Paleoglot

A resting place

2012-01-25T16:00:00.011-06:00

Recently I've been investigating the Etruscan word hupni. Looking at the word, I had assumed a native formation in -ni which normally seems to mark persons elsewhere. I shrugged off the slightly awkward use of -ni, open to the possibility that the suffix might have a broader usage than I thought. Through this analysis, one must assume a root *hup-. In turn, with the apparent meaning of the full

The holy goddess of sewers

2012-01-20T17:30:00.005-06:00

It started with looking up North African terms for 'rainbow' in Berber and Arabic. I confirmed that one Arabic expression is similar to the hypothetical Etruscan expression *Tluscval arcam that might lie behind the aforementioned abbreviation tlusc arc inscribed on the Piacenza Liver where its religious significance might have something to do with a role as messenger between sky and earth. That

Explaining away "tlusc arc"

2012-01-15T17:00:00.161-06:00

A commenter reminded me of some unresolved issues regarding tlusc arc, written on the Liver of Piacenza artifact. The inscription in question can be seen inside the blue box in the picture above. To get to properly solving this inscription, we must overcome a few lazy misanalyses that still stifle any progress in the field. First, there's the persistent misanalysis of Tluschva as a "plurality of

Coffee is culture

2012-01-10T16:00:00.017-06:00

Yasemin extolls the virtues of coffee and the culture surrounding it in Turkey on her blog Yasemin's Kitchen. I'm not Turkish but I do relate. She's got it right. Coffee isn't just the drink; it's the self-reflection, the contemplation, and especially the company you're with to enjoy it. There's an entire philosophy behind that cup. She shares a lot of other delicious recipes from the

Ghost words and anti-dictionaries

2012-01-08T16:00:00.001-06:00

I've mused before that what we need is an Etruscan "anti-dictionary" to reference all the words that have been made up over the decades out of thin air due to misanalyses by various scholars. Lazy authors spread these infectious memes the most, of course, but even careful scholars can overlook things. These words end up being taken as 100% fact by more naive readers and it's difficult sometimes

Baxter-Sagart reconstructions and Occam's Razor

2012-01-03T16:00:00.005-06:00

The internet abounds with information if we make the effort to search. One interesting find is a pdf of the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction of Old Chinese roots in tabular format. Excellent! But being an analytical bad news bear, I also see some important issues that tie in with my stance on developing orthographies that properly conform to Occam's Razor. This is out of respect for logic, for

Those who clutch on to the past have no future

2011-12-13T16:00:00.091-06:00

"You can't rehabilitate shoehorn freaks like GG," blurts Douglas Kilday about me on Cybalist, a Yahoogroups forum originally devoted to Indo-European linguistics before devolving into a depraved gathering of angry lunatics hurling invectives to malign intelligent debate. And to emphasize just how depraved many of these sorts are online, this remark apparently arose simply because of a perfectly

Looking into the eyes of the Iceman

2011-12-07T16:00:00.044-06:00

Remember Ötzi the Iceman? He was that mummified man found back in 1991, ice-encased in the Alps somewhere around the border of Austria and Italy, having died some 5300 years ago at the age of approximately 45. Above is a reconstruction of his face. I didn't know this until now but it turns out that not only can scientists figure out what supper he ate last, but they can even be reasonably

Sand-hundred

2011-12-04T08:00:00.017-06:00

Here's a funny little word in Greek: ψαμμακόσιοι (psammakósioi). It literally means 'sand-hundred', from ψάμμος 'sand' with the suffix for 'a hundred' attached. As you might have guessed, it conveys a huge uncountable sum. I love the mental imagery of that.

The historical use of non-decimal counting bases

2011-11-18T18:00:00.000-06:00

When we think of other cultures with alternative number bases, that is, counting systems other than the decimal system of one to ten that we've arbitrarily become accustomed to in the modern world, many will recall the examples of Sumerian's base-60 system (sexagesimal) or the Mayan base-20 system (vigesimal). A professor of anthropology at Humboldt State University, Victor Golla, describes some

A matter of the Egyptian heart

2011-11-12T16:00:00.021-06:00

The Egyptians placed a lot of importance on the heart and it was believed to be the seat of the mind and the soul. In the English-speaking world, we usually treat "heart" as a symbolism of the feelings but for ancient peoples around the Mediterranean, it was instead the seat of reason and essence. They didn't realize yet the significance of the brain in that regard and of the bodily organs that

The reconstruction of the Pre-Egyptian case system

2011-11-10T16:00:00.089-06:00

Antonio Loprieno states something confusing to me on page 55 of Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction (1995): "Also, the ending *-u is still preserved, although functionally reinterpreted, in the forms of some singular patterns as well: when the original stem ended in a vowel, for example *u in *ḥāruw '(the god) Horus,' *-a in *ḫupraw 'form,' or *-i in *masḏiw 'enemy,' the ending was

Socrates' debate with Gorgias and others

2011-11-09T20:00:00.001-06:00

I'll get to Egyptian tomorrow, but for now please take a look at Plato's Gorgias on Perseus, which may be read both in its original Greek and also in English translation. It's then discussed on Youtube by an interesting online lecturer. As I finally got around to reading Gorgias, I immediately appreciated how much it relates to the modern age. The seething anger of a growing number of people

