Here's what happened to me

In a nutshell: I've been painfully busy. I've had little time due to working, socializing (yes! a shocker, hehe!), and coming down with a nasal cold from hell (honestly I don't have the heart to blow into one more kleenex, bleh!!).

So the Etruscan database update has been unfulfilled for September 15 as I had originally planned. To be honest, I just haven't updated much to it so adding an updated draft seems pointless as yet. However, that doesn't mean my task is done. As usual, my data-mining is a neverending hobby for me that won't stop until the Good Goddess in the sky shuts me up for good and takes me away to the land beyond. For whatever reason, my mind has been stuck on Pre-IE, the Neolithic period and the phonetics of Semitic loanwords. I'll get back to Etruscan soon but my mind likes to wander from time to time.

Anyways, I'd also like to thank everyone so far for some great, tough questions. It's nice to see that you're all still interested in my blogrants, even those from a while back, and that it's getting people thinking and discussing.

For now, I need some Neo-Citran, a warm blanket, and a good night's sleep.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 010

And onward I go with my Etruscan Dictionary drafts. I still have no idea when this will end but sadly little things like this thrill me. I hope you indulge in your geekiness as I do and are thrilled too.

I've made a few changes but I've been lying low these past two months while being temporarily sidetracked by contributing online with my ever-evolving theories on Pre-IE. Nine new words have been added to my Etruscan database, making the number of total entries a paultry 1092. The rest are modifications to original entries which are detailed in my ammendments pdf. All pdfs of previous drafts and associated ammendments remain housed on my Etruscan Dictionary Project Updates page for perusal.

Draft_010_15Jul2008.pdf

Hosted by eSnips

As always, enjoy!

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 10 - Postponed to tomorrow due to technical difficulties

This is very maddening but for some reason, the Open Office application that I've installed on my laptop and which has otherwise been a godsend for me and enabled me to convert docs to pdfs with the press of a button doesn't want to cooperate with me this evening. It gags on the size of the file and I can't assemble the document or convert it to a pdf like I had planned today. Since I'm out right now, going all the way home to make this document on my PC is out of the question. So I'm very sorry to all who were probably having cold sweats at the anticipation of my latest updates (hehehe :P) but I at least know that my PC has enough juice to handle the document. I'll be getting that ready tonight so that I can post this pronto tomorrow without any more glitches.

UGH!!! DAMN COMPUTERS!! They're the bane of us all.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 009 now available

Behold, the 9th draft of my Etruscan Dictionary is now upon us:

CLICK HERE TO MY UPDATES PAGE

Exciting, isn't it? Well, okay, maybe I'm the only one excited by my continuous improvements to the dictionary but I'm sure some bookworm out there, perhaps named Johnny, is loving this. This is for you, Johnny. I've made a few notable changes this time around.

The 'inessive' category is trashed

I've eliminated the inessive category and merged it into the locative case. This is because in reality the inessive, indicating 'inside X', is really just an extension of the locative in -e plus the postclitic -θi. This makes it easier on me because there are also other locative forms that use other postclitics such as -tra (cf. The Liber Linteus attests to the form hilχve-tra).


Wandering accent on second syllable abolished

Another big change is that the occasionally marked accent on the second syllable is taken away from my entries now (e.g. tamíia 'temple' is now just cited as tmiia in the entry's header). I'm confident at this point that this wandering accent preceded Proto-Etruscan since other related languages like Lemnian and Rhaetic also show initial clustering in cognate items (e.g. Rhaetic trinaχe and Etruscan trin). This then means that the early syncope that produced these clusters must have occurred in the language ancestral to all three languages. Since my entry headers are meant to represent only Proto-Etruscan, it doesn't seem right to continue avoiding initial clusters in these citation forms.

The rise of the directive case

I think it's safe at this point, after much analysis of my own, to include a directive case marked in -iś. Other scholars have called it other things but it seems to me to have a meaning of 'to' or 'towards'. I've pointed to this curious case form in Liber Linteus and religious formulae, part 1 but I was hesitant until now to incorporate it into the database without further investigation. You'll see it represented in this latest draft however.

Still here, still pluggin' away

You ain't gettin' rid of me just yet. Just giving a brief heads-up that I'm still alive, however this month is freakin' busy and full of what can only be called "depressing crap". I still intend to get the new draft ready for May 15th unless an atomic bomb finally hits, so stayed tuned and bear with me^[1]! I have tonnes of changes made to my Etruscan database during the past two months. Thanks for your patience, readers.


NOTES
^[1] After being teased by a shallow reader about my previous mispelling ("Bare with me"), I'm taking extra care to vanquish my Freudian slips from the public sphere. However, if you would like to "bare with me" too, then that's alright with me, hehehe.

Some random thoughts on Proto-Aegean languages

The Etruscan cluster ml-

I can't let this issue go. I'm obsessive maybe. There are tonnes of things to explore here and it's important for me to iron out these issues because my entries depend on a clear structure. I've decided it's best to represent the entries in an idealized "Proto-Etruscan", an earliest form of each word. But what is the proper representation of Proto-Etruscan and how should I handle word-initial consonant clusters?

What's starting to affect my decisions on the proper representation of citation words in my listing is not only my early realization that all Etruscan word-initial clusters are derived from pre-Etruscan syncope but also my investigations into related languages like Rhaetic. The existence of Rhaetic klanturus (i.e. showing a word-initial cluster) seems to suggest that my current entry forms are a little too archaic and should be toned down a little to include consonant clusters.

It's examples like mulaχ in the Liber Linteus, rather than mlaχ, that have eluded me up to now. After looking through the data I've amassed though, I notice that it may be better to represent this word under the heading mlaχ and to presume that the insertion of u is a later development. This epenthesis is seen elsewhere, as in Herecele where its Greek origin emphasizes that this phonetic process did indeed happen.

---

Etruscan mler and fler

I've been curious about the word mler because I dare say this is starting to look like an archaic form of fler. When I look at the dates of the artifacts in which mler is found, I seem to get a consistent range of between the 7th to 5th centuries BCE, while fler is found in later artifacts like the Liber Linteus. The meanings of the two words also seem to be identical to me. (See D'Aversa, La lingua degli etruschi (1979), p.378.) So I'm now wondering if I should put this all under an entry mler. The sound change would be sporadic but not without credible phonetic motivation since the height of the vowel e and the preceding palatal l which is naturally [+high] as well might have lacked sufficient saliency for speakers to maintain without further fortition of the preceding m. In other words, I'm envisioning the following development: mler /mler/ -> /βler/ -> fler /φler/.

---

Semitic-speaking Minoans and words of sanity from Yves Duhoux

Since I'm at the university today, I may as well avail myself of some yummy academic literature on the topic of Aegean languages like Minoan. As a blogger, I often get silly attacks from the peanut gallery that my views are somehow outlandish which is strange because I'm really quite conservative and becoming more so as I age. I like ideas to make sense. That's all I want in life, really, for common sense to prevail. It's silliness like Cyrus Gordon's The Semitic Language of Minoan Crete (1981) that make the popularity of credentialism so mindless to me. (Sufficed to say, I must make clear on the outset that I'm of no relation to him. We merely share the same last name.)

At any rate, Cyrus Gordon's work on Minoan makes it crystal clear to me that a university degree in no way guarantees that its possessor is competent in logical thinking. Afterall, I don't recall any intensive "logic classes" as a requirement before obtaining a history or archaeology degree. It's merely assumed by most, and rather naively, that graduates have completed their studies with complete sanity of mind. Here's a quote from Yves Duhoux on pages 223 of L'étéocrétois (1982) talking about Gordon's views and his poor grasp of linguistic methodology despite university education:

"L'hypothèse sémitique ne nous paraît, dès lors, pas moins (ni plus) respectable que toute autre - mais elle doit, comme les autres, passer au crible de la critique (ceci deviendrait, sous la plume de GORDON 1975, p.158: 'blind denial is no more scientific than blind acceptance')."

Translation: "The Semitic hypothesis doesn't seem to us, at first glance, to be less (nor more) respectable than any other - but it must, like the others, be subject to critique (this would become, in the words of GORDON 1975, p.158: 'blind denial is no more scientific than blind acceptance')."

Then on page 227, it gets uglier:

"Il arrive rarement que Gordon traduise complètement un texte étéocrétois, et ceci est déjà en soi suspect. Dans un cas, cependant - un seul! -, il a interprété et traduit séparement tous les elements d'un texte. [...] Il paraît inutile d'insister: on n'a affaire ici qu'a une suite de mots sans queue ni tête, qui montrent mieux que tous les discours la faillite de l'essai entrepris."

