Etruscan Basic Lexicon – A Synopsis - February 2016 update

Copyright © Gianfranco Forni 2016

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Etruscan Basic Lexicon – A Synopsis

Updated version – February 2016

(translations by Mauro Cristofani added)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Purpose of this paper ..........................................................................2

Etruscan basic lexicon ........................................................................3

Sources .............................................................................................................. 3 Synopsis of Etruscan basic lexicon .................................................................... 4 Basic lexicon with certain (uncontroversial) meaning ......................................... 5 Basic lexicon with somewhat doubtful meaning ................................................. 9 Basic lexicon with very doubtful / controversial meaning .................................. 11

Annexes ............................................................................................. 13


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Purpose of this paper Any serious investigation into the genetic affiliation of the Etruscan language must be based on a good understanding of its phonology, morphology and lexicon. Etruscan is still only partially understood, and information about its lexicon is scattered across innumerable sources. It is therefore very difficult to quickly obtain an overview of our current understanding of its lexicon. The present paper aims at filling this gap, by offering a quick summary of our understanding of Etruscan basic lexicon1. This paper is intended as a stepping stone for researchers who want to try and understand the origin of Etruscan by comparing its basic lexicon against other languages and language families. It will in fact be used in a forthcoming long paper by the present author, where Etruscan will be compared with Anatolian languages. Comments about this short paper are very welcome and can be sent to [email protected].

1 as defined in https://www.academia.edu/3801983/Maximizing_the_reliability_of_macro-comparisons._General_criteria_and_a_detailed_proposal_for_the_semantic_aspects

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.academia.edu/3801983/Maximizing_the_reliability_of_macro-comparisons._General_criteria_and_a_detailed_proposal_for_the_semantic_aspects

https://www.academia.edu/3801983/Maximizing_the_reliability_of_macro-comparisons._General_criteria_and_a_detailed_proposal_for_the_semantic_aspects


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Etruscan basic lexicon

Sources

Most information about Etruscan lexicon is scattered across innumerable articles and monographs. There are very few scholarly summaries of our current understanding of Etruscan lexicon. I could only find five summary works that are reasonably recent and well researched:

Author Editor Title Publisher Year ISBN

Bonfante, G.; Bonfante, L.

The Etruscan Language. An Introduction. Second edtion

Manchester University Press

2002 0-7190-5540-7

Facchetti, Giulio M.

L'enigma svelato della lingua etrusca 2

Newton & Compton editori

2000 88-8289-458-4

Facchetti, Giulio M.

Appunti di morfologia etrusca

Leo S. Olschki 2002 88-222-5138-5

Helmut Rix Woodard, Roger D.

Etruscan (pages 141 to 164), in The Ancient Languages of Europe

Cambridge University Press

2008 978-0-521-68495-8

Mauro Cristofani

Introduzione allo studio dell’etrusco

Leo S. Olschki 2014 (reprint)

978-88-222-1585-7

These are the sources from which I gathered the present overview of Etruscan basic lexicon. All translations from which this synopsis derives can be found in the following Excel file: https://www.academia.edu/21955023/Etruscan_basic_lexicon_database_-_February_2016_update

2 Despite its “popular science” title, this book is actually based on sound scholarly knowledge

https://www.academia.edu/21955023/Etruscan_basic_lexicon_database_-_February_2016_update


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Synopsis of Etruscan basic lexicon

The following tables summarize the current understanding of Etruscan basic lexicon as follows: an Etruscan term or root is listed in its most basic form, followed by its meaning and by a terse representation of meanings proposed by the authors listed in the previous section. A column is dedicated to each author. Cell colors are used as follows:

green if the author regards a meaning as certain

yellow if the author regards a meaning as somewhat uncertain

orange if the author regards a meaning as very uncertain.