Changes in Pre-Egyptian vocalism

2011-11-07T20:00:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been reflecting on what Loprieno says about the early Egyptian vowel system on page 55 of Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction (1995): "In our discussion of phonology (section 3.4.3), we saw that one of the major features of Egyptian in its early stages was the presence of a strong expiratory stress, which eventually caused a reduction to /ø/ of short vowels in open syllables

Theft is big business

2011-11-03T20:00:00.023-05:00

BBC News informs us of the frustratingly inevitable plundering that occurred in yet another country in arms: Libya's historic treasures survive the revolution. One may start suspecting a regular, enduring theme of events given Egypt's looting under the watch of Zahi Hawass (who was unsettlingly connected with the Mubarak regime at home, mind you) and Iraq's looting of Babylonian artifacts

Small quibbles about Proto-Berber orthography

2011-10-27T17:00:00.002-05:00

Phoenix responded to a minor issue I raised about Proto-Berber orthography in Why I reconstruct *β and not *v. In defense of using a relatively arcane symbol *β (taken from the IPA system) for a v-like sound that could instead be accommodated by a straight-forward symbol *v, he supplied the following reasons: "In African linguistics v is commonly used as the symbol for the voiced fricative while

Egyptian vowel reconstruction and other gripes

2011-10-16T19:00:00.002-05:00

Occam's Razor is a valuable tool to the student and scholar. It forces us to think hard about the assumptions we hold on to and whether they are absolutely justified or whether there's room for doubt. Linguistics seems to be one of those studies where this methodical principle is still not respected to the level that it should be and, as a result, there are many ancient languages being

To the earth and sky

2011-10-10T23:57:00.002-05:00

Back to the Liber Linteus again, the longest Etruscan text so far known that remains untranslated (but not if determined people can help it.) One of the many interesting things about this text are the several binary oppositions, much of which allude to the sanctified space defined during the rituals described in it. Two good examples of this two-way contrast are the phrases, hante-c repine-c "

See here!

2011-10-07T09:30:00.022-05:00

After parsing into sentences and adding punctuation, TLE 170, the inscription devoted to Arnth Alethnas who is described as a 43-year-old leaving behind two sons, reads in Etruscan as follows: Arnθ Aleθnas, Ar. clan, ril XXXXIII. Ei-tva tamera śarvenas. Clenar zal arce acnanasa. Zilc marunuχva tenθas eθl matu manime-ri.In the inscription, eitva is written without spaces however we've seen tva

Etruscan grammar - The nouns and verbs and everything

2011-10-04T16:00:00.042-05:00

Finally after much procrastination I've at last hammered out a provisional model of Etruscan verbs. My pdf, originally focused on Etruscan declension, now includes what I hope is a coherent and natural model of Etruscan conjugation. Given the available literature, I fear that I'm the only one that dwells on these little details. So please review it in the Lingua Files section. This is to be, as

What if the problem is traditional academia?

2011-10-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

Memiyawanzi raises an issue in Imposter syndrome about perfectionism run amok among linguistics students (and students by and large). I noticed that the focus is on the individual's internal psychology but I have an even broader perspective on this. Individual quirks and psychoses My life experience has led me to believe that many students who seem to naturally gravitate to scholarly pursuits

Haider's transcription of the Minoan medicinal text

2011-09-26T16:00:00.030-05:00

Eureka! I've finally nabbed a detailed photo of the previously mentioned Minoan spell text. With all the silly errors I discovered being committed by Etruscologists alone, I suspected that a photo might reveal similar errors in the transcription of this text too. Sure enough, I'm reminded that many have a lazy eye. Our Minoan text is written on lines 6 and 7 from right to left (see picture

FDR Second Bill of Rights Speech Footage

2011-09-20T16:00:00.106-05:00

My, how times have changed. Now, of course, Americans don't have these rights. (Nor do Canadians for that matter.) To quote: "For unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world." The question I have is: Can we (or should we) rely on corporatized governments to cherish human rights when abject slavery remains profitable to the most ruthless of capitalists?

A pair of Minoan deities recorded in Egyptian

2011-09-18T17:00:00.061-05:00

Concerning that ever-fascinating Minoan spell written out syllabically in Egyptian hieratic during the Amarna period, I wonder about the ritual context itself of the spell and how it might relate to similar practices around the Mediterranean. Andras Zeke at Minoan Blog had attempted his own explanation but this analysis is unrealistic. (I stopped at the hyperbole that suggested Miguel Valério's

Alpha males, beta males (... and other choices to be discovered)

2011-09-14T16:00:00.066-05:00

A couple of days ago Melinda Beck at The Wall Street Journal posed the question Are Alpha Males Healthy?. The subtext reads Aggressiveness aids rise to top, but the stress can harm a body. First I can't help but feel that this subject is in some way triggered by the dramatic economic downturn currently unfolding. The implicit notion here perhaps is that wealthy "alpha males" are more stressed