Translation: "It occurs rarely that Gordon translates completely an Eteocretan text, and this is already in itself suspect. In this case, consequently - a single one! -, he interprets and translates seperately all the elements of the text. [...] It seems useless to insist: we have nothing here other than a string of words without tail nor head, that show more than anything else the failure of the attempt undertaken."

Ouchy. So it always frustrates me to see the same loose standards applied on the internet to forward some crazy idea or hypothesis, all the while demanding of more restrained netizens that a degree must be flashed before these extremo-skeptics accept a point of view. Let's all agree though that slicing and splicing words from historical artifacts without any ordered rationale to translate undeciphered languages is precisely the way to make yourself look like a complete jackass, degree or not.

What are Etruscans doing with those eggs?

It seems fitting, considering the recent Easter season, that I should start thinking about Easter eggs and by extension, the interesting origins of the symbolism. Long story short, the original meaning behind these eggs involved rebirth and renewal. In the context of Easter, the symbolism pointed to the renewal of the year (i.e. springtime). The egg is the beginning of a bird's life and so by extension, the abstract notions of birth/rebirth and renewal lend themselves well to that biological form.

Etruscans too used the symbolism of the egg for the same intention and often in funerary contexts such as the above frieze of an Etruscan couple. The male holds up an egg in an exaggerated gesture, which should tip us off that he's not merely holding a literal egg but rather that he is comforting the mourning observer of the painting. The message here is that the deceased in question is in effect 'renewed' in the afterlife. "All is well. There's nothing to be sad about," the artist conveys to us. This art was meant to provide the same reassurance to the religiously devout as, say, Christian, Muslim or Hindu art which also seeks to inspire in its beholders a reassurance of faith in the metaphysical beyond. It's important when looking at ancient art to step into the shoes of the people for which this art was intended.

Moving on to linguistic matters, I believe that I might have identified the word for 'egg' in Etruscan, but it's not without controversy. The word appears to be luθ. I've recently decided that my two entries, lut and luθ, are one and the same word and that the two forms should both be given the value of 'egg'. Phonetically, Etruscan appears to have not distinguished word-final aspiration in stops and this explains alternations in the spelling (e.g. hut/huθ 'four'). The loss of contrasts in word-final position is rather common crosslinguistically as we can observe in German where the word Hand is pronounced /hant/ since voicing contrasts are likewise neutralized word-finally. Grammatically, luθ appears to be inanimate since it's attested in the inanimate plural, luθcva, in TLE 131 (Laris Pulena's sarcophagus). The word is also used as the object of verbs (such as tur 'to give') that normally involve religious offerings (LL 6.xviii: ture acil caticaθ luθ celθim), so it really seems that this object is some kind of possible offering to the gods. I'm delighted to learn that Etruscans in fact buried eggs in tombs, as did Greeks.

While this all makes sense phonetically and grammatically, contextually I'm not in the clear quite yet. It's this damned stele, indexed by Rex Wallace as ETP 286. It looks like this:



This almost seems to put a dent in my eggy hypothesis but I have one last hypothesis to pursue. It seems that this stele is meant to mark a boundary and it's presumed that it marked the boundary of a sanctuary. Let's go with that. The question that comes to my mind is: "To whom is this sanctuary devoted?" The use of the genitive in -l is grammatically interesting to me here because it's often used to attribute something to someone. Thus, on the surface, we can at least claim that luθcval canθisal probably means "To the [luθ]s of [canθis]" or alternatively "To the [canθis] of [luθ]s".

If we apply my value of 'egg', we get "To the eggs of [canθis]" or "To the [canθis] of eggs", depending in which order we are to read this. While it sounds absurd at first, the annoying thing is that without knowing for sure what canθis means, we can't rule out the possibility that this is potentially an epithet of a god or goddess. Afterall, there is this swan deity that keeps popping up on mirrors and referred to as Tusna. For all we know, this could mark a sanctuary of Tusna. Or perhaps the 'eggs' in question could refer to a particular myth of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, who were said by some to be born from eggs. The Dioscuri were quite important in Etruscan religion and were known in the Etruscan language as Tinas cliniiaras 'Sons of Tinia' (TLE 156).

These appear to be fruitful possibilities but so far I can't crack what canθis might mean if luθ really is 'egg'. The word canθis in turn is probably related to canθce, a verb inflected in the perfective in TLE 99.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 008 now available

Here is the 8th draft of my Etruscan Dictionary, available free to download:

CLICK HERE TO MY UPDATES PAGE

Yes, resistence is futile. My philosophy is that being self-sufficient and productive is cooler than being a network-addicted self-defeatist. My only regret this month is that it's been hectic and I haven't inputted as much into my database as I would have liked. I still need to explore a recent idea I had about the Capitoline Triad (the three most important deities in the Etruscan pantheon) being behind some of the phrases in the Liber Linteus.

As usual, this is an ongoing project that welcomes logical debate about the Etruscan language. There should be no confusion at this point as to my insistence on strict methodology and attention to detail. I'm determined to base my translations on something more sensible than ad hoc comparisons with foreign languages as I find constantly in the prevailing literature on the Etruscan language. If a translation is not grounded in the context of the artifact on which an inscription is found, ignores grammatical structure and/or applies multiple meanings to the same word in different contexts, then these status quo translations cry out for improvement by brave souls who aren't afraid of stepping on a few academic toes to seek out a theory more worthy of modern linguistics.

Determining the exact meaning of the Etruscan verb 'put'

So far I've had the Etruscan verb put marked down in my database as a transitive verb^[1], but upon review I think I will call this a slight booboo. It should be a ditransitive verb, meaning that it takes two objects, one in the accusative and one in the genitive. There's an interesting formula in the Liber Linteus that deserves further examination: Cis-um pute tul θansur. The sentence seems a little vague from what I can make out of it but it's certainly tied to the ritual being mentioned, whatever that ritual is. It would have been swell if those 19th-century archaeologists (which I affectionately call 'bastards') were kind enough to pay careful attention to the surrounding context from which they, shall we say, gingerly plucked this important 'mummy wrapping' text. Its resurfacing in Egypt of all places smells particularly fishy. Oh well, what can you do, really? We all know that the Museum, despite its noble image, has sexy nocturnal trysts with the Graverobber from time to time but we have no choice but to work around this thieving adultery.

So far, by insisting fiercely on strict translations that are thoroughly cross-correlated with all other known texts, I find myself deviating further and further from the status quo. Normally this would be inauspicious but this is Etruscan studies afterall where "linguistic voodoo" is still the norm. In the formula Cis-um pute tul θansur, it seems that 'participants' or 'mourners' (θansur) 'left' (pute) 'three things' (cis) 'to a boundary stone' (tul). The ending -um is just the phrasal conjunctive meaning 'and, and now, then' which carries a train of thought from the previous sentence. If we interpret put as a ditransitive verb similar to tur 'to give', we can gain insight into Etruscan grammar. Please follow along with me on this fun morphological journey.

Looking first at the verb tur, it has already been discovered by others that the recipient to which something is given is declined in the genitive. The object being given is declined in the accusative case. Since the accusative case is unmarked in nouns, it can easily be confused with the nominative unless augmented by an optional accusative demonstrative (either cn "this" or tn "that"). We might suspect that other ditransitives work similarly. Thus, I feel inspired now to propose that put marks the recipient in the accusative case while the object offered is declined in the genitive case. Note that this is slightly different than in tur because of differences in semantics between the two verbs. So, while tur means "to give", put must mean "to leave (something) behind (to)". In this case, because put appears to have a directive nuance built in (i.e. the notion of "leaving to" is implied already by the verb without needing to mark nouns specifically for "to"), the accusative case is sufficient to handle the recipient of this action.

Wrapping it all up now, my spidey senses are telling me that Cis-um pute tul θansur means "And then the mourners left the three (things) to the boundary stone." I just need to figure out what the three things are that they left behind and whether there are similar rituals elsewhere, which isn't a small task. The worship of boundary stones or termini was common in both Etruscan and Roman societies.

NOTES
^[1] In The Etruscan Language: An Introduction on page 218, Larissa and her father Giuliano Bonfante tell us that put- or puθ- is a type of "vessel" which they whimsically connect to random Latin and Greek words, as is the typical (pseudo)methodology of Etruscanists. Since the inscription ET AT 1.41 (a.k.a. TLE 188) attests to the word puθce with a verbal suffix -ce (perfective), clearly this root isn't even a noun and the Bonfantes had this information before them back in the 1970s when the book was first published. The Bonfante team goofs again, I'm afraid.

