The Future Perfect in Oscan and Umbrian, and the Ō‐ Perfect in South Picene

Oscan and Umbrian have a future perfect suffix ‐ us ‐/– ur– . Although various sources for this suffix have been suggested, none satisfactorily explain its origin. This article evaluates these previous attempts and makes a new proposal: the Oscan and Umbrian future perfect can be identified as a perfect suffix * ‐ō‐ plus the future suffix * ‐s‐ . The perfect suffix * ‐ō‐ , although not directly attested in Oscan and Umbrian, is found in the related language South Picene. The origin of the * ‐ō‐ suffix is traced back to inherited perfects of the type 3sg. * Ce‐CoH‐e , e.g. * de‐doh 3 ‐e ‘gave’ > * dedō → Umbrian teřust ‘(s)he will have given’, with subsequent reanalysis of the root vowel *‐ ō ‐ as a suffix. A parallel for this development is found in Gaulish.