The Etruscan Language in General

About the Etruscan Language in General ©B

Quoted from [Bibl. 6 pp. 11-14].

Stele from Lemnos

The problem of Etruscan origins is encapsulated in the peculiarity of the language, which is different from any other in Italy or in Europe. Unlike all the other languages of Europe, except for Basque, Hungarian and Finnish, Etruscan does not belong to the great Indo-European family of languages spoken from around 4000 BCE by groups of people migrating from a region in central Europe around the Baltic area, as far east as India and as far west as Ireland. The only known related language is that preserved in a remarkable inscription (picture on right: Stone stele from Lemnos, 6th century BCE, Athens, National Museum), written in an alphabet and language akin to Etruscan on a stele with the figure of a warrior, found in 1885 at Kaminia on the northern Aegean island of Lemnos and dated to the late sixth century BCE. It has 98 letters, forming 33 words. In 1928 Italian archaeologists in Lemnos found similar fragmentary inscriptions on sherds of locally made pottery. These were of vital importance, for they showed that the language was actually spoken in Lemnos: the stele had not been imported from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. We know, therefore, that a dialect close to Etruscan was spoken at Lemnos before the Athenian conquest of the island in the second half of the sixth century BCE. This dialect was different from all other languages spoken in the area. We do not know, however, how and when it came to be spoken there.

The Etruscan language which read on the earliest inscriptions in Etruria had evidently already been spoken in the area for long time, and it provides proof of the Etruscans' relationship with their neighbours. For instance, the commercial and cultural contacts they had with the Greeks are reflected in their vocabulary: Greek names for drinking vessels were taken into the language (e.g. culichna, from kylix, 'cup'). A very large number of Greek mythological figures are depicted and named in Etruscan art and inscriptions. We find Etruscan words in Umbrian, and most of the so-called Iguvine Tablets from Gubbio, in the Umbrian dialect, are written in the Etruscan alphabet. We also find, on the other hand, Umbrian and Latin words in Etruscan. For example, Etruscan neftš is certainly of Latin origin: it comes from Latin nepos 'nephew'. The Latin word was adopted by the Etruscans, just as the word cousin was adopted from French into English. Vinum, 'wine', also comes from Latin. Conversely, Etruscan influence in Rome left clear traces in the Latin language. A close study of Latin vocabulary reveals many words which were originally Etruscan, most of them connected with luxurious living and higher culture, including writing. Four words dealing with writing came into Latin by way of the Etruscan language, confirming the Etruscan transmission of the Greek alphabet to the Romans: elementum, whose earlier meaning was 'letter of the alphabet', litterae, 'writing' (originally derived from Greek diphthera, 'skin', a material on which people wrote); stylus, 'writing implement', and cera, 'wax' (for wax tablets on which to take notes).

The main problem confronting scholars studying the Etruscan language are, first, that it resembles no other language in Europe or elsewhere: in direct contrast with Linear B, which turned out to be an unknown script used for a known language (i.e. Greek), Etruscan is an unknown language written in a known script - the alphabet. Secondly, no literature survives: we have no narrative texts, no history, poetry or drama. Thirdly, the 13,000 Etruscan inscriptions that have come down to us are mostly short: dedications or epitaphs, with names, human and divine, titles, and a few common nouns, numbers and verbs. The few longer ones are technical: religious texts, prayers, rites and contracts. Attempting to solve these difficulties, scholars have studied the Etruscan language in a variety of ways, using bilingual inscriptions and glosses as well as linguistic and cultural-archaeological methods.

Gold tablets from Pyrgi, c. 500 BCE. Inscribed in Phoenician (left) and Etruscan (centre and right)

Bilingual texts include three gold tablets written in Phoenician and Etruscan, found in 1964 at Pyrgi, the port of Caere, as well as some thirty Etruscan-Latin inscriptions. There are also numerous 'picture bilinguals', in which labels or captions identify pictures on wall-paintings, gems and engraved mirrors. Particularly promising is the comparison of Etruscan religious inscriptions with those of their neighbours. The Iguvine Tablets, for example, in the Umbrian language, are 'quasi-bilingual', written partly in the Etruscan and partly in a Latin alphabet, and resemble religious inscriptions of Etruria in both structure and content.

