Last Spoken Etruscan

[ERobert52 at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/04/01 01:38:08 GMT Daylight Time, dlwhite at texas.net
writes:

>> -- Is there any evidence as to when Etruscan ceased to be a spoken
>> language?

>          I have read that the Emperor Claudius was one of the last to speak
>  it, which would put it's death as a spoken language not far from the last
>  inscriptions, if I am remembering correctly.

>  Dr. David L. White

I think he learned it from his second wife, who, it is said, was a native
speaker. According to Larissa Bonfante, Etruscan was still in use as a
liturgical language in 407 AD, when some priests were asked to say a few
words to prevent Rome being sacked by the Goths. This was unsuccessful, of
course, and there are no further records of Etruscan being spoken.

Ed. Robertson