Cell contents are as follows:

“=” means the author agrees with the meaning contained in the “Meaning” column “+” means the author agrees with the meaning contained in the “Meaning” column, but proposes additional meanings as well; such additional meanings are listed in a footnote “~” means the author proposes a meaning which is similar, but not identical to the one found in the “Meaning” column “≠” means the author proposes a different meaning “-“ means the author provides no information about the word or root


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Basic lexicon with certain (uncontroversial) meaning

Etruscan Meaning Facchetti Bonfante Rix Cristofani

ac- to make, do = + 3 ~ 4 ~ 5

acn- to have = + 6 + 7 ~ 8

al- to give + 9 + 10 + 11 ~ 12

-alχ -ty (suffix for multiples of ten in numerals)

= = = =

am- to be = = = =

an who (human relative pronoun)

= + 13 = ~ 14

apa father = = = =

ar- to make, do + 15 + 16 = =

ati mother = = = =

-c, -χ and = = = =

cap- to take + 17 = ~ 18 =

cel earth + 19 + 20 + 21 = 22

3 also ‘to offer’

4 Rix translates acilun- as ‘to manage, get done’, but he translates acas- as ‘to sacrifice’, i.e. apparently not as a derivative of ac- (contra Facchetti and Bonfante)

5 acil ‘opus’

6 also ‘to procreate, acquire’ (children)

7 also ‘to make into a possession; to get’

8 acnan- ‘to beget’

9 also ‘to give as a present, to offer’

10 also ‘to offfer’

11 also ‘to give as a present’

12 ‘to give as a present / to make’

13 also ‘he, she’

14 relative pronoun (subject)

15 also ‘to carry; to move; to reach’

16 also ‘to move’

17 also ‘to grab’; ‘to contain’ > cap-er, cap-ra ‘container, vessel’

18 caper ‘vessel’

19 also ‘land’

20 also ‘land’

21 also ‘ground’

22 as a goddess


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cer- to build + 23 + 24 + 25 =

ces- to lie, be placed = = - =

ci three = = = =

clan son = = = =

ei(n) not (prohibitive) = = = =

et thus = = = ~ 26

huš- child + 27 = + 28 =

ica this + 29 = + 30 =

ipa relative pronoun + 31 = + 32 -

ita demonstrative + 33 = 34 + 35 = 36

lupu dead + 37 = = =

-m and (enclitic coordinating conjunction)

= = ~ 38 =

maχ five = = = =

23 also ‘to make, erect’

24 also ‘to make’

25 also ‘to erect, set up’

26 etnam ‘the same way (?)’

27 also ‘boy’, ‘young’

28 also ‘young’

29 also definite article

30 also enclitic article

31 also interrogative pronoun and ‘that’ (subordinating declarative conjunction)

32 also interrogative pronoun and ‘that’ (subordinating conjunction)

33 ‘this’, ‘that’ and definite article

34 ‘this’

35 ‘this’ and enclitic article

36 demonstrative: ‘this’ / ‘that (by you)’?

37 also ‘gone’

38 ‘but’ (weakly adversative coordinating conjunction)


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men- make = + 39 + 40 =

mi I = = = =

mlaχ good + 41 ~ 42 = ~ 43

mul- to give (as a present) + 44 + 45 = + 46

papa grandfather = = - 47 - 48

puia wife = = = =

sar 10 = = = =

seχ daughter = = = =

šuθ- to lay, place = = = -

sval- to live = = = =

tin day > Zeus (Jupiter) = = = ~ 49

tiu moon, month = = = -

tur- to dedicate + 50 + 51 + 52 + 53

39 also ‘to offer, give’

40 also ‘to prepare, create’

41 also ‘beautiful’, ‘noble’

42 ‘beautiful’

43 ‘beautiful, noble’

44 also ‘to offer, dedicate’

45 also ‘to offer, dedicate’

46 also ‘to dedicate’

47 only cites the derivative papals ‘grandchild’

48 papalser ‘grandchildren’

49 ‘Zeus, Jupiter’

50 also ‘to give, offer, give as a present’

51 also ‘to give’

52 also ‘to sacrifice’; ‘to make over (to someone)’

53 also ‘to give as a present’


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θesan morning + 54 + 55 +56 =

θu(n) one = = = =

θui here = + 57 = =

un thee = = = -

ušil sun + 58 = ~ 59 =

zal two = = = =

zaθrum twenty = = = =

zin- to make + 60 = + 61 =

54 also ‘dawn, Aurora’

55 also ‘dawn, Aurora’

56 also ‘day’

57 also ‘now’

58 also ‘day’

59 ‘day’

60 also ‘to produce’

61 also ‘to produce’


