IE and Etruscan

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:

>-- it's not the origins of the Etruscans, but the genetic relationships of
>their language.  Last time I looked, there was general agreement among
>linguists that Etruscan is non-Indo-European.  Hell, we can't even read it!

You're right, Etruscan is not IE (despite some attempts at
placing Etruscan/Lemnian in the Anatolian subgroup).  But enough
is known to suggest some connection with IE.  From Beekes & vd
Meer's short overview of Etruscan grammar:

genitive in *-si (cf. Luwian -assi, PIE *-os)
genitive in *-la (cf. Hittite pronominal -l)
dative/locative in *-i (cf. PIE *-(e)i)
1p.sg. p.p. mi "I", acc. mini (cf. PIE *H1me-)
dem.pron. (i)ka (cf. Hittite kas)
dem.pron. (i)ta (cf. PIE *to-)
accusative (pronom.) in -n (cf. PIE *-m)
past tense in -ce (cf. Greek pf. in -ka [?])
ptc.praes.act. in *-nth (cf. PIE *-nt)
ptc.pf.act. in *-thas (cf. PIE *-to [?])
suffixed conj. -c "and" (cf. PIE *-kwe)
suffixed conj. -m "but" (cf. Hittite -ma)

The vocabulary is much more elusive, but some interesting
connections, apart from obvious Italic loanwords, might be tiv(r)
"moon, month", tin "day" [*deiw-, *di(w)-n-], usil "sun"
[*saHwel-], hant(h)e "before" [*Hant-], lautun/lautni "family;
freedman" [*leudh-], -pi "for, by, through" [*-bhi],
$at(h)/$ut(h) (ablaut?) "set, put" [*sed-].

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam