IE and Etruscan

[Glen Gordon]

>>>Etruscan is non-Indo-European.  Hell, we can't even read it!

>>Oh, but we can! There is general agreement on the values of the
>>letters and a large proportion of the inscriptions can be
>>translated without much difficulty.

>There are also words in Latin said to be of Etruscan origin [e.g.
>satelles, persona, etc.] as well non-IE substrate common to Latin &
>Greek that may from Etruscan and/or a congener [I think form-/morph-
>are among them]

While there are things like <nefts'> "grandson" which look much like
loans from Latin, when you find enormous coincidences that couldn't
possibly have been borrowed into Etruscan from Latin or Greek such as
<hanthin> "in front of" with the initial laryngeal or <tham-> "build,
found", you really have to start wondering about a genetic relationship
of some kind with IE, especially when there is a pattern of unique sound
correspondances to boot. Even Anatolian borrowings don't cut it because
of those pesky grammatical elements that won't go away.

So amidst all this data I would personally say that anyone that doesn't
agree that IE and Etruscan are genetically related by now are the ones
that are truly gaga. So get ye to a library! :)

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Glen Gordon
glengordon01 at hotmail.com

Kisses and Hugs
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