SELECTED TEXTS

Our knowledge of the Etruscan language originates from both direct and indirect sources.

We consider as indirect sources the loans which took place between Etruscan and Greek,  between Etruscan and the Italic languages as well as a certain number of technical terms shared by these languages. They are seemingly the result of borrowings and exchanges that took place in protohistorical or historical times, although more ancient, i.e. prehistoric, borrowings cannot be excluded. Here are some examples (further examples may be found in the glossary):

According to the explicit testimony of coeval Roman authors, there is a number of Etruscan borrowings in Latin (e.g. atrium, histrio, lucumon). To these words we have probably to add many more Latin words, the etymology of which is obscure. In particular those words having an Etruscan-like ending may come into account. The most typical "Etruscan" endings are -na (e.g. persona ='person', antemna ='antenna'), -rna, -sa (e.g. favisa = 'a place reserved for votive objects next to a sanctuary'), -nd- (e.g. mundus = 'world'), -nt-, -on-, -it-, etc. A particular place is reserved for the loanwords that Latin borrowed from Greek possibly via the Etruscan language, e.g. Latin triump(h)us (='triumph') from Greek thríambos.

Onomastics are very important, since they include correspondences of personal names (e.g.. Etr. Marce ~ Lat. Marcus; Etr. Aule ~ Lat. Aulus, etc.), mythological names (e.g. Etr. Axile ~ Greek Axilleos, Lat. Achilleus etc.), divinity names (e.g. Etr. Menerva ~ Lat. Minerva, etc.) and place names (e.g. Etr. Capue ~ Greek Kapaneús, Lat. Capua, etc.)

The so-called glossae--that is the Etruscan words occasionally quoted by Greek and Latin authors or collected on purpose in works like the Lexikon by  Esichios from Alexandria or the Liber Glossarum by Papias -- handed down to posterity the meaning of approx. sixty Etruscan words, e.g. capys 'hawk',  fala(n)do 'sky', arimos 'ape', celius 'september', etc.

The direct sources are the epigraphic texts found during the archaeological excavations. The number of Etruscan scripts found so far amounts to 13,000.

The inscriptions are written, engraved or painted either on architectural elements (in particular on the outer or inner walls of the sepulchral sites) or on vases, urns, terracottas, cippi, metal plates, coins, statues, bronze and ivory objects, roof tiles, bricks, etc.

The bulk of the inscriptions consists of funerary texts. The sepulchral epigraphs are generally very short and stereotyped. The most complete form includes the personal names of the deceased, i.e. name (praenomen), gentilitial name (gentilitium) and -- sometimes -- family name (nomen), followed by the father's name (patronimicum) and mother's name (matronimicum) and the words clan (son) or sex (daughter). Sometimes, expressions like lupu(ce) (='he died'), svalce (='he lived') and avils (="years; aged ... years") are also added.

Many dedicatory inscriptions include just the mi pronoun (="I") and the name of the divinity with an appurtenance suffix (-al, -s), thus making the object to speak: mi unial 'I belong to Uni (Juno)', mi menervas 'I belong to Minerva'. Sometimes these formulas are supplemented with the offerer's name or they use verbs like mulevanice, turuce '[s/he] offered, dedicated', e.g. mini avle mulevanice = 'Aulus dedicated me (Acc.)'

A cippus showing the limits of a landed property. Perugia, II century BC

Some particular texts pertain to the religious life of the Etruscans. Two of the longest Etruscan texts found so far have a religious contents. The so-called Capua's Tile contains liturgical prescriptions, while the linen bands (Liber Linteus) found on theMummy of Zagreb contain a religious calendary. A few bronze plates contain responses of oracles (sortes = 'lots'). The inscriptions of some leaden plates can be interpreted as curses (devotiones, execrationes) as they contain formulas consecrating an explicitly named enemy to the gods or to the infernal demons. A peculiar object is the Divinatory Liver found at Piacenza, containing names of gods, which was used to forebode omina from the liver of  sacrificed sheeps.

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