UPDATES
(Mar 10 2008) Admittedly, upon posting, another interpretation comes to mind: "And then the mourners left the boundary stone to the three." The advantage of this is that the genitive case thus remains consistently used for recipients while the accusative is used for the object affected by the action. This then begs the question "Who are 'the three' that receive these gifts?" to which I'm tempted to reply "But the Capitoline Triad, of course!". So far, however this is all idle conjecture that I haven't yet pursued in greater detail. Just brainstormin', is all.
(Mar 10 2008... upon waking up) Added footnote #1 to show the typical translation published (and republished) by people like G&L Bonfante.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 007 now available

While some are stuck in a rut, life shall go on here at Paleoglot. Yay for productivity! The seventh draft of my Etruscan Dictionary is available free to download:

CLICK HERE TO MY UPDATES PAGE

As usual, this is an ongoing project that welcomes logical debate about the Etruscan language. There should be no confusion at this point as to my insistence on strict methodology and attention to detail. I'm determined to base my translations on something more sensible than ad hoc comparisons with foreign languages as I find constantly in the prevailing literature on the Etruscan language. If a translation is not grounded in the context of the artifact on which an inscription is found, ignores grammatical structure and/or applies multiple meanings to the same word in different contexts, then these status quo translations cry out for improvement by brave souls who aren't afraid of stepping on a few academic toes to seek out a theory more worthy of modern linguistics.

A fireside chat with Glen

Concerning the Etruscan Dictionary Project

I'm feeling particularly de-energized today. Today is the due date for the next update for my Etruscan Dictionary. However, I haven't changed much this month and couldn't find a lot of time these passed few weeks. January and February are the death of winter in Winnipeg. Today the temperature is a sunny -4 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). However, in metric-loving Canada, we state the temperature in Celsius which makes it even more depressing. So I suppose this is why my first instinct is to hibernate until April when the glaciers in my yard finally melt. At any rate, while I'm praying with tears in my eyes for the geese to return, I'm also hacking out a new program to "ram in" some data I've been wanting to enter into the database. The program would make my data entry a heckuvalot faster if I can get it to work the way I want. Thus far it's coming along fabuliciously so the next draft changes will be a bit meatier than they've been so far this month but I've decided to postpone the dictionary draft due date another ten days to give me sufficient time to hack out this latest programmatical miracle: February 25th. Bear with me.


Four Stone Hearth: 34th Edition

In the meanwhile, Four Stone Hearth has snuck up on me once again. They have the 34th edition ready for eager eyes, so check out their yummy articles designed for the intellectual gourmet: Click here. This time, it's hosted by the blog Cultural World.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 006 now available

Time for Paleoglot's Etruscan Dictionary Draft number 006. There are currently 1025 entries in my database and I can't see an end in sight. Oh sweet Joseph, this data-mining project of mine may very well outlive me. At any rate, just follow the eSnips icon below to download the updates in pdf format. The second icon is the accompanying "Ammendments" pdf that explains what I changed this time round and why:

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 006	Draft_006_15Jan2008.pdf Hosted by eSnips
Ammendments for Draft 006	EtrDicAmm_06.pdf Hosted by eSnips

Enjoy and if you have any questions or corrections, tell me about it. If you have any cash donations of $1000 and up, I'd appreciate that too, hahaha.

Ammendments to Etruscan Dictionary Draft 005

I've detailed my ammendments for Draft 005 in a seperate pdf which you can retrieve here for your linguistic titulation.

I still have some questions about numerous words that just don't make sense according to the mainstream explanation. The status quo account of zilχ, for instance, is that it's the word for 'praetor' and thus an animate noun. My spidey senses are telling me something disturbing though, that a noun that ends in a patientive suffix -aχ used to make derivative nouns from verbs, that uses an l-genitive normally given to feminines & neuters, and that is attested in the inessive three times screams like an inanimate object more than the term for a person. For now I'm kowtowing to a translation close to standard but still I wonder if this word isn't completely off. Pallottino and other notable experts clumsily tweak the translation for those special 'inessive' instances of zilcθi I just mentioned, claiming it means 'reign' instead, as in "in the reign". So which one is it? 'Praetor' or 'reign'?

Of course, I find the whole thing suspicious, especially in the context of all the other mistranslated words and dubious connections made over the decades that still find their way into 21st-century print. Oh well, as always, I strive to learn more while vocalizing my finds to those that might want to learn along with me. That for me is the whole point of my bombastic project. That, and... I like to make trouble :)

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 005 now available

Here it is for everyone, free for download. There are now currently 988 entries and I'm still sifting through data. Just follow the eSnips icon below to download it:

Draft_005_15Dec200...

Hosted by eSnips

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 004 now available

The deadline is upon me, November 15, and you know what that means! Yes! That crazy Glen has another update for you on my Etruscan Dictionary project (now with 942 items)! So here it is for everyone free to download. Just follow the eSnips icon below:

Draft_004_15Nov200...

Hosted by eSnips

Organizing data is like a twisted sort of hobby for me, in addition to comparative linguistics and dead languages. I find that this is a learning process for me too because the more organized I get, the more I realize what I still need to know. Organization makes gaps in knowledge more obvious. There are so many things to think of, like how to organize a language into a coherent structure. Making a dictionary like this is not that simple but I brought this on myself willingly.

A big issue still is what is an appropriate grammatical model for Etruscan. I have to be honest, I'm still trying to wade through all of the published contradictions. None of the gurus in Etruscan studies seem to have a firm grasp of it either. Simple things are known, such as, the subject and direct object are given zero marking while genitive nouns which describe ownership or attribution are given -s or -l depending on their "gender" which I've marked as Type I or Type II respectively in my pdf. We know for sure that the past perfect gets -ce added to the verb stem. And that's about it. However, when Etruscologists are confronted with something more complex like spureś-treś as found in the Liber Linteus (from spur 'city'), then you'll find that there's a big blank where an answer should be.

This is all complex business but I'll continue to be ranting about this subject for some time to come. I haven't run out of things to discuss, believe me. But anyways, As always, enjoy!

UPDATES
(Nov 15, 2007) I caught a duplicate of cvil in my pdf, that dirty rotten whippersnapper. How did that slippery little fellah get in there? Blargh! Maybe I need to program a special function to stop that. Oh well. It's purged from my database and we'll see how things fare in Draft 005.

My draft Etruscan glossary now downloadable on esnips as well

Dear viewers,

I got a message from an anonymous person having problems with the downloading process on Lulu. I have to admit that Lulu has screwed up the "free download" process because it forces people to press the "update cart" button first and then sign up. These are two extra hurdles that are unnecessary. Most normal people would not mentally associate getting a free download with an "update cart" button, let alone have a desire to sign up for something for just one thing.

So I found an alternative for these drafts. You can now alternatively download the pdfs from:

My eSnips folder

I hope this is a much more straight-forward process for people and all I can do is shake my head at Lulu for bad website design and, by their ill-planning, an inevitable loss in traffic. Sometimes I just scratch my head at some webdesigners. Sorry about that, folks.

And I just had the flu. Gee, that was fun. So today I feel better and I have to get cracking on my overdue rant about the Liber Linteus.

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 003 now available

It's that time of month again! That's right! It's time for Draft 003 of my ongoing Etruscan language project, free for everyone to download on Lulu's website. The recent update has 912 entries. Yippee! I hit the 900 mark! For now, I'm making these revisals every 15th of the month, just to keep everything up-to-date.

Download Etruscan Dictionary Draft 003 here for free

For those of you that have been following along, I have made several changes and you can read my explanations for my changes by following this link or you can click on the "Draft 002" link in the blue bar above for reference in the future. I can foresee a few more drafts as I learn more and discover new intricacies about the language, which I recently have... but don't worry I'll blog about this very soon.

In fact, I still have a rant about religious formulae in the Liber Linteus. I haven't forgotten. It and the Tabula Capuana have been weighing heavily on my mind lately.

So, at any rate, enjoy the pdf, everyone!

Ammendments to Etruscan Dictionary Draft 002

Next Upload Project stats Ammendments to Draft 002 Program Updates

NEXT UPLOAD

Draft 003 is set for October 15, 2007.

PROJECT STATS

As of Monday, October 14, 2007:

• There are 912 secure items in the database.
• There are 1090 items in total.