Revisiting the lily

2011-09-10T16:00:00.533-05:00

Looking back at my personal notes and some previous online conversations concerning the common words for 'lily' or 'flower' that spread across the Mediterranean, I believe there's still some unfinished business. A conflict arises Under Hittite alel-, Jaan Puhvel lists off related forms in a multitude of languages showing that this word must have been an important "culture word" since olden

New atheists and old debates

2011-09-07T16:00:00.205-05:00

I've just read the June 2007 article The New Atheists at the Nation by Ronald Aronson reflecting on the rise of atheism, particularly in published literature, in America during the height of the Bush regime. "Atheism" as we're exploring it here is in a broader sense of a "lack of belief in or devotion to invisible cartoon characters called 'gods'". During that period of time, as we all recall,

Tidings from Arzawa

2011-09-04T16:00:00.022-05:00

Written by J. David Hawkins, The Arzawan letters in perspective (2009) covers some interesting facts concerning the history of the region of Arzawa such as the Amarna letters recording correspondences between the ruler of Arzawa, King Tarhundaradu, and the concurrent Egyptian king referred to as Nimuwaria (ie. Egyptian *Nib-Muˀˁat-Rīˁa = Amenhotep III). It's frustrating that more isn't known

The sun and the lion

2011-08-30T16:00:00.005-05:00

Here's a seemingly simple question: How do you pronounce Egyptian rw 'lion'? Coptic has laboi 'lioness'[1] and isn't a direct descendent of rw; it can't guide us. William Albright had suggested a pronunciation *ruw[2][3] based on very little. To help us backtrack, we have additional data from surrounding languages and language groups and it all shows that this word travelled far and wide

Something fishy

2011-08-29T16:00:00.010-05:00

Julius Pokorny reconstructed the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) etymon *dʰǵʰū- (which was later updated to *dʰǵʰuh₁-). This was to explain apparent cognates in Baltic (Lithuanian žuvìs, Lettish zivs) and Greco-Armenian (Greek ἰχθύς ikhthús[1]; Old Armenian ձուկն jukn) languages. Yet given the geographical restriction of the cognate set and given the strangely similar Ugaritic word, *dagu [dg] 'fish'

Space, time and language

2011-08-23T16:00:00.080-05:00

I notice my thinking comes in waves. As you readers know, I often dwell on linguistic details but sometimes my mind gets temporarily bored with that and instinctively, it seems, my focus drifts to more generalized notions of things as if it were some kind of "learning sleep-cycle" until the next awakening. Lately I ponder on the interrationship of space-time and grammar which may come across as

More on Etruscan verb *zil-

2011-08-17T16:00:00.003-05:00

To add to my previous rant, Overseeing in Anatolia, it turns out that a quick google search yielded a gem in my favour. To recap, since the attested Etruscan words zilaθ and zilχ strongly imply a verbal root *zil- presumably meaning 'to oversee, to supervise', I considered the possibility that the verb was simply inherited from a Proto-Cyprian form *zila-. I then considered the possibility of a

Innateness of grammar

2011-08-15T16:00:00.191-05:00

On Language Log, I came across Universal Grammar haters. For some, the debate rages on about nurture versus nature and I, like this blogger, also think the debate is inane. My personal slant draws from the field of artificial intelligence where it's an already-firm conclusion that "grammars" aren't just abstract concepts pertaining to linguistics only. In a broader sense "grammar" is structure;

Overseeing in Ancient Anatolia

2011-08-12T16:00:00.004-05:00

A particular Etruscan word currently haunts my mental processes, zil 'to oversee'. It's the verbal base of the participle zilaθ 'supervised' and the noun zilχ 'supervision'. I have some quams against the comparatively exaggerated values given by Larissa and Giuliano Bonfante that would have zilaθ mapped to English 'magistrate' and zilχ equivalent to 'magistracy'. For zilci Larthal Cusuś, which

Hattic grammar and Proto-Aegean

2011-08-08T16:00:00.081-05:00

I'm currently data-mining an excellent article about a very obscure subject, that of Hattic grammar. The article is written by Petra Goedegebuure who gave it a rather verbose title: Central Anatolian languages and language communities in the colony period: A Luwian-Hattian symbiosis and the independent Hittites (2008). It's refreshing that the author has a mature grasp of the subtleties regarding

The great economic cycle

2011-08-06T19:00:00.034-05:00

It's come to my attention that there are whispers of stock market collapse as the US finally admits to its troubling economics that some might say began in the 70s, let alone 2001. At any rate, it's been my experience that not only does history repeat itself but that merely knowing history doesn't really prevent anything. The more practical purpose to learning history is not simply to know it

I dedicate these musings of thought to the Temple of Numbers

2011-08-02T16:00:00.001-05:00

When I tripped over the online Perseus entry for the word χάος which alludes to the Pythagoreans, it inspired me to pursue another new trail to experience. My google-fingers floated my mind across the ocean of cyberspace until I docked at a website about Pythagoras of Samos. Some fun reflections emerged from the deeps. Pythagoreans are often said to be an important part of the foundation of

The evolution of empathy

2011-07-30T16:00:00.004-05:00

There's a great talk here available online at the Centre for Inquiry website that I just have to share with everyone called Evolution of empathy. The speech is very insightful and spoken in plain language. It gives a lot to think about on different societal attitudes towards moral behaviour, behavioural tendencies in social populations, and what direction we're all headed in. (No, it's not

Is problem solving dependent on money?

