Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/65

O S H O S N 55 tain that this continued to be the vernacular tongue of the people of Italy until long after the Roman conquest. Of the ethnical affinities or origin of the Oscans we know nothing, except what may be gathered philologically from the remains of their language ; and their relations with the Sanmites and other Sabellian tribes, whom we find during the historical period settled in this part of Italy, are extremely obscure. Perhaps the most plausible theory is that they were in very early times the inhabitants of the regions subsequently occupied by a race of invaders from the north, who were known as Sabines, Samnites, and Sabellians, but who, being comparatively few in numbers, and in an inferior stage of civilization, gradually adopted the language of the conquered race (see ITALY, vol. xiii. p. 445). It is certain that the Oscan language continued in com mon use as a vernacular dialect till the close of the Roman republic. Ennius boasted that he was possessed of three tongues because he could speak Latin, Greek, and Oscan (Gell. xvii. 17); and at the time of the Social War (88 B.C.) the allies made an attempt to introduce it as the official language, and struck coins with Oscan inscriptions bearing the names of Viteliu (for Italia), Safinim, &c. After the failure of that movement there can be no doubt that the language was never again employed for official purposes, though it would linger long in use among the rustic populations of the mountains. Nor was it altogether without a literature, for the FabulasAtellanse, a kind of rude farces popular among the Romans, not only derived their names and origin from the Oscan district of Campania, but were undoubtedly in the first instance composed and recited in the Oscan dialect. The monuments of the language which have been preserved to us by inscriptions are much more numerous than those of any other ancient Italian dialect. The principal of them are enumerated in the article above referred to, and they are all collected and examined in detail by Professor Mommsen in his Unter- Italischen Dialekte (Leipsic, 1850). The general result is that the Oscan language must have resembled the Latin much more closely than any other of the Italian dialects, but wanted almost entirely the Greek or Pelasgic element which is found so distinctly in the more cultivated language, and which formed the basis of the Messapian and other dialects of the southern part of the Italian penin sula. See Huschke, Die Oskischcn und Sabcllischcn Dcnkmdler, Elber- fekl, 1856. OSHKOSH, a city of the United States, capital of Winnebago county, Wisconsin, stretches from the west side of Lake Winnebago for about 3 miles up Fox River to Lake Buttes des Morts, and covers an area of about 8 square miles. By rail the distance from Milwaukee is 84 miles. Oshkosh is the seat of the United States district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin ; and, besides the court-house, it contains the State normal school, a fine high school, and two opera-houses. The leading industry is the manufacture of sashes, doors, and blinds. Lumber shingles, matches, trunks, and carriages are also manufactured, and there are foundries, match- factories, flour-mills, and breweries. The population was G085 in 1860, 12,663 in 1870, and 15,748 in 1880. Oshkosh may be said to date from 1836; it was in corporated in 1853. In 1859, 1866, 1874, and 1875 it suffered severely from conflagrations. OSIANDER, ANDREAS (1498-1552), German Reformer, was born at Gunzenhausen, near Nuremberg, on December 19, 1498. His German name was Heiligmann, or, ac cording to others, Hosemann. After studying at Leipsic, Altenburg, and Ingolstadt, he was ordained in 1520 to the priesthood, when he became Hebrew tutor in the Augus- tinian convent at Nuremberg. Two years afterwards ho was appointed preacher in the St Lorenz Kirche, and about the same time he publicly joined the Lutheran party, taking a prominent part in the discussion which ultimately led to the adoption of the Reformation by the city. He married in 1525. As a theologian of recognized ability and influence, he was present at the Marburg con ference in 1529, at the Augsburg diet in 1530, and at the signing of the Smalkald articles in 1537, and took part in other public transactions of importance in the history of the Reformation ; if he had an exceptionally large number of personal enemies the circumstance can be readily explained by his vehemence, coarseness, and arrogance as a controversialist. The introduction of the Augsburg Interim in 1548 necessitated his departure from Nurem berg ; he went first to Breslau, and afterwards settled at Konigsberg as professor in the new university there at the call of Duke Albert of Prussia. Here in 1550 he published two disputations, the one De Lcge et Evany elio and the other De Justijicatione, which aroused a vehement controversy that was not brought to a close by his death in 1552 (Octo ber 17). The nature of the dispute has been indicated elsewhere (see LUTHERANS, vol. xv. p. 85). The party was afterwards led by Funk, Osiander s son-in-law, but disappeared after his execution for high treason in 1566. Osiander, besides a number of controversial writings, published a corrected edition of the Vulgate, with notes, in 1522, and a Harmony of the Gospels the first work of its kind in 1537. His son Lukas Osiander (1534-1604), a prominent ecclesiastic in Wiir- temberg, published a Biblia Latino, ad fontes Hcbr. text, emcndata cum breri et perspicua expositione illustrata (1573-86) in seven quarto volumes, which was highly appreciated in its day, an Insti- tutio ChristiansB Religionis (1576), and, his best-known work, an Epitome of the Magdeburg Centuries. Several other Osianders, also descendants of Andreas, figure with more or less prominence in the theological literature of Germany. OSIRIS. See EGYPT, vol vii. p. 716. OSKALOOSA, a city of the United States, capital of Mahaska county, Iowa, about 55 miles south-east of Des Moines. It lies on high ground between the Des Moines and the South Skunk, in a fine agricultural district, with coal and iron mines in the vicinity ; and it contains two colleges Oskaloosa College (1861), belonging to the "Disciples," and Penn College (1873), a Quaker institu tion flour-mills, wool-factories, iron and brass foundries, lumber yards, &c., and an artesian well 2900 feet deep. The population, 3204 in 1870 and 4598 in 1880, is esti mated at over 7000 in 1884. OSMAN. This transcription of the Arabic name OthrnAn (which first appears in history as borne by the famous companion of Mohammed, and third caliph, see vol. xvi. pp. 548, 563) corresponds to the pronunciation of the Persians and Turks, and is therefore commonly used in speaking of Osman I. Ghazi, the founder of the dynasty of Osmanli or Ottoman Turks. He took the title of sultan in 699 A.H. (1299 A.D.), ruled in Asia Minor, and died in 726 A.H. Osman II., the sixteenth Ottoman sultan, came to the throne in 1616 A.D., and was strangled in a sedition of the Janissaries in 1621. See TURKEY. OSMIUM.. See PLATINUM. OSNABRUCK, a prosperous manufacturing town of Prussia, the see of a Roman Catholic bishop, and the capital of a district of its own name in the province of Hanover, is pleasantly situated on the Hase, 70 miles to the west of the town of Hanover. The older streets are narrow and crooked, containing many interesting examples of Gothic and Renaissance domestic architecture, while the substantial houses of the modem quarters testify to the present well-being of the town. The old fortifications have been converted into promenades. The Roman Catholic cathedra], with its three towers, is a spacious building of the 12th century, partly in the Romanesque and partly in