AMMENDMENTS TO DRAFT 002

Oct 15, 2007

pes [type of food offering] - Modify translation: "sustenance"..
In the Tabula Cortonensis there is this phrase: pes Petrus pavac traulac (TCort, line 6). The last two words seem to be marked with the conjunctive, expressing then the pattern "both X and Y". Petrus is a male praenomen declined in the s-genitive. The grammatical structure of this phrase then must be "[pes] of Petru, both [pava] and [traula]" and it would then seem that pes is comprised of the two last words. If the two last words mean "both food and libation" (relating to funerary rites) then this word might mean something general like "sustenance" which is comprised afterall of both food and drink.

Oct 14, 2007

Atina [gentilicium] - Add item.
Declined in the genitive, Atinal, in TLE 512.
aθ "to clean" - Add item.
Attested in the middle preterite, aθene, in the Tabula Capuana (TCap xii).
auθil "cella, room of a temple" - Add item.
Another word found in the Tabula Capuana in the inessive singular (TCap xii: avθleθ)
cilθ "funerary niche" - Add item.
It has been suggested far too often that this word pertains to a deity or site of a sanctuary. This is complete nonsense and immediately falsified by the consistent application of an inanimate plural to the word! I hardly think gods are normally grammatically inanimate. To say "But anything's possible..." just doesn't cut it for me. The relevant examples are the genitive plural cilθcval (LL 7.viii) and inessive plural cilθcveti (LL 7.xiv). Certainly, given the inessive, again, it would hardly mean "in the god of Cilth". It is assuredly inanimate and indicates a kind of place from this evidence.
epni [type of offering] - modify translation: [type of animal].
Running on a hunch. It seems like the Tabula Capuana is saying to be that a sacrifice is being offered of three animals in the second section. Then after describing that, it seems to me to be saying that another sacrifice, namely "epni", is being added to the previous sacrifice. It also takes the s-genitive which is most common in animate nouns. It's all tentative at the moment but it's getting interesting.
Flanaχrina [gentilicium] - Add item.
Attested in the genitive case as Flenχrinas in ET AT 1.93.
flanzana [type of offering] - Add item.
The word flenzna is found in TLE 100.
hupni "funerary niche" - Modify translation: "ossuary".
While those of Pallottino's school translate this as "niche", I am straying away from this translation and giving it the value of an ossuary since, afterall, it is precisely on an ossuary that this word is apparently found (see TLE 53).
sacni "sacerdotal, sacred offering" - Modify translation: "soul".
See sacniiu below for further details.
sacniiu "small sacerdotal" - Modify translation: "soul, dear soul".
I see one instance of the diminutive form of sacni (found in TLE 319). Looking at the full context of the inscription (Marce Tetnies Veru sacniu), we notice that the name isn't marked for possession but remains in the nomino-accusative. This may be an indication that Marce Tetnie Verus, the full name of the deceased complete with Latin cognomen, is in fact being described with the word sacniu. In this case then, the diminutive ending might be used here as an expression of endearment. Perhaps "Marce Tetnie Verus, dear soul" or something to that effect. Whatever the translation may be, Massimo Pallottino's assignment of "sanctuary" is preposterous in most contexts save those in the Liber Linteus which he chose to translate only in piecemeal fashion.
θuniur "one each" - Modify form: θunur.
I'm just going to think of it as θun plus a distributive ending -ur. Simpler is better.
zaliur "two each" - Modify form: zalur.
Like for θuniur above, I've decided to simplify.
zuχ "to slay" - Add item.
It's found in the middle preterite zuχne (TCap xiv-xv).
zuχana "sacrifice" - Add item.
It's found in TLE 878. Of course, it's also possible that it's the same word as above. I'll figure this all out eventually.

Oct 10, 2007

trut "to give a libation, to pour" - Modify translation and form: "to be given drink; to be poured"; v.tr. -> v.i.
Most verbs in the Liber Linteus (LL) show a passive connotation so the example of LL 11.ii-iii: Trut-um θi θapneś-tś "And then the water was poured from the pitcher" is unindicative of the verb's passiveness in a pro-drop language that freely omits the subject anyway. If we can say that θ-participles only marks intransitive verbs, the existence of truθt in LL 5.xviii would hint that this is indeed a passive verb afterall. However in LL 5.xviii we have the phrase Ais cemnac truθt (ais = "god" and cemnac = adj.) where the head of the noun phrase, "god", is naturally animate and unpourable! I suggest that this verb is used differently based on the animacy of the subject. Thus "to be given drink" for animate subjects and "to be poured" for inanimate subjects. Context-dependant verbs also exist in English and many other languages (e.g. "The farmer feeds the cow." yet "The cow feeds.").

Oct 8, 2007

hil "land" - Modify translation: enclosed land.
I'm swayed by a certain convincing etymology I just discovered and I also believe that this may fit the contexts of this word in both Etruscan and Rhaetic inscriptions much better. I now feel that this isn't just any untamed land, but rather land that is in some way enclosed by borders.
hilar "to protect" - Modify translation: to enclose.
No guarantees on this one. I'm still searching for a secure translation but it seems reasonable that this verb is related to the noun hil with a denominal suffix -ar-.
tular "to mark a boundary, to encircle, to surround" - Modify translation: "to mark (as a boundary)".
I'm trying to make the translation more concise when possible.
tular "boundary stone, terminus" - Add item.
Now I have both the noun tular and the verb, which then explains the coexistence of both tularias (a plural noun in the genitive) and tularu (a passive participle).
Viśal "Faesulae [city]" - Add item.
This is based on Viśl from TLE 675, however I'm having trouble once again with "experts" who give multiple, wildly contradicting versions of the same inscription and no pictures around anywhere, of course. How annoying is that?

Oct 6, 2007

Amcie [gentilicium] - Modify form: Amicie.
Its origin is Latin name Amicius afterall and syncope takes care of -i- in later forms.
apirinθ "sanctified things" - Add item.
Apirθina [female praenomen] - Add item.
Heramina [gentilicium] - Modify form: Hirumina.
Considering the male praenomen Hirume, it wouldn't be entirely wise for me to connect this with Herame any longer, would it (TLE 867: Hirumesi "for Hirume")? As always, I will adapt. Mea culpa.
Hirume [male praenomen] - Add item.
See Heramina for further explanation.
Hulχenie [gentilicium] - Modify form: Fulχenaie.
Merging also with pre-existing gentilicium Fulχena.
neś "dead person" - Add item.
See neśna for further explanation.
neśna "sepulcher" - Add item.
I don't feel completely secure with the standard translation of the root neś- and its disturbing, forced connections to Indo-European *neḱ- "to die", but given the context of this hapax, the status quo translation is better than what I can come up with for the moment. Certainly however, there is no connection here with Indo-European and any similarities between these two roots are purely accidental.
sacniu "small sacerdotal" - Modify form: sacniiu.
Technically speaking, this word is the combination of sacni and the diminutive suffix -iu and so I opt for this more syllabic spelling even though it's attested as sacniu with only one iota in TLE 319. This is not a problem however considering the example of tiiur 'moon' which is often written tiur but is proven to also be writable with two iotas (TLE 749: tiiurś). To be clear, the second -i- is meant only to write the consonant [j] however, not a long vowel.
θes "to dawn, to rise (as of the sun)" - Modify type: v.tr. -> v.i.
Whoops, this should be intransitive since the verb merely conveys a state. It's participle form must also be *θesθ as a result which then might explain the etymology of attested word θesθu "eastward".
Θestia [female praenomen] - Add item.
Veru [cognomen] - Add item.
A foreign name, like all Etruscan cognomen so it seems, based on Latin verus "truth". The name is attested in TLE 319.

Oct 4, 2007

Hulχenie [male praenomen] - Modify form: Fulχenaie.
The name is equivalent to the Latin name Fulcinius. After changing the 'h' to 'f', I also felt compelled to merge this entry with my pre-existing record, Fulχena, also a gentilicium. All of this is now under Fulχenaie. Most efficient.

Oct 3, 2007

Lusce [male praenomen] - Modify translation: [cognomen].
I'm breaking down and accepting some names as cognomen. I have a minimalistic approach and wanted to do my homework on Etruscan cognomen to be sure. It appears that the name Lart Vipi Lusce in the Tabula Cortonensis demonstrates clearly that some Etruscan names did indeed have Latin-derived cognomen from time to time, although it doesn't seem to be the norm in Etruria. The name Lusce is of course from the Latin adjective luscus "half-blind" and not Etruscan.
Palpe [cognomen] - Add item.
From the Latin cognomen Balbus.
Tiφile [gentilicium] - Add item.
From the Greek name Δίφιλος.
Venu [male praenomen] - Add item.
Found in the genitive in both TLE 331 and TLE 711.