2011-07-27T16:00:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I google for much more than informative websites or blogs. There are a wealth of interesting journal articles available too, sprinkled all over cyberspace like tasty candy for the mind. But beware of greedy corporations and old-school institutions who try their best to interfere with the inevitable future of the internet: free information exchange. For example, there was this

There's Latin acila and then there's Etruscan acila

2011-07-24T16:00:00.005-05:00

I received a comment that I felt was just best to delete, not because it was at all offensive but because it was full of inaccurate, half-remembered facts. It's time-consuming to try and piece together someone else's "thought mess" and even more time-consuming to explain away all that isn't even true. One rule is definite on my blog: No half-remembered facts. If you can use your fingers to type a

Are childhood "taunting songs" universal?

2011-07-21T16:00:00.010-05:00

Lately John Wells's has been exploring taunting songs and the concept strangely has me hooked. Not sure why. Maybe I'm just immature but I'm finding it fun to analyse and discuss the linguistics behind these childhood taunts too. The 5-syllable nyaaah-nyah-nyah-nyaaah-nyaaah song, for example, should be widely familiar to most anglophone children and it can be overlayed onto any taunt by singing

Pit worship and common Cypro-Minoan rites

2011-07-18T16:00:00.003-05:00

Albert Grenier in The Roman spirit in religion, thought, and art (1926) described this important type of Etrusco-Roman ritual space quite succinctly[1]: "The mundus is really a mouth of hell, a way of communication between the upper earth, the abode of the living, and the subterranean world, the dwelling of the dead."As I said before, chapter 12 of the Liber Linteus shows a case alternation

Translating KN Za 10

2011-07-15T16:00:00.220-05:00

This is the post where I now willingly put myself in the bullets. This is something I owe after expressing my critique of Bayndor's recent post on the Minoan libation table known as KN Za 10. Which transliteration is right? As long as the ivory tower makes it difficult for the general public to access artifact photos, we're left to the mercy of various scholars with greater access and biased

Eyeballing Minoanists and the value of A-SA-SA-RA-ME

2011-07-12T19:00:00.051-05:00

Minoanist Leonard Palmer once wrote, “[...] for in questions of genetic relationship the linguist rightly attaches small importance to common elements of vocabulary. Decisive are resemblances of morphological procedures, for these are less readily borrowed.”[1] Eyeballing is for the bored and desperate Rational people deal in facts and probabilities, not in mere possibilities and assumptions. If

In front and in back

2011-07-08T16:00:00.004-05:00

This is pretty interesting... Puhvel's Hittite Etymological Dictionary under the term marzai- a curious snippet of Hittite text is cited and translated: "He fritters three flatbreads and crumbles them in front and back of the male gods of the pit, he scatters fatcakes [and] meal, and libates." The rituals cited here are the same as those of the Etruscans and, even more fun, is the fact that even

Minoan Asasarame is not a deity??

2011-07-06T18:00:00.006-05:00

The transliteration of an inscription on a libation table from the House of the Frescoes (KN Za 10) is written out as ]-TA-NU-MU-TI • YA-SA-SA-RA-MA-NA • DA-WA-[•]-DU-WA-TO • I-YA[ by John Younger to which Bayndor (Andras Zeke) of Minoan Language Blog has plausibly revised with DA-WA-SI. Shedding the ugly brackets, I would thus reconstruct the inscription in full as: • TA-NU-MU-TI •

Stress and tone in Mandarin

2011-06-29T17:00:00.007-05:00

After googling for "stress" and "mandarin", I came across one forum where a member named Carlo notifies us of a dictionary of word stress for Mandarin. As he explains the situation in more detail with helpful examples, he adds: "So some say that putonghua has several lexical stress patterns: strong-neutral, strong-weak, and weak-strong." Instinctively, I'm skeptical that our analysis of Mandarin

The imaginary tonal language

2011-06-24T17:00:00.423-05:00

Having read John Well's Phonetic Blog on Norwegian and Swedish pitch accent the other day, I see still that not everyone has the same ideas on how to convey a tonal language in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). I suspect many haven't meditated on what they mean exactly when they describe a language as a "tonal language" or "stressed language". Being a native speaker of English, growing

Praisos #2

2011-06-21T17:00:00.153-05:00

I was reading the latest post from Minoan Language Blog entitled Place-names on Cretan sealstones - A key to the decipherment of Minoan hieroglyphs? where in re of the artifact Praisos #2 the author observes: "Unfortunately there is no word separation; yet - if we follow van Effenterre's considerations - we can be almost sure that the word *inai was separate." This is a sound conclusion I can

Reconstructing Egyptian n(n)egation

2011-06-17T17:00:00.181-05:00

This is what Antonio Loprieno says about Ancient Egyptian negation on page 127 of Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction (1995): "From an etymological point of view, nn is presumably the result of the addition of an intensifier to the nexal nj, much in the same way in which similar predicate denial operators developed in Indo-European languages: Latin non < *ne-œnum 'not-one,' English not,

