- chapter 22: The Etruscan language –
clan “son”; sec “daughter”; husur “boys”; papals and tetals “grandson”; nefts “nephew”; and
prumts “great grandchild” (by indirect descent?); apa nacna and ati nacna “grandfather”
and “grandmother.” As for the names of numbers,^40 for the fi rst ten we are certain of
the values from one to six – in the order: θu (n), zal, ci, sa, maχ, huθ - and “ten”, which
is sar. The terms for “seven,” “eight” and “nine” are defi nitely cezp, nurφ and semφ,
though it is not possible to determine which term corresponds to which value. For the
tens there is zaθrum “20,” of unknown etymology, and the series formed with a suffi x
-alχ, a multiplier: cialχ “30,” sealχ “40,” muvalχ “50” (?) huθalχ “60,” cezpalχ, semφalχ,
nurφalχ “70–80–90.” Neither the word for “100” nor that for “1000” is attested. The
rest of the numbers are formed through processes of addition and subtraction. Addition is
used for the fi rst six numbers in the tens: for example, ci sar “13,” huθzar “16,” ci zaθrum
“23,” sa- zaθrum “24,” and so on. For the last three numbers we revert to a subtractive
process. So “19” is θun-em zaθrum “one-without //twenty” (i.e. “twenty without one”),
as Latin undeviginti; “18” is esl-em zaθrum, like Latin duodeviginti. Etruscan use of the
subtractive system is more extensive than the Latin, for “17” is ci-em zaθrum against
the form of Latin septemdecim; it is not impossible that, as the Roman system of graphic
notation of numerals is of Etruscan origin, they also show a subtractive process, which in
fact was not refl ected in the Indo-European matrix of Latin.
As a general conclusion, we can say that all the vocabulary examples above confi rm what
already seems clear from the facts of morphosyntactic structure: the Etruscan language
is genealogically isolated. This does not imply that Etruscan is lacking in individual
lexical items that can be traced to Greek or Latin-Italic languages. Many of the names
of the vessels mentioned above, as culiχna, aska, pruχum, are lexical borrowings from the
Greek (respectively, κύλιξ α̉σκός πρόχουν), evidently because of the prestige attached to
the Greek mode of wine consumption (the Etruscan word for “wine,” vinum, is likewise
a loan word, from Fοĩνος). Also refl ecting Greek is elaiva- “olive” from ε̉λαίFα. Words
like nefts “nephew,” or prumts “great grandchild,” were borrowed from an Italic language
(presumably Umbrian), while to Latin are attributed cela, “cell,” or macstr- (at the root
of Mastarna) from magister. But the absence of any systematic correspondences in basic
vocabulary for the names of relatives, or for the numerals, shows that similarities, such
as those recognizable in names, are due to long-standing contacts between Etruscans and
the other peoples of ancient Italy.
NOTES1 Abbreviations identifying inscriptions refer to the Etruskische Texte (Rix ed. 1991). Other
abbreviations are common ones. In the transliterated texts the values of signs are generally
intuitive, while it is to be noted that φ represents /ph/, θ /th/ and χ /kh/; among the sibilant
consonants ś represents ç (sade), while sֹ transcribes (or ); lastly, ê represents the
“backward” epsilon in the Tabula Cortonensis.
I would like to thank Jean MacIntosh Turfa for translating, in a very satisfactory way, the
original Italian text; I am especially grateful to Elizabeth Jane Shepherd for checking,
improving and correcting my changes in the English translation, sometimes all other than
linguistically faultless.
2 Agostiniani 2006; Van Heems 2011.
3 Cristofani 1991, pp. 11–31; Agostiniani 2006, pp. 181–187.
4 Benelli 2007; Wallace 2008, pp. 135–195.
5 Belfi ore 2010.