The Etruscans called themselves Rasna or Rasenna.
Archaeological evidence overwelmingly suggests that Etruscan society developed out of the preceding societies of Etruria, although the linguistic evidence has frequently been cited as pointing to exotic origins. Virtually all the languages of Europe share a number of common word stems that indicate that they belong to a family of related languages, termed 'Indo-European'.
Etruscan, however, along with Basque, Hungarian and Finnish is not part of this family.
For example, in Indo European languages the numbers one, two, three are recoognizable: uno, due, tre; ein, zwei, drei; un, deux, trois.
In Etruscan: thu, zal, ci.
Moreover, the Etruscan language is unrelated to any other language spoken in Italy such as Umbrain, Oscan, or Latin.
The only known similarity is with a dialect that was being spoken on the Island of Lemmos in the Northern Aegean, (according to inscriptions dated to the second half of the 6th Century BC) which in turn was different from all the other languages being spoken in Greece at that time.
The problem of Etruscan Origins is encapsulated in the peculiarity of the language.
From "The Etruscans" by Graeme Barker and Tom Rasmussen. Pub: 1998.
Archaeological evidence overwelmingly suggests that Etruscan society developed out of the preceding societies of Etruria, although the linguistic evidence has frequently been cited as pointing to exotic origins. Virtually all the languages of Europe share a number of common word stems that indicate that they belong to a family of related languages, termed 'Indo-European'.
Etruscan, however, along with Basque, Hungarian and Finnish is not part of this family.
For example, in Indo European languages the numbers one, two, three are recoognizable: uno, due, tre; ein, zwei, drei; un, deux, trois.
In Etruscan: thu, zal, ci.
Moreover, the Etruscan language is unrelated to any other language spoken in Italy such as Umbrain, Oscan, or Latin.
The only known similarity is with a dialect that was being spoken on the Island of Lemmos in the Northern Aegean, (according to inscriptions dated to the second half of the 6th Century BC) which in turn was different from all the other languages being spoken in Greece at that time.
The problem of Etruscan Origins is encapsulated in the peculiarity of the language.
From "The Etruscans" by Graeme Barker and Tom Rasmussen. Pub: 1998.
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Seattle
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Re: Etruscan Language
Sun, February 12, 2006 - 12:21 AMHow to reconstruct this language is a big problem, as all possible literature went lost. The first approach to this language was supplied by the golden plate that was found in Pyrgi. This fund could be compared to Rosetta stone. The inscriptions were in Greek and Phoenician. Based on these known languages, the first approach of translation was given.
Given the loss of any possble written sources, what remains are mostly grave plates...that only supply a very short biographic description of the name of the person, his family origin and his profession...