Let us try to be on our guard against all that sort of thing

2011-06-14T17:00:00.159-05:00

Duane at Abnormal Interests lately quoted an English translation of Plato's Politikós 263d: "But indeed, my most courageous young friend, perhaps, if there is any other animal capable of thought, such as the crane appears to be, or any other like creature, and it perchance gives names, just as you do, it might in its pride of self oppose cranes to all other animals, and group the rest, men

The house of Armna

2011-06-10T17:00:00.008-05:00

In inscription ET Vs 1.133 I notice the last name of an individual written out as Armnes. I can't be terribly certain from only three names in this rather brief inscription but it seems at first blush to me that vel : armnes : vipes : should be read with a directive case form of Armna rather than with a genitive of Armne. In this way it reads in English: "Vel (son) to Armna, of the (gens) Vipe."

Ancient African adstrate in Etruscan

2011-06-07T17:00:00.015-05:00

This subject, I feel, doesn't get enough attention and yet I think it's a fascinating topic: African loanwords in the Etruscan language. Considering what little Etruscanists currently seem to know about the language, unable even to explain conjugation and declension as I have attempted on this blog, it's probably unrealistic to expect that I should find a published mention of Punic or Berber

The Etruscan name Ramnuna

2011-06-01T17:00:00.006-05:00

In inscription ET Vs 1.60, we find a name written out as Ramnunas. This is the Etruscan genitive of Ramnuna used as a male praenomen in this inscription. This is probably a reduction of earlier *Ramniiuna composed of *Ramniiu and the pertinentive suffix -na commonly used among other things to form family names.At that, we can turn our attention to the Roman nomen Ramnius, likely the ultimate

A hairy little hair root

2011-05-26T17:00:00.004-05:00

I've been looking back recently at my deviations and notice that my attention has veered away from Proto-Indo-European for quite some time as I obsessed over the separate topic of all things Etruscan, Rhaetic and Minoan. No particular reason for this, really, it just happened that way. Sometimes one's learning journey can be quite meandering like that, much like a spider weaving her web,

Cretan geography in the land of Minoans

2011-05-22T15:00:00.000-05:00

Andras Zeke deserves a shout-out for his latest post at Minoan language blog called What do the Minoan Linear A tablets tell us about Cretan geography? - Part II. He characteristically goes to a lot of effort and detail to explain the texts for us, noting all the difficulties and possibilities. While PA-I-TO, written in Minoan Linear A script, is easily linked with the famous town of Phaistos,

Uncovering more Etruscan geography

2011-05-20T17:00:00.023-05:00

As I might have mentioned before, each and every word in a vocabulary of a particular language is in itself a universe of details. Details about origins, usage, semantic shift, etc. Each word can give us a little history lesson if we're willing to devote the time and focus.Another universe unraveled itself upon coming to my latest examination of Aχratina which is attested in TLE 930 with two case

Threads of life and tongue

2011-05-14T17:00:00.012-05:00

I'm going to indulge in more speculation based on Why would Apollo play a lyre?. I notice a connection with my previous etymology for 'kithara', a relative of the lyre, which I've been reconstructing lately as Minoan *ki-zera 'kithara' (= /'kitserə/). The word must literally have meant 'three-stringed', if we extrapolate both Minoan *ki 'three' and *zera 'hair, string', the former word being

Why does Apollo play a lyre?

2011-05-08T17:00:00.006-05:00

It seems like a simple question but mum's the word online and even Wikipedia doesn't help although it does touch on the iconic lyre in its current draft of the Apollo article. To me, it's most likely that the deity of the sun isn't given a stringed lyre due to anything more elaborate than a word pun in some forgotten tongue. Which one, when, and in what way are the remaining questions.In fact,

Recovering Casa delle Anfore

2011-05-01T17:00:00.009-05:00

Past Horizons has published Life and Death of an Etruscan Settlement, discussing the archaeology in Casa delle Anfore and what's been found. The 3D reconstructions are very helpful in giving the reader a clear picture of its past.Just beware of the archaeological hard-sell so common in this field. The author feels the need, it seems, to begin by over-hyping the significance of the site as the

The "Tages mirror" superimposed on the Piacenza Liver

2011-04-28T17:00:00.010-05:00

I'm back on that Etruscan mirror again from before when I talked about how I was wondering what exactly the haruspicial priest in the center of the scene was looking at. Is he just looking at the liver in general or is there something more specifically being pointed to? What is the overall message of this mirror? Since its contents remain a frustrating mystery to specialists, it won't hurt if I

What's the deal with Svutaf?