Glosses comprise the only non-archaeological epigraphical evidence available to us concerning the Etruscan language. They are definitions or marginal notes, intended by ancient authors to explain Etruscan words which appeared in Greek or Latin texts, including many words which referred to the etrusca disciplina, the religious sphere of divination which the Romans imported from their neighbours. They refer to birds, plants and rituals: for example capys 'eagle'. Other glosses explain atrium, the 'entrance' of the typical Roman house; ais, 'god'; lucumo, 'king', and clan, 'son'.

Important contributions have also been made by the study of names and syntax and of the transformation of Greek words brought into Etruscan, such as the names of Greek gods and heroes inscribed on Etruscan gems and mirrors. Etruscan pronunciation, and the changes it underwent during the approximately seven centuries when Etruscan was spoken and written, can be reconstructed because these changes were regularly reflected in the spelling, which remained, it seems, strictly phonetic. The Etruscan never developed an 'historical' spelling as in English, where for example the oo of 'spoon', once pronounced with a long o, as in 'whole', now has the same sound as u in 'rule'.

Etruscan cannot be interpreted through any kind of 'etymological' method which claims connections, for example, with Albanian and Basque, Hebrew, Turkish, etc. Such connections are based on accidental, superficial resemblances with other languages or language families, not on any real relationship. As a language, Etruscan is in fact isolated. For this reason, the most fruitful method has been the cultural-archaeological approach, in which an inscription is considered in its historical context and in close relation to the monument or object on which it appears. A good example of inscriptions studied in such a manner is the Etruscan book reconstructed from linen bands later used to wrap a mummy, now in Zagreb. These were originally part of a ritual book, a liturgical calendar listing names of gods, dates, and types of offerings to be made.

The discovery of the Pyrgi tablets, hailed as the long-sought-after 'bilingual' in 1964, marked a turning-point in Etruscan studies. It coincided with, and was in part responsible for, a new focus in the study of the Etruscan language, which can be summarised as follows:

A view of the historical and geographical context of the inscriptions as having been made in Italy at a specific time is in keeping with the growing consciousness of the Etruscans as deeply involved in ancient Italy as well as in the ancient Mediterranean.
A new study of monuments which have been in museums and collections for a hundred years or more has resulted in discoveries as important as those from newly excavated material, restoring archaeological and historical contexts of objects uprooted from their original environment by 'treasure hunting' excavations.
Collections of all known inscriptions have been made or are in progress. Such Corpora, begun in the nineteenth century, have been started up again and new ones inaugurated in a remarkable wave of international collaboration: these include the Corpus of Etruscan Inscriptions (CIE); the Thesaurus, listing all Etruscan words to be found in inscriptions and glosses; and the Corpus of Etruscan Mirrors (CSE), containing many interesting names of mythological figures. The guiding spirit behind all these projects has been Massimo Pallottino, who was also responsible for the Testimonia Linguae Etruscae (TLE) a selection of the most important inscriptions, listed according to their provenance. The appearance of a fully-fledged grammar of Etruscans (Pfiffig 1975) - though criticised by some scholars as over optimistic - has helped to stimulate further study.

Bibliography: [6] Larissa Bonfante: Reading the Past: Etruscan, Trustees of the British Museum Published by the British Museum Publications Ltd, 46 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QQ ©1990 (ISBN 0-7141-8071-8).
Further reading: G. Bonfante and L. Bonfante: The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Manchester and New York, 1983 (trans. as Lingua e Cultura degli Etrusci, rev. trans. Rome 1985).
[CIE] Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum, various places, 1873, 1970, 1980, ongoing.
[TLE] M. Pallottino: Testimonia Linguae Etruscae, Florence 1968.
A. Pfiffig: Die Etruskische Sprache, Graz 1969.
E.H.Richardson: An Archaeological Introduction to the Etruscan Language, in ETRUSCAN LIFE AND AFTERLIFE, ed. L.Bonfante, Detroit 1986 (pp.215-31).
Thesaurus Linguae Etruscae, I, INDICE LESSICALE, Rome 1978.