Etruscan / Pelasgian

[Eduard Selleslagh]

----- Original Message -----
From: <philjennings at juno.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2001 4:10 AM

[snip]

> Isn't Tarhuntassa securely located as a neighbor to Kizzuwatna?
> (I envision this about as far east as the borders of southwest Asia
> Minor can be stretched.  I have heard that Tarhuntassa = later Tarsus.)

> How old a god is Tarhun(d/t)?  Could he possibly be pre-Anatolian (ie.
> Pelasgian on the theory that Pelasgian <> Anatolian)?

[snip]

> Rather than this, Is there not sufficient evidence here and elsewhere,
> that the -assa suffix is Anatolian as well as Pelasgian?

[snip]

> Dr. White also explains the wide dispersion of -assos names (like Tartessos)
> as possibly due to later Greek mediation.  It is in fact extreme to think of
> early Pelasgians in Spain.  But the name Tarhuntassa came and went before the
> Greeks came snooping very far into Asia Minor.  Some kind of pre-Greek
> dispersion really did happen.

[Ed Selleslagh]

I have several questions, some of which are based upon extremely speculative
ideas (somebody has to stick out his neck):

1. Is Tarhun(t) the root for the name Tarquinius?

2. Is it unthinkable that the (Greek) names 'Pelasgoi' and 'Leleges' are based
upon the name of the NE Caucasian Lesghians? The first one with some indigenous
prefix (maybe indicating they're from the lowlands, not from the (Caucasian)
mountains), the second one with Greek reduplication, because of the shortness
of the name. If this could be substantiated, it might mean that the substrate
is non-PIE, non-Anatolian, not even sister-of-Anatolian, or else, of course,
that the Pelasgoi and the Leleges were misnamed or changed their language.
Anyone versed in Lesghian language and ancient history?

3. About -assos/-assa: In Basque there is a "complex" of suffixes composed of
parts of -(a)tz(a/e).  The meanings can be pretty diverse, but an important one
is something like 'place of (many/a lot of) ....' and the like (also: a plant,
tree producing fruit xxx). It looks like if the core meaning was a 'genitive',
'of', 'belonging to' (non existant in modern Basque case endings).  I am not
pretending that this is the origin of -assos/-assa, but rather wondering if the
Basque form might have a common Mediterranean origin, with or without Greek or
Iberian (or whatever) mediation. It could be an indication that this suffix was
wandering around the Mediterranean at an early date.

Don't kill me for this: I'm just wondering....

Ed.