2011-04-25T17:00:00.005-05:00

Who is the young, winged Svutaph or Svutaf in the above drawing of mirror ET Vs S.15?[1] Many attempts have been made to explain it. Some consider it a transcription error or the real name in reverse. No one has clear answers and the mystery lingers like locker-room odour.It turns out that Vesuna is an Umbrian goddess.[2] Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante suggested an "Umbrian influence" on the

Augury and redundancy

2011-04-22T17:00:00.005-05:00

There's a curious sentence in Leland, Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition (1892), p.344:"They invented astrology and Etruscan divination, augury, oracles, magic, mythology, and moreover taught men how to make ornate and feigned images of exquisite beauty of kings long passed away, and endowed them with other names." (bold-face mine)This is the definition of augury. This is the definition

Dice, divination and a third

2011-04-19T17:00:00.007-05:00

In Paleoglot: The dicey proof of Etruscan numerals, while a general *tendency* existed for two opposing sides on classical rolling dice to add up to seven, I explain that it wasn't a hard-fast rule in the past. Other possibilities existed.[1] Nonetheless, quite a few Etruscanists and avid hobbyists will still leap to the over-assertive conclusion that the Etruscan dice *must* follow this pattern.

The inscription of TLE 773

2011-04-16T19:00:00.003-05:00

The Etruscan inscription known as TLE 773 (aka ET OA 3.8), written on a red-figure kylix, is said to read as follows:marce . svincinas . alpan . putsI have yet to see a picture of this artifact however. I would like to simply trust Rix and others in their ability to transcribe an artifact properly but I've seen enough iffy or downright incorrect transcriptions to feel that skepticism is

Around the African world in 730 days

2011-04-12T17:00:00.005-05:00

Here's an interesting tale of explorational adventure in the classical world according to General History of Africa II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa, vol 2 (1981), p.448:"According to Herodotus (fifth century), the Egyptian King Necho (c. -610 to -594) sent Phoenician mariners to sail down the Red Sea and thence to circumnavigate Africa. They are said to have taken two years on the journey,

Phoenician-Etruscan comparisons of iconography

2011-04-09T17:00:00.004-05:00

U of Penn's Professor Holly Pittman offers a long list of artifact images for us to peruse at her website. Under one directory, there are two interesting pictures, one labeled "Neo-Assyrian, Nimrud, NW Palace Harem, Pit AJ, Sacred Tree, 8th Phoenician Style" and the other "Neo-Assyrian, Nimrud, Ft Shalmaneser, SW12 Plaque, Phoenician Style". I show both photos below and they show a persistent

What is that Tages looking at?

2011-04-06T17:00:00.008-05:00

The explanation of this mirror is always the same among Etruscanists and consistently comprised of the following elements: Pava Tarχies is assumed to mean 'Child of Tages' (cf. Latin puer 'child' and Tages).Veltune is assumed to be Roman Vertumnus, god of seasons and change.Tages is assumed to be teaching Aule of Tarchon (Avl Tarχunus) the art of haruspicial divination.The woman marked by Ucernei

In the name of Atlantis

2011-04-02T18:00:00.013-05:00

I'm appreciating Ancient Tides by George LeFever who notifies us of events happening in archaeology. However in a recent post he tells us that Evidence Points to Atlantis Site in Spain without even a hint of sarcasm or doubt. Egad.Balanced or blind reporting?In all due respect, something needs to be remarked on the social evils of blind reporting, reporting in absence of informed commentary that

Pictures of Etruscan art

2011-03-31T17:00:00.001-05:00

I have a few subjects to talk about but being busy right now, I'll just report on this neat link with a number of photos of ancient Etruscan art and painted Etruscan tombs.

Minoan ostrich eggs from Africa

2011-03-23T17:00:00.011-05:00

A great testimony to how extensive and elaborate trading networks were in the ancient world is the presence of wildly foreign objects like elephant tusks and ostrich eggs in ancient Crete. This might seem astonishing on the surface but it gives us a clue that the Minoans had an appetite for these items to the far south and the Egyptians were in a position to take advantage of this commerce.The

It's fortunate Indiana Jones wasn't an Etruscanist

2011-03-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

I can't say I'm terribly fond of cheaply assembled tourist sites pretending to be genuine blogs and designed to lure netizens in with minimal content while laced with a minefield of ads from top to bottom. Nonetheless, ignoring the advertisement hell (just don't click any of it) and the brainless hook that visiting these tombs "will make you feel like Indiana Jones when you explore them," Maremma

An offering to Tluschva

2011-03-16T17:00:00.006-05:00

Building on my previous elaboration on the Etruscan god Tluschva, we still have a partially translated inscription whose second line needs interpretation:kanuta larecenas lauteniθa aranθia pinies puia turucetlusχval marveθul faliaθereIt's rather clear that the first line of the inscription records a freedwoman named Kanuta giving an offering. I can only imagine that perhaps originally an Oscan

The death of TV

2011-03-15T17:00:00.001-05:00

Ever since Japan's horrible earthquake, the vultures at CTV News, CBC News, BBC news and many other news stations available on my TV have predictably latched on, chasing the sensational headlines like crack addicts chasing the pipe, providing 24-hour coverage for sadists who need to know all the calamitous details of other people's misery in the comfort of their safe living rooms. The toxicity

Isis dethroned

2011-03-13T17:00:00.012-05:00

In Klaus Kuhlmann's Throne (2011), I see some debatable claims that seem rooted in a naive literalism and lack of larger vision beyond the details he labours on.Games of semantics"None of the many Egyptian terms referring to the 'throne' imply the 'regal' or 'religious' connotation the word carries today."This first statement crumbles swiftly once we realize that 'throne' is not the only way to

Did Ancient Egyptians believe in an "end-time"?

