Iapygian, a. and n.
(aɪəˈpɪdʒɪən)
[f. L. Iāpygius, f. Iāpyx, -ygem, a son of Dædalus said to have ruled over southern Italy: see -ian.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to the ancient natives and district of Iapygia, the name given by the Greeks to the peninsula of Apulia in southern Italy. B. n. a. A native of Iapygia. b. The language of the Iapygians; = Messapian n. b.
| 1773 J. Langhorne tr. Denina's Diss. Anc. Republics Italy 26 The Iapygyans and Messapians [lost] fifty thousand infantry. 1864 P. Smith Hist. World II. 138 It is here..that we find traces of the Iapygian race, in the peninsula called by the Greeks Messapia. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 443/2 The peninsula which stretches eastward towards Greece was inhabited by a people termed by the Greeks Messapians or Iapygians. 1882 Ibid. XIV. 327/1 Inscriptions have been found in considerable numbers, written in a language known as Iapygian or Messapian. 1888 King & Cookson Princ. Sound & Inflexion Gr. & Latin 30 Of the Iapygian in the extreme south and the Ligurian in the north, very little is known. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. VII. 778/1 In Apulia..the Iapygian tribes of Messapii, Daunii and Peucetii established themselves. |