Oct 2, 2007

Nufrizna [gentilicium] - Modify form: Nuparzina.
The name is not only written in the genitive as Nufrznal in ET Pe 1.307 but also represented in Latin as Noborsinia in CIE 3864. The Latin form suggests that -f- was softened from an earlier unaspirated -p-, which would have sounded much like a 'b' to Roman ears.
Papas [gentilicium] - Add item.
I'm not sure yet but there is a Greek name Πάπιας Papias which I'm thinking might be related to this. It wouldn't be the first Greek name in Etruscan (c.f. Heraclite, from Greek Ηρακλείδης Hērakleidēs) .
Sutarina [gentilicium] - Add item.
Not only found as Sutrinaś in CIE 4469 but the name is also confirmed in Latin as Sudernia (CIE 837), based on an unmarked nomino-accusative form. Unaspirated Etruscan stops like 't' are normally represented in Latin as voiced stops.

Sep 30, 2007

Semala [deity] - Add item.
Found on a mirror (CII 2468) as Semla.

Sep 29, 2007

Caiie [gentilicium] - Add item.
Carcu [gentilicium] - Add item.
Carχvana [gentilicium] - Modify form: Carcvana.
Carχvanaie [gentilicium] - Modify form: Carcvanaie.
Festaraie [gentilicium] - Modify form: Vestaraie.
Haθlia [male praenomen] - Add item.
Haθlials is found in TLE 324, indicating family descent with a double genitive.
hevan "every, each" - Modify form: heva.
TLE 635 shows heva. If the word is declined like a demonstrative pronoun, the nominative is unmarked while the accusative is marked in -n.
Latiiu [gentilicium] - Add item.
Ramvaza [female praenomen] - Modify form: Remza.
Tute [male praenomen] - Modify translation: [gentilicium].
Tlapu [gentilicium] - Modify form: Talápu.
Tlapuna [gentilicium] - Modify form: Talápuna.
Vipieθu "member of the Vipie family" - Add item.

Sep 28, 2007

ca "this" - Deleting one entry under it: ka.
This is from TLE 920 that Pallottino claims contains ka, while others claim ica. Obviously, the crux of this disagreement lies in whether it's iota followed by gamma, or whether the two are part of the same letter kappa. Considering that the text dates to the 1st c. BCE when a spelling with kappa wasn't common anymore, I would have to reject Pallottino here and accept a typical 1st century spelling of the word. It helps to have the picture before me as well (click here for a drawing of it online published in Studi Etruschi; a search for 'tusuvas' in this book yields the picture). Grrrr, damn these insidious, transcription lies.
Ciiarθia [male praenomen] - Add item.
Tusnu [gentilicium] - Add item.
Venel [gentilicium] - Modify translation: [male praenomen].
Stupid typo. Consider it eradicated.


Sep 27, 2007

hiiuls "owl" - Add item.
Found confirmation of the word hiuls found in TLE 333 (aka ET Vc 7.1) that Pallottino claimed means "screech-owl" although I'm still looking for a clear picture of it to know precisely what this analysis is based on. I wouldn't suppose anyone has a clear picture to share... would they? I've added a second 'i' in the heading form due to phonotactic reasons; the second 'i' serves as consonantal glide [j], thereby evening out the syllable structure.
Laranθ [male praenomen] - Add item.
The syncopated form Larnθ is found in TLE 606.
Scarpe [gentilicium] - Add item.
Found in TLE 606.

Sep 26, 2007

Atiie [gentilicium] - Add item.
Found in the genitive in TLE 105.
Carsu [gentilicium] - Add item.
Found in the locative in TLE 108.
Curuna [gentilicium] - Add item.
Found in the genitive in TLE 104.
em "to take away" - Modify translation: "to remove"
That just makes it more to-the-point, n'est-ce pas?
Metru [male praenomen] - Add item.
Found in TLE 370 in the phrase Metru menece.
namer "cup" - Add item.
Although there is already the word naper "cup" in my list, namer is clearly inscribed in the photo I have of TLE 366 (aka Vetulonia's Cup), and naper is clearly inscribed in a photo I have of the Cippus Perusinus. I believe the words are related but their distinct forms may require separate entries. I still haven't found the etymological origin of this word that might offer a clue.
siianś - Deleting a genitive-inflected entry: sanśaś.
Pallottino makes reference to a word sanśaś which in fact is a corruption of the text in TLE 104 (n.b. Rix transcribes it as two words: sam . man). I side with Rix because the latter makes better sense in the context. Furthermore, siianś is otherwise a type II noun (i.e. it takes l-genitive) as in sanśl inscribed in TLE 624 and 651. Damn you, Pallottino, and your pretend words! Grrr.
Sisupe "Sisyphus [myth]" - Add item.
Y'know, that guy, Sisyphus. The guy pushing a giant rock up a steep hill in the bowels of Hades forever and ever and ever. Sucks to be him. The name is found in TLE 89.
Svincina [gentilicium] - Add item.
It smells suspiciously of a missegmentation of "marces vincina" with the first name in the genitive into "marce svincina" (since Vinacena is already attested) but I'll pretend it's a separate name for now.
tuθina - Modify type and translation: adj. -> ni.(II); "of the community" -> "district".

Sep 24, 2007

Fanacna [gentilicium] - Add item.
Present in TLE 652 in the genitive Fanacnal which I just recently blogged about in More published errors on Etruscan.
Fulvenia [gentilicium] - Modify form: Fuluvenia
Based on the gentilicium Fuluve.
hil "property, private land" - Modify translation: "land"
Logical simplification is godliness.
iś [type of offering] - Modify translation: "tray"
Iχśiun [myth] - Add item.
An Etruscanized name for Greek Ixion.
lup "to cross over, to pass on" - Delete duplicate.
Don't worry. I'm on top of it. It's a side-effect of my lazy programming. I know where the bug lies and I just need to get up off my ass and fix it. Sometimes when I modify entries, it creates an unintended duplicate if I do things in a certain way. Grrr. Computers! Bah! :)
malvá "to be blessed" - Modify type: v.tr. -> v.i.
The verb should be intransitive, naturally. Oopsy daisy. Also I found the expected intransitive passive participle form (muleθ) hiding in a corner of TLE 173. There ya go, little buddy, now you can join your friends in the malvá entry. Hehe.
Paziethe [gentilicium] - Modify form: Pazieθe.
I improperly coded the theta. Another typo successfully eradicated.
Ramaθa [female praenomen] - Modify form: Ramvaθa.
While forms like Ramuθa can be blamed on syncope (reduction of 'a' to schwa written as 'u', one might claim), I have another verb ramva [action regarding sacrificial animals] in the database. I really think that this is where the name comes from, with the feminine ending -θa attached as we see in lautniθa 'freewoman'.
Ramaza [female praenomen] - Modify form: Ramvaza.
For the same reasons as Ramaθa above.

Sep 23, 2007

Apulie [gentilicium] - Modify form: Apulaie
Already have a name Apula (ET Cm 2.2: Apulas) on which it's naturally based.
Caia [female praenomen] - Modify form: Caiia.
This name is based on the male form Cai with a feminine ending attached.
Eiasun [myth] - Modify form: Aiásun.
It just makes better sense to me. The name is of Greek origin but the prothetic vowel is due to the pan-Aegean phonotactic peculiarity which prevents words from beginning with [j]. The same disregard for initial [j] is noticeable in Minoan inscriptions where words beginning with A- can also be written with the character for YA-. I can't believe no one noticed that peculiarity besides me. Oh well.
eliunθ "olive farmer" - Modify form: elaiunθ.
The word is attested as eliunθ in the Tabula Cortonensis however it's understood by scholars that the word is of Greek origin, namely, ελαιϝών. I would think that the earliest form of this word had the diphthong as it appears in Greek but that syncope eroded the word down as it did with all others.
epni [type of offering] - Delete duplicate.
I hang my head in shame. Even worse, one of the entries had epninai while the other had epnina based on TLE 28. Part of the problem is that I'm still confused about what the word means. If anyone can take a crack at figuring out what Rix transcribes as "epninaitale" and the rest of this text, be my guest.
Tlamunus [gentilicium] - Modify form: Talámunus.
It's from Greek Τελαμώνιος showing that a vowel between tau and lambda probably existed originally before syncope took over in Etruscan.
van [intransitive verb of unknown meaning] - Add item.
The word may exist as vane-c with the conjunctive -c "and" in the Tabula Capuana (TCap 2.xv). I think it's also a reasonable possibility that the verb is the source of the Etruscan goddess name Vanth which would then be a descriptive participle of the deity's function or qualities. Even more interesting is if that is true, the verb is intransitive because of its choice of participial ending. (It seems that transitive participles take -u instead.)
Velθiena [gentilicium] - Modify form: Velθaiena.
Derived from the name Velθaie which in turn is based on velθa.
Velθienaθu "Velthiena family member" - Modify form: Velθaienaθu.