2011-03-10T16:00:00.009-06:00

Elsewhere in webspace, a commenter sparked in me a neat idea. In Ancient Egyptian there was a phrase for the beginning of time, *θāpa tapī (normally transcribed as zp tpy). The word for 'time' is *θāpa and the adjective *tapī 'foremost, beginning, head' follows the noun as in French. The adjective is built on the word *tap (tp) meaning 'head' and so it can be translated as 'first' in the sense

Babylonian philosophy

2011-03-05T16:00:00.007-06:00

It came to me just yesterday that while people may write about Greek philosophy or Roman philosophy, nobody ever talks about Babylonian philosophy. I figure that this probably has something to do with the fact that Babylonian texts of this nature are hard to come by. However, I decided to look it up just in case I missed something (which is quite possible for any of us in the vast field of

That Lemnian inscription again...

2011-03-01T16:00:00.004-06:00

My philosophy is that thought is never done and conclusions are often temporary. This is how adaptive learning works. So I continue to revisit things, always looking for a better answer. That Lemnian inscription I previously talked about here and here is still weighing on my head and I just thought of another possible interpretation worth considering.Previously, I suggested that hktaiunuśi may

A European 'wolf' wanderword

2011-02-28T20:28:00.006-06:00

My prior comments on Lupercalia and Etruscans bring up an interesting potential wanderword in Italy. While some mentally ill surfers enjoy preying on random bloggers with the bait of aimless opinions and fake interest to lead one's readers off topic, the delete button prunes away the rubbish in seconds. Another blog with a lower bar of entry can suit these persons' needs if that sort of

Etruscan temple uploaded to Google 3d Warehouse

2011-02-26T16:00:00.002-06:00

Just to let everyone know, upon request from one commenter, I've uploaded my Etruscan temple model to Google's 3d Warehouse website to share with others online.Click here to check it out!As you can see by the search listing for the query "etruscan temple", I've quickly cornered the market on Etruscan 3D paraphernalia.I have yet to add roof ornaments like statuettes which were typical of Roman and

Outdated goals for outdated people

2011-02-25T16:00:00.031-06:00

Insecure people online or off will sometimes try to intimidate me with comments to the effect that I'd be more 'believable', 'likeable', 'respected' or some other condescending adjective if only I could get my views on the Etruscan language or those of Proto-Indo-European published in journals or books instead of wasting my time with this silly blogging thing. Usually they're just unaccomplished

The very very very long history of Valentine's Day

2011-02-21T19:00:00.011-06:00

I know this topic is sort of belated but then I do get a sick pleasure from being anti-fashionable. Over at Ancient Tides, Gregory LeFever talked about the history of Valentine's Day which is commonly known to be founded on the tradition of Lupercalia. As he points out, Lupercalia had come to take on a sadomasochistic flavour over time until those meddlesome Christians perverted it into something

The nonsense about the Etruscan god Tluschva

2011-02-17T16:00:00.004-06:00

Rex Wallace generously posted another picture of an artifact online in Etruscan Inscription from Campo della Fiera and sensibly parsed the continuous script that wraps around the column as follows:kanuta larecenas lauteniθa aranθia pinies puia turucetlusχval marveθul faliaθereHe then provides his overall interpretation."The basic structure of the inscription is clear. It is a votive dedication to

Lost Persian army finally recovered from the sand

2011-02-13T16:00:00.003-06:00

A Persian army vanished in 525 BCE. Where did they go? Was Herodotus' explanation accurate? Discovery News sheds light on this event in the following video:.

More on the Rhaetic inscription

2011-02-10T16:00:00.015-06:00

As per the promise of a previous post, I'll now share my own analyses of the above inscription which I transcribe in more familiar Roman letters below (nb. σ represents the M-like letter, san).[...]upiku : taukekleimunteisavaσuerasi : ihiFollowing Schumacher, Rex Wallace quotes a translation that makes me cringe a little: "Upiku dedicated (this object) to Kleimunte on behalf of Arvashuera". I

Rex Wallace's misreading of a Rhaetic inscription

2011-02-07T16:00:00.035-06:00

In his blog entry New Raetic Inscription concerning a Rhaetic inscription in bronze, American Etruscanist Rex Wallace repeats an incorrect transcription a total of four times despite having posted a clear photo in the same entry showing otherwise. His error has gone weeks without correction. I mark his mistakes in red in the caption below:The photo shows clearly the proper reading in the last

The Pompeiian diet of the poor

2011-02-04T16:00:00.003-06:00

When reading the article Pompeii skeletons reveal secrets of Roman family life on the BBC website and the part about the diet of the poor, we're told that the diet may not have been so impoverished as one might assume. This reminds me a lot of the theory of the original affluent society.Despite some criticisms against the idea of a relatively more leisurely ancient lifestyle in comparison to our

Abundance of Hecate

2011-02-01T16:00:00.006-06:00

The name Ἑκάτη (Hekátē) is so often claimed to mean 'far(-darter)' presumably based on the feminine form of ἕκατος 'far' (hékatos) but I find myself starting to question this because this title really doesn't get to the heart of her fundamental nature. It's merely the obscure being explained with the obscure. It begs the question: Why 'far-darter'? And this leads to long tales about her

Illegal baby names

2011-01-29T16:00:00.006-06:00

The following amusing article is so àpropos to the topic of society, culture and mass insanity. It's also just plain funny.10 illegal baby namesPersonally I'm stunned that the Swedish name Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced 'Albin') would be banned. I think we should name more kids such things to screw telemarketers up. I can envision hilarious scenarios in the future:"Is

How do you say 'earthquake' in Latin?

