308 and 294 B.C., and in 265-264 B.C. the Romans assisted the inhabitants against their former slaves, who had successfully asserted themselves against their masters and took the town. Fulvius Flaccus gained a triumph for his victory, and it was probably then that the statue of Vertumnus which stood in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome was brought from Volsinii. Zonaras states that the city was destroyed and removed elsewhere, though the old site continued apparently to be inhabited, to judge from the inscriptions found there. The new city was certainly situated on the hills of the N.E. bank of the Lake of Bolsena (Lacus Volsiniensis), 12 m. W.S.W. of Orvieto, where many remains of antiquity have been found, on and above the site of the modern Bolsena (q.v.). These remains consist of Etruscan tombs, the sacred enclosure of the goddess Nortia, with votive objects and coins ranging from the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. to the middle of the 3rd century A.D., remains of Roman houses, &c., and an amphitheatre of the imperial period (E. Gabrici in Monumenti dei Lincei, xvi., 1906, 169 sqq., and in Notizei degli Scavi, 1906, 59 sqq.).
The history of the new Volsinii is somewhat scanty. Sejanus, the favourite of Tiberius, and Musonius Rufus the Stoic were natives of the place. The earliest dated inscription from the cemetery of S. Christina (discovered with its subterranean church in 1880-81) belongs to A.D. 376 and the first known bishop of Volsinii to A.D. 499. In the next century, however, the see was transferred to Orvieto. Etruscan tombs have been found on the Isola Bisentina, in the lake; and on the west bank was the town of Visentium, Roman inscriptions belonging to which have been found. The site is marked by a medieval castle bearing the name Bisenzo.
See E. Bormann in Corp. Inscr. Latin. xi., 1888, pp. 423 sqq.; Notizie degli Scavi, passim; G. Dennis, op. cit. (ii. 18 sqq.). (T. As.)
VOLTA, ALESSANDRO (1745-1827), Italian physicist, was born at Como on the 18th of February 1745. He is celebrated as a pioneer of electrical science, after whom the "volt" is named. In 1774 he was appointed professor of physics in the gymnasium of Como, and in 1777 he travelled through Switzerland, where he formed an intimate friendship with H. B. de Saussure. In 1779 a chair of physics was founded in Pavia, and Volta was chosen to occupy it. In 1782 he journeyed through France, Germany, Holland and England, and became acquainted with many scientific celebrities. In 1791 he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society. In 1801 Napoleon called him to Paris, to show his experiments on contact electricity, and a medal was struck in his honour. He was made a senator of the kingdom of Lombardy. In 1815 the emperor of Austria made him director of the philosophical faculty of Padua. In 1819 he retired and settled in his native town, where he died on the 5th of March 1827. For Volta's electrical work, and his place in the history of discovery (see Electricity; also Voltmeter).
VOLTA, the largest river of the coast of Upper Guinea, between the Gambia and the Niger, with a length of about 900 m. Its mouth and the greater part of its course are in British territory. Its lower course had been known since the discoveries of the Portuguese, from whom it received (15th century) its name on account of the winding nature of its stream. It was not, however, until the last fifteen years of the 19th century that the extent of its basin—extending far north within the bend of the Niger—was made known.
There are two main upper branches, the Black and the White Volta. Their sources lie on the grassy plateaus north of the forest belt of the Guinea coast, the Black Volta rising (as the Baule) in about 11° N. 4° 50′ W. Its course is at first E. and N.E., to 12° 25′ N., at which point, after receiving a tributary from nearly 14° N.—the most northerly point of the basin,—it turns sharply south. From the eleventh to the ninth parallel the river forms the boundary between the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (British) and the French Ivory Coast colony. The southerly course of the stream ceases at 8° 15′ N. where it is deflected E., and even N., by a mountain range composed of sandstone and granite, which it finally breaks through by a narrow pass, in which its width is only some 60 yds. Elsewhere