Sep 22, 2007

am "to be" - Modify type: v.tr. -> v.i.
Silly me. Yes, yes, I know, the verb "to be" is an intransitive verb since it describes a state of being, not an action, but I was too busy entering in tonnes of data to pay attention to these details. I just automatically made the default verb type "transitive" by default. Bah! Out, out, damn spot!

Sep 21, 2007

ecina "hedgehog" - Modify form and translation: ecnia [animate noun of unknown meaning].
Okay, this translation is giving me the sweats. So far, I need more input and while it's tempting to link it to Greek, I'm going to play it safe for now and just call it a type-I animate noun with unknown meaning until I find something more substantial. Whatever the real meaning of genitive ecnas, it is likely that it's related to ecnia on the Magliano Tablet, which would represent the nomino-accusative form. Depalatalization of 'i' after liquids like 'n' is well attested in various words and names (e.g. Turnu < *Turaniu "little Turan").
Truia "Troy [city]" - Add item.
I can't believe I missed that important one. Apologies. We have both Truia [TLE 74] in the nomino-accusative case and Truies [TLE 329] in the genitive.

Sep 19, 2007

ecina "hedgehog" - Add item.
Okay, I'm honestly not going to bet my life on this one. However, if this is borrowed from Greek echinos "hedgehog" (specifically Doric dialect like all the other Greek borrowings in Etruscan), then TLE 75 is apparently speaking about "a sacrifice of a hedgehog" (in the genitive: ecnas). Is that a typical offering to give? Is there precedent in Roman religion? I honestly need to verify this... {searching, searching}... No way! Blow me down: [link]!! Hahaha. Excuse me while I laugh myself to death! (See September 20, 2007 under ecina)
hivu [type of libation offering] - Add item.
niθu [type of libation offering] - Add item.
snena "on top, over" - Add item.
On lines 16 and 17 of the Tabula Capuana.
tiria "metal; metallic" - Add adjective and noun.
Found on the Tabula Capuana, appearing to modify the noun tar without further endings. However, it is found in the genitive on the first line in the phrase savcnes sa tirias, making me feel that it's also a noun on its own. This behaviour is similar to how vacil "votive" is used. There is probably little distinction made between noun and adjective in Etruscan in general, similar to the situation in Latin and its daughter languages, e.g. bona "good" (adj.) -> "the good" (n.f.).
urθan "to give, to offer" - Modify form: urθ.
It seems TLE 75 has urθri, showing that the root is in fact urθ-. So attested urθanike must then be the middle perfect preterite.
ziula "burnt offering" - Add item.
It's found twice on the Tabula Capuana in the genitive case (on lines 16 and 17). I'm very excited about this word for morphological reasons that shall remain mysterious for now.

Sep 18, 2007

śuri [unknown inanimate noun] - Modify translation and type: "bronze"; ni.(II) -> ni.(II) & adj.
I'm working on a hunch. It seems that bronze is a material that follows this word around. It's written on bronze plates and bronze statuettes. Seems reasonable but I will pursue this vector further to see where it takes me. On the Tabula Capuana then, vacil śipir śuri may refer to a bronze votive object called a śipir... whatever the hell a śipir is supposed to be.

PROGRAM UPDATES

Sep 22, 2007: My system is now hyperlink enabled

I coded a really cool addition to my web-based system so that I can hyperlink different language databases I have together and also to relate different words within the same database together with ease. Using Wikipedia-like syntax, I just enter "{{l dbs itemID}}" into any word entry where dbs is the short code for the database (min = minoan, ecyp = eteocypriot, etr = etruscan) and itemID is the automatically generated number referring to a particular word entry. You may say... "So what???" at which point I go "Are you kidding me, people??". The cool thing is that I programmed the system to automatically display the gobbleygook above as the word and its translation in question. So, when I relate one word to another, whatever I change in one entry will automatically change all entries that link to it! Borg power, baby!

Etruscan Dictionary Draft 002 now available

Yesterday, I started my audit of the current version of my database to prepare for a less messy "Draft 002" of my Etruscan Dictionary. I should have started earlier but I'm such a lazy jackass. Phew! What a job that was. This list is getting huge!

Download Etruscan Dictionary Draft 002 for free.

And as you know, the project is ongoing, possibly neverending, as I try to hone the list and collect for each word plausible etymologies, claims from various scholars, brief reasons why a popular translation may not work and what alternatives there are, and any relevant Aegean cognates (in Lemnian, Rhaetic, Eteo-Cypriot, etc). If anyone is familiar with managing data, knowledge is more like a network than a consecutive list. Each piece of information connects with any number of other pieces of information. So if you change one thing, it can cause an exhilarating cascade of changes in related items that only a logical stoic would appreciate.

I try to keep consistency and data integrity in check. I'm thinking of adapting my database program to display interrelated words better. My system doesn't yet allow hyperlinked items to other words in my language databases but I'm going to have to start. The Perseus website does this and aside from the unintuitive layout and visually blinding hideousness of the site, it's functional as long as you have the patience to wait five minutes to upload just one of their pages. (Um... is there something wrong with their tech people?) At any rate, linked information makes things simpler than traditional notes, so I'm going to have to start coding like the dickens in the next few weeks.

I will schedule Draft 003 next month: Oct 15 2007. Seems fair enough. Plus, I really like the lunar cycle.

New "update page" for news on Etruscan Glossary Draft 001

I've decided to move my updates to a seperate entry (this one). I am also placing an easy-to-find link of this post at the top of the Paleoglot website so that people can monitor my progress easily. This entry will be a permanent feature of this blog as long as I continue to modify Etruscan Glossary Draft 001.


NEXT UPLOAD

I'm scheduling Draft 002 for September 15, 2007. Is good? Stay tuned.