2011-01-26T18:00:00.001-06:00

Wikianswers gives a delightful answer to this question:"Unfortunately the romans weren't very knowledgable and for example had no word for Volcano. They probably gave it a generic term such as Tragedy."Hilarious! (It would be nice if this anonymous contributor was shot against a wall by a firing squad.) A more mature answer is easy to find on the Perseus website simply by looking up 'earthquake'

Eighteen-hundred-and-eighty times as great

2011-01-23T16:00:00.004-06:00

I often consult Perseus Online because it's such a useful resource but one day I randomly ran into what must be the craziest classical Greek word I've ever set eyes on yet:χιλιοκτακοσιογδοηκονταπλασίων(khilioktakosiogdoēkontaplasíōn)'eighteen-hundred-and-eighty times as great'(Try saying that three times fast.) And when might the context even arise to say such a thing?! I still have much to learn

Charun Number Six

2011-01-20T16:00:00.050-06:00

Charun Number Six is not a perfume nor a sci-fi novel. It's coming straight from pages 214 and 215 of Nancy De Grummond and Erika Simon's book Etruscan Myth, Sacred History and Legend (2006):"Thus we have Charun Chunchules and Charun Huths [...] as well as, perhaps, Charun Lufe [...]; little is understood about their names, though Charun Huths may mean Charun Number Six (reinforcing the

Hurrian Hymn played on a lyre

2011-01-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

Michael Levy gives an interpretative rendition of the oldest known recorded hymn, a Hurrian melody.

Back to 'back'

2011-01-14T16:00:00.005-06:00

Concerning the etymological 'back' problem I've been having since December, I might have found a decent cure. I had elaborated before that it's long been known that there appears to be a common word for 'back' or 'hip' across ancient Greece and Turkey: Classical Greek ischíon 'hip-joint' and Hittite iskis- 'back'. This pair just can't be a coincidence and an underlying Proto-Aegean term *iskʰis(a

The death taboo as a form of protection

2011-01-11T16:00:00.009-06:00

An interesting observation is made in The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day (2008)[1]:"The idea behind such euphemisms involved more than not speaking ill of the dead: an effort was made not to even speak of a person's death at all. People who are called simply 'dead' in Egyptian religious contexts often seem to be the damned or unhappy dead. To mention death would be

On Rex Wallace's interpretation of a new Lemnian inscription

2011-01-07T16:00:00.039-06:00

In early December at Rasenna Blog, Rex Wallace, a published professor of the Classics Department faculty at the University of Massachusetts, contributed a clear photo of the new Lemnian artifact whose inscription I had mused on earlier. Wallace then insists that soromσ and aslaσ "are not s-gentives[sic] because they end in palatal fricatives". I feel this begs criticism.Why assume this? The

Translating the Liber linteus religious formula

2011-01-04T16:00:00.007-06:00

After Boxing Day, I came across the Wikipedia entry for Liber Linteus. Casey Goranson had in zeal attempted to translate this artifact's repeated religious formula with the use of my dictionary applet last month. Flattered though I am, his translation needed to be revised. "For this soul to endure/remain in the town of night and amidst the people" would be something quite different in Etruscan

Different kinds of triads

2011-01-01T16:00:00.009-06:00

A variety of triads in Etruscan and Roman mythology are available to the imagination of the mythologist. Among Romanists, one speaks of a Capitoline triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), an Archaic Triad (Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus) and an Avertine Triad (Ceres, Liber and Libera). Even the festival of Suovetaurilia is split in three - a sacrifice is made of a pig, a ram and a bull to Mars in order

Etruscan trees and related grerbage

2010-12-29T16:00:00.004-06:00

No, it's not a typo - I really did mean to type grerbage. According to Anderson (2003)[1], a distinct lexical contrast between the tree versus the generalized grerb had existed in Latin, West Germanic, and East Germanic as opposed to North Germanic which had a slightly different contrast between tree versus grass. These possible taxonomical differences and global tendencies might be helpful to

Foreign accent syndrome

2010-12-26T15:00:00.003-06:00

I was notified of this first while watching BBC. It would be a lie if I said I didn't choke on my tea. I'm not sure how to weigh this. Part of me thinks that a disorder like this is within plausibility since I myself find that my brain, thus far, can compartmentalize different phonologies of different languages quite well. Would it were that I had a stroke, Athena forbid, who's to say that my own