From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation,
search Ethnic groups within the Italian peninsula, 9th to the
4th centuries BC. Subsequently the invasions of the Gauls and
the defensive activities of the Roman Republic made large
changes in the map.  The Umbri were an Italic tribe of ancient
Italy.[1] A region called Umbria still exists and is currently
occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the
ancient Umbria.  Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the
9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops. Umbria was
bordered by the Tiber and Nar rivers and included the Appennine
slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient Umbrian language is a branch
of a group called Oscan-Umbrian, which is related to the Latino-
Faliscan languages (Buck, 1904).  Early references[edit]  Pliny
the Elder wrote concerning the folk-etymology of the name:  The
Umbrian people are thought the oldest in Italy; they are
believed to have been called Ombrii (here, "the people of the
thunderstorm," after ὅμβρος