AMMENDMENTS

Sep 14 & 15, 2007

Ane [deity] - Duplicate. Merge item with: Ani [deity]
apana "clan, ancestry" - Reduce translation to: "clan"
apirinaθ [inanimate sanctified object] - Modify form: apirinθ
This was a lingering issue concerning phonotactics. I've decided that Proto-Etruscan forms must indeed permit word-final clusters of two consonants.
Aturmuca "Andromaca" - Modify form: Anturmaca
I'm revising the form to better reflect its Greek origin. Logically I think it would have been initially borrowed with this form, but later attested as Aturmucas where the second 'u' is for a reduced unstressed schwa from earlier *a as is present in the Greek form. I suspect that the dropping of 'n' here is a part of a larger phenomenon in Etruscan since we also find hanθe sometimes written without 'n' in the Liber Linteus. I wonder if there is a rule concerning phonotactic restraints beneath this.
aθeli [type of inanimate offering] - Modify type: ni.(I) instead of ni.(II)
cenla [type of offering] - Modify form and translation: cenula "gift"
ci śar "thirteen" - Modify form: ci-śar
Cusu [gentilicium] - Add item
Attested in ET Fa 1.6 in genitive (Cusul) and TLE 634 in the unmarked nomino-accusative. Also found on the Tabula Cortonensis.
Cusuθu "member of the Cusu family" - Add item
Recorded in the plural nomino-accusative and genitive on the Tabula Cortonensis.
flereś "small gift" - Modify form: fleriś
I think the usage and etymology of this word can best be explained as consisting of fler "gift" and the derivational suffix -iś.
frunta "augur of lightning, fulguriator" - Modify form: prunta
Bonfante connected the word to βροντή although timidly by placing a question mark beside it in The Etruscans. I believe this connection is correct, although specifically from the Doric dialect, I would presume. Also p appears to become f in certain environments centuries before the instance of this word which was inscribed around the 1st c. BCE (TLE 697). So it all now makes sense: The earliest form of the word would have been *prunta.
Fufluns [deity] - Modify form: Pupluns
The p>f sound change must have happened between 500 and 200 BCE but for some reason while Etruscologists talk about it, they never seem to date it. The softening of p in Etruscan was mentioned back in 1922 in Das grammatische Geschlecht im etruskischen by Eva Lehmann Fiesel (link here) who uses this very word to reconstruct earlier *Pupluns. Well, who am I to argue?
Herme "Hermes" [deity] - Modify form: Herame
Hermes seems less and less like it was borrowed from Greek, but rather built on the verb root heram. But then that implies that... well, no, I won't go there yet. More research for me.
Hermina [gentilicium] - Modify form: Heramina
It better explains one of its forms, Hirumina, since the medial u would be a schwa, an eroded form of original a. It also better reflects its probable etymological source.
isminθian "sanctuary of Apollo, smintheion"- Modify form and type: sminθian; na.(I) -> ni.(I)
A pesky typo: Naturally it's inanimate until proven otherwise, hehe ;) The word is also without a doubt from Greek σμινθειον (smintheion) but this Greek form lacks the prothetic vowel which must be a late Etruscan innovation. I now see a connection with gentilicium Śminθina in my list and have therefore altered it accordingly.
malena "mirror" - Modify form: malana
My decision here is based on my theories regarding phonotactics and rules of accentuation in (Pre-)Proto-Etruscan but luckily malana is in fact attested (ETP 335) alongside malena, on a mirror of all things so this is a load of my shoulders.
nap [a place or vessel to hold offerings] - Modify translation: [a place for offerings]
Neθuns [deity] - Modify form: Neθunś
nurφzi "nine times" - Modify form: nurφizi
For phonotactic reasons.
paχana "bacchanal, pertaining to Pacha; Bacchic temple" - Modify type: adj., nn. to adj., ni.(II)
Paχie [male praenomen] - Modify form: Paχaie
For etymological reasons (i.e. based on the deity Paχa).
Papanai [gentilicium] - Modify form: Papana
Paziethe [gentilicium] - Modify form: Pazieθe
A shameful typo.
Peθnei [gentilicium] - Modify form: Peθna
Another typo. No rest for the wicked.
peθs "to fill"- Modify form: peθas
Modelling after other verbs in -as like acas.
Puiana [gentilicium] - Add item
Attested on a tile (ET Fa 1.6) in a tomb, presumed to be inscribed by a slave.
Rufe [cognomen] - Modify translation: Rufe [gentilicium]
sul [type of offering] - Add form
sulis [recipient of offerings] - Modify form and translation: suliś [type of offering]
Śminθina [gentilicium] - Modify form: Sminθianna
Related to isminθian. See above under same date.
Śuri [male praenomen] - Modify translation and type: śuri [unknown inanimate noun]; na.(I) -> ni.(I)
As I've blogged, I'm having trouble with this pesky little item. All Etruscologists seem to claim the same damn thing, that Suri is a deity, and yet it absolutely does not fit the contexts where we find it inscribed. (Read Suri, the saga part one.) Since I know in my heart of hearts that this is wrong, I'm on my own to figure out what it really is. I've tried translating it as a male praenomen but this fails to explain its instances in the Tabula Capuana. It must then be just a noun, possibly even inanimate and describing an offering to the gods. It just doesn't seem to be a name at all. I wholeheartedly defy anyone to translate all these known instances as a deity's name. Think of it as Glenny's little translation contest for other avid paleoglots.
θunzi "one" - Modify translation: "once, one time"
Egad, another typo of mine. How do I live with my imperfection at all? Obviously this word means "once" not "one" because of other forms with the iterative suffix -zi (cizi "thrice", cezpzi "8 times", etc.). Naturally, only θun or θu means "one" as you will read in any semi-decent book on the Etruscan language.
traula [type of offering] - Modify translation: traula "libation"
θauraχ "bull sacrifice" - Modify form: θaurχ
Phonotactic considerations. Bear with me.
θuf "oath, promise, vow" - Modify form: θup
This is corroborated by evidence from Eteo-Cretan and derivative names Θupalθa (later written Θufalθa) and praenomen Θupe.
Θufalθa [deity] - Modify form: Θupalθa
The earlier form in -p- is confirmed in the genitive form of TLE 654.
Viśnai [gentilicium] - Modify form: Viśna
Viśnaia [gentilicium] - Add item
zilaχ "overseer, leader, head" - Modify form: zilχ
Yep, you guessed it: I'm using the "phonotactics" excuse again. Bear with me as I search for the perfect "Proto-Etruscan transcription system" to organize my dictionary. As I type this, I have some new ideas about syllabic rules I could try out... perhaps for Draft 003.

Sep 13, 2007

tanám "at that, then, additionally" - Modify item: taná "then, so"
In the Liber Linteus, we only encounter etnam or its suffix -tnam. While I had a hunch that it consisted of an underlying adverb taná (which due to strong stress accent is eventually squished to *tna then itna with a prothetic vowel just as it apparently occured in eslem zaθrum < *zal-ém zaθrum "18", literally "2 minus 20") and the phrasal conjunctive -m "and", used to convey subsequent actions following a previous event, I couldn't be sure until perusing the Tabula Capuana where we indeed find itna by itself. (It's found in the sentence: Iχ nac Fulinuśnes vacil savcnes, itna muluri zile.). Hooray! I'm also simplifying the translation to "then, so". That suffices. So, I now have the following specs on this interesting little puppy:

ituna [TCap xxx], itna [TCap vi], etna-m [LL 3.xiii{bis}, 5.vii, 6.v, 6.vii{bis}, 6.xii, 7.ii, 7.iii, 7.iv, 7.v, 7.ix, 7.x, 7.xiii, 7.xiv, 7.xv, 7.xvi, 7.xvii, 7.xix, 7.xx{bis}, 7.xxii, 7.xxiii, 8.v, 8.xxiii{bis}, 10.x{bis}, 11.iv, 11.vi{bis}, 11.vii{bis}, 11.xv, 11.xviii, 11.xxii, 11.xxiii, 11.xxx, 12.i, 12.ix], -tna-m [LL 6.x, 7.xii, 8.iv, 10.xxxi{bis}, 11.xvi, 11.xvii, 12.ix]

Sep 12, 2007

aiu "oil" - Add item.
A few sentences I've noticed in the Tabula Capuana (i.e. Aiu-m vacilia Leθamsul nunθeri.;
Śanti arvus-ta aius nunθeri.) are telling me that aiu is part of the votive offerings set down at the altar for Lethams. I suggest a possible value of "oil" but this is uncertain.
epni [type of offering] - Add item.
epni [TCap xiv] (na.sg.) // epninai [TLE 28] (loc.pl.)
iś [type of offering] - Add item.
Found in the Tabula Capuana several times either with what appears to be a phrasal conjunctive in the nomino-accusative, iś-um (TCap xiii), or in the locative plural, iśvei (TCap viii, xviii, xxviii, lx, lvi). The use of the plural in -va, an allomorph of -χva found regularly after sibilants, indicates an inanimate noun.

Sep 10, 2007

riθna "table (for sacrifice or libations)" - Add item.
The word appears in the Tabula Capuana several times and always in the locative case. So I have a hunch that based on the surrounding text, this might be describing a place where sacrifices and libations are made, and hence a table seems like a nice fit. Hopefully, I can narrow things down as I find more information.

Sep 9, 2007

alfa "ox" - Add item.
The hapax elfa is found in the environs of another interesting item Aφe. (See under "Aφe".)
Aφe "Apis" [deity] - Add name.
Considering there are no serious, in-depth translations of the Tabula Capuana available, I hope the reader respects that I'm taking my own initiative. Now, I find the phrase Aφes ilucu vacil zuχne elfa riθnai interesting because thus far, I'm deducing that ilucu means altar and that word is always right beside the names of other gods declined in the genitive in this same text (with Laran and Lethams). So if Aφe is a god, it certainly looks like the name Apis with Greek's nominative ending -s taken away as is typical of Etruscan's treatment of foreign case endings. What's more, if elfa is a noun unmarked in the nomino-accusative case and associated with the Apis cult, it's another great coincidence that it should look like a Semitic word for "ox" (note Ugaritic ʔlp perhaps pronounced *ʔalpu) considering the extensive trade between Etruscans and Phoenicians who also worshipped oxen extensively. It's too intriguing a notion to toss aside and lends an interesting interpretation to this text.
ser "to guard, to watch over" - Modify translation: "to remain".
I first saw the word on the boundary marker of TLE 515. It wasn't much to go on and spoke of deceased people which I presumed were "guarding over" the boundary. However, the word may also be written in the Tabula Capuana. If I'm not mistaken, an infinitive verb is modifying the preceding noun, aiu. To remind readers, the Tabula Capuana is written in continuous text but the scribe had used single dots to show syllabicity (e.g.: ais would be written ai.s. showing that semivowel 'i' and 's' are terminating the syllable). However I'm skeptical of how consistent he was with this dot marking. Rix presents us with a word travaiuser which I suspect is actually three words: trau "poured" (passive participle), aiu (found elsewhere in the same text) and our beloved ser.