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Basic lexicon with somewhat doubtful meaning


aminθ love, Amor (god of love) = = - -

cauθa sun, sun-god = = - -

ceχa above + 62 + 63 + 64 =

cezp eight = = = + 65

farθ(a)n- to generate = = to pray for =

hec- to put, place / set up, erect ? put, place put, place set up, erect

-

hen here = = - -

hinθ- below = = - -

huθ four / six ? 6 (/4?) 6 (/4?) 6 66 4? / 6?

in non-human relative pronoun = ≠ 67 = -

mal- to look = 68 = 69 - -

mur- to reside = = 70 - 71

(ati) nacna grand- (mother) + 72 + 73 - -

netš- entrails = harusp- 74 liver 75 ~ 76

nurφ nine = = = =

put- to place = ≠ 77 = -

62 also ‘on behalf of, because of’

63 also ‘older’; ‘ceremony (right, law)’

64 also ‘because of’

65 7? 8? 9?

66 but ša, too, is glossed as ‘six’

67 ‘it’

68 also ‘to verify, control, observe’

69 also ‘to watch, guard, oversee’

70 also ‘to stay’

71 murce ‘a verb of unknown meaning’

72 ati nacna ‘grandmother’, papa nacna ‘grandfather’, nacna ‘big, elder’

73 ati nacna ‘grandmother’, nacn(u)va ‘dear’ or ‘venerable’

74 nethśrac ‘haruspicina’, netśvis ‘haruspex’

75 ziχ neθσrac ‘text concerning the inspection of the liver’

76 netsvis ‘haruspex’

77 put-, puth- ‘vase, pot, vessel, well?’


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ruva brother = = - -

ša four / six ? 4 4 (/6?) 4 (/6?) 4? / 6?

scun- to allow / yield / give / leave / put at someone’s disposal

allow yield, give /

leave

put at someone’s

disposal

-

semφ seven = = = + 78

teta grandmother = = - -

trin- to say / speak say ≠ 79 speak -

ziv- to live / to die ? live dead live -

78 7? 8? 9?

79 ‘to plead, supplicate’


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Basic lexicon with very doubtful / controversial meaning


cen- to make / place / acquire ? acquire make, place

- -

χi- each, all ? = pronoun - -

χur full, complete ? = - - -

e(i)tv- big ? = - - -

ena- his, her, its / our / anything ? our genitive of

an, in anything

-

es- to want ? = - - -

est- that ? = - - -

far- to enter / prepare ? enter - prepare -

har- to enter, penetrate; inside ? = ? - -

hev- here / all / some ? here - all / some -

(h)ia here ? = - - -

lein- to die ? - = - -

luθ stone / temple / field / altar ? field stone / temple

altar -

mlesie- hill ? hill ? - -

muc- inside, content ? = - - -

neri water ? - = - -

pava boy / discipline ? discipline boy - -

pi in, to, up to, until / towards ? towards in, to, up to,

until ? ?

pul > pulum bright > star ? = ~ 80 - -

raχ to prepare / tray / fire ? tray prepare fire -

ren- hand ? = - - -

rep- to bend, incline, bow ? ? = - -

restm land, meadow ? meadow land - -

ru(t)z dead, death ? = - - -

80 pulumchva ‘stars?’, but pul ‘in, to, up to, until’ (preposition)


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ša the, that ? ~ 81 - = =

si(n)- to hear / accept / take ? hear,

accept - take

-

slica- to remove, separate ? = ? - -

spel cavity, cave ? = - - -

taliθa girl ? - = - -

tece set up, placed, put / sanctuary ?

sanctuary set up,

placed, put -

-

tezan to accept, receive ? = - - -

θar there ? - = - -

θi water ? = pronoun -

θra(s)- to become / to suckle ? become suckle become -

θul- brother / twin ? = - - -

urθ- to make ? - = - -

vatie- to ask (for) / to wish for ? ask - wish -

vers- fire ? = = 82 - -

81 sam ‘and this?’

82 or ‘ladle’?


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Annexes All translations from which this synopsis derives can be found in the following Excel file: https://www.academia.edu/21955023/Etruscan_basic_lexicon_database_-_February_2016_update

https://www.academia.edu/21955023/Etruscan_basic_lexicon_database_-_February_2016_update

Documents

Etruscan Basic Lexicon – A Synopsis - February 2016 update