Etruscans (was minimal pairs)

[petegray]

>In Vergilian Latin, the neuter plural was still patently the source of
>the collective noun. Previously, in a pre-Latin phase of Italic or
>earflier, these Ne-Pl collectives had given origin to feminine singulars of
>the 1st declension.

Can you show some evidence for these two claims?   I am not aware of any
places where the neuter plural functions as a collective noun in Vergil,
other than the usual ones in ordinary Latin - let alone being "patently the
source of" the collective.

Likewise the suggestion that the neuter plural gave rise to feminine
singulars within Italic.   There is some probability that this claim is
right for pre-PIE, but not within Italic.    Do you have any sources you can
point me to for this - or were you thinking of pre-PIE?

Peter