Sep 8, 2007

Leθams - Add name.
Oh dear! My favourite deity isn't in my database already! How shameful. Well, we must add that one in then. Mea culpa.
Satilna [gentilicium] - Modify form: Śatilna.
Typo. There's a san not a sigma in Śatlnal-c of TLE 128.
savicna, Saucane - Remodify: savicnes "plate"
Please forgive my indecisiveness with this item however I have only three nebulous instances of the word to go on (CIE 10498: savcnes śuris; TCap ii: savcnes sa tirias; TCap vi: vacil savcnes). Now that I'm scouring the Tabula Capuana in more detail, its presence there just can't be easily explained if it were a gentilicium. Perhaps a better explanation, considering its presence beside words like vacil "votive", would be that it describes a votive object (a plate?). Don't quote me on it. As always, this is a work in progress. (See "savicna (?)" under September 5.)
Śatna [female praenomen] - Add name.
Found in TLE 135: Larθal Śatnal-c clan.
Velχe [male praenomen] - Add name.
Velχe [TLE 662] (na.) // Velχes [TLE 535, 662] (gen.)

Sep 5, 2007

savicna (?) - Merge with: Saucane [gentilicium]
(See "savicna, Saucane" under September 8.)
śur [religious offering] - Merge with: Śuri [male praenomen]
I'm fully aware that most Etruscologists claim Śuri to be a male deity. However, I'm skeptical of how both Erika Simon (The Religion of the Etruscans, p.59) and Jannot (Religion in Etruria, p.159) gloss over the deity while at the same time stating confidently that the deity is "well-known in Etruria" and that Colonna somehow convincingly relates it to the sun without going into further details. Erika Simon touches vaguely on some votive inscriptions with "father Suri", and as usual, no reference numbers supplied. I'll continue to dig further on this.

Sep 4, 2007

Θanra [deity] - Modify form: Θanura
Considering Θanura-ri (TCap xxiii) which I interpret to be a locative form of the name extended further with postposition -ri, the new form would account for both this and the other syncopated forms already in my database.

Sep 3, 2007

Claruχie [gentilicium] - Add item.
Found as genitive Claruχies in the inscription of a boundary marker (TLE 515).
snuiaφi "as numerous as" - Modify form and translation: snuiapi "more numerous, greater".
Pondering on the word lately (found both in the Pyrgi Tablets and the Liber Linteus), I've come to the conclusion that -pi must be a comparative ending indicating "more", rather than a similative (i.e. "like, as"). If so, I can then explain morphologically the numeral cezp "eight" as underlying *ciś-pi "three more (than five)". In fact, I may have already encountered the elusive similative suffix in clanti "stepson".
zamaθi [type of vessel] - Modify translation: "gold".
While deeply leery of the otherwise faulty translations I see in books by Pallottino, Bonfante, Jannot and DeGrummond, I have to say that it looks like this word might be properly translated afterall. It appears in all honestly to be describing the object of inscription TLE 489 which happens to be a gold fibula, not a vessel. My translation is incorrect; I will adapt. It is often compared with Greek xanthos which appears at first an ad hoc connection however the Greek word is interesting in that its etymology is currently unknown. I'm now wondering if the word is originally Hittite or Luwian in origin.
zamaθiχ "golden" - Add item.
The adjectival form of zamaθi would be formed with the application of the common derivational suffix -χ used to form new substantives, particularly adjectives (n.b. mlaχ "blessed" and Rumaχ "Roman"). In the Liber Linteus, both zamθic and zamtic are found with final kappa (letter 'k') instead of chi (letter 'χ') making it appear as though it were a noun with conjunctive -c "and". However I now must concede that the noun phrase caperi zamθic must refer to a "golden bowl" for offerings making zamθic an adjective from an earlier form *zamaθiχ. Another attested adjective in the Liber Linteus, Cemnac, is alternatively spelled Cemnaχ in the same document.

Sep 1, 2007

nafau "pillar" - Modify translation: nafa [uncertain verb].
I've decided that the word must instead be a passive participle, not a noun. It would then be acting as an adjective, in an accusative noun phrase muθ nafau-cn in the Liber Linteus (LL 12.vi).

Aug 31, 2007

fler "gift" - Modify gender to Type I (i.e. declined with s-genitive).
I incorrectly keyed the gender as Type II, but the genitive is attested in the Liber Linteus as flerś. I'm now seperating instances of flereś (< *fler(a)-iś) as a seperate noun, a kind of diminutive of fler using the suffix -iś which is productive in forming derivatives. I briefly thought today that it should be translated as "statue" however this just doesn't work in some sentences in the Liber Linteus where it implies that the item can also be poured. So I'm keeping it as "gift" after it all. A blog entry talking more on this conundrum is forthcoming.
flereś "little gift" - Add word.
A blog entry talking more on this conundrum is forthcoming.
Mura [gentilicium] - Add name.
Attested in ET Vc 1.55, TLE 906 and TLE 908 in the locative case as Murai.
Una [gentilicium] - Add name.
Attested in ET Vc 1.45 in the genitive case as Unas.

Aug 29, 2007

Turanu [deity] - Modify form: Turaniu.
Although we actually only find Turnu attested (see here), his name (equivalent to Greek Eros) is surely a derivative of Turan, his mother's name, plus a diminutive suffix -iu. Depalatalization of 'i' after liquids (i.e. l, r, m and n) has a plethora of examples in Etruscan and affects the expression of other suffixes like the gentilitial suffix -ie in many names.
Caiśra "Caere" - Add city name.
It is apparently attested as Ceizra (ET Vs 6.7, Vs 6.8, Vs 6.9). Plus, Virgil's gloss Cisra in the Aeneid kinda helps. The hardening of sibilant 'ś' to affricate 'z' before 'r' is regular (e.g. huzrnatre < *huśrnatre, found in TLE 131).
pesnaiu [type of vessel] - Add word.
The word is found once in TLE 38 (a vessel) which is often transcribed into gobbleygook like this or this. My understanding of this inscription however (despite experts hiding photos from plebs like me and clearly adding extra letters that aren't there) is this:

• Velθur Tulumneś pesnu zinace, mene, muluvanice.
  Velthur Tulumnie fashioned the [vessel], set it down, and had it blessed (i.e. by a priest).

No doubt the name given to this type of vessel is related to the offering of pes mentioned in the Tabula Cortonensis (lines 3 and 5). A very early syncope might have reduced a diminutive *pesna-iu to *pesniu and then to pesnu (compare Turnu < *Turaniu, the name for the child of the goddess Turan).

Aug 28, 2007

Tuśnutinaie [gentilicium] - Add name.
The form Tusnutnie is found in ET Cl 0.8, Cl 0.9, Cl 0.10 and Cl 0.11.

Aug 27, 2007

muni "grave plot" - Revise translation: "plot, area".
Due to its use in the Pyrgi Tablets, a specific translation like "grave plot" doesn't fit since what is being talked about in this inscription involves a temple of Uni. It would more naturally be the land on which the temple was built by Thefarie Veliana. (The Etruscans believed the land of holy places and its boundaries were sacred and needed to be protected with special religious rites.) Ergo, I will now generalize the translation to account for this to "plot, area".
munisule "tomb" - Add word.
The word is attested in TLE 84 in the unmarked nomino-accusative case (the subject or object of a sentence), as well as in TLE 172 and 173 in the inessive case (indirect object with "in"). The meaning seems to clearly mean "tomb" (TLE 84: Larθiale Hulχniesi Marcesi-c Caliaθesi munsle. = "The tomb for Larth Hulchnie and for Marce Caliathe." This sentence is written directly on the wall of the Tomb of Orcus and that's good enough for me.) It is clearly a derivative of muni although I'm as yet unsure of the semantics of the ending. I have placed some forms of this word under muni, mistaking them as dative or genitive forms. I am now placing these forms under this item instead.

Aug 26, 2007

lup "to die" - Revise translation: "to depart to".
I recently discovered grammatical evidence showing that this verb does not literally mean "to die" as claimed by experts, but rather is a euphemism. Its primary meaning therefore must be updated. I've explained my reasons in the article Death and euphemisms in Etruria.
murza "small sarcophagus" - Delete word.
I now feel that the plural form murzva should be placed under muriś instead. (Note that inanimate plural -va is an allomorph of -χva used after sibilants and certain other sounds.) I had presumed that this word was formed with the common diminutive -za but there is no direct evidence of its existence in its expected singular *murza whereas muriś is well represented. (Interestingly, the purported existence of *murza 'small urn' is frequently published without references as in Compendium of the World's Languages. Frustrating, very frustrating.)
śealχu "sixty" - Delete word.
This is an extra entry for "sixty" that I lost track of. The proper form is śaiálχal but this is already in the pdf.