Re: [tied] Backward Etruscan

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 6237
Date: 2001-02-28

Chris Gwinn:
>I was wondering if any of the list members might be able to comment
>on some of the Etruscan divine names (ex. Tinia - Zeus, Tinas clerar-
>Dioskouroi, Thevrumines-Minotaur, Turms - Hermes, Uni - Hera,
>Nethuns - Poseidon, Maris - Ares, Menrva - Athena, Sethlans -
>Hephaistos, Thesan-Eos, Turan-Aphrodite, Fufluns - Dionysos, Apulu -
>Apollo).

I'll give it a shot...

Tinia/Tins/Tin is the old sky god and appears to be native to Etruscan,
often compared to IE *dei- "to shine" and *Dye:us, the equivalent IE god. I
wonder if the -ia suffix here is being used as a diminutive... Like maybe
/Tinia/ "young Zeus"? I don't know the references associated with /Tinia/ to
be sure.

Dunno about clerar. Are you sure you don't mean /clenar/? The latter means
"sons".

Thevrumines seems to be a compound of *thevru "bull" and *Mines, whose
placement is opposite to what we find in our familiar "Minotaur".

Turms looks temptingly alot like Greek Hermes except for the pesky initial
consonant but then again, Turms looks related to /tur/ "to give"... or maybe
the goddess Turan... Dunno.

Uni would appear to be a Latin loan from Iuno. She primarily exhibits
characteristics of the young-maiden aspect of the Goddess (Venus) while Hera
is definitely the old-crone aspect.

Nethuns is from Latin Neptunus which we know derives from the IE god
*Nepo:t, the "child of the waters".

Maris is connected to Latin Mars but I don't know which way the arrow is
supposed to point. I would dare say that this is an Etruscan name, perhaps
connected with /mur/ "to remain, to die"? This would make sense being that
Maris is associated with fertility (death-rebirth) as was the Roman Mars
originally.

Menrva looks like native Etruscan because of the typical -va suffix, which
might be used for a collective sense, but I'm not sure what it would mean.

Sethlans... I've been playing with this name but nothing worth mentioning so
far. I like to fantasize that it has something to do with my ProtoSteppe
word *sik:Wru "mouse, rodent, etc" (which should be *sek:Wre in
IndoTyrrhenian). Why? Because, as I said before, the mouse appears to be
associated prehistorically with fire - both are the bringers of fortune as
well as plague. Just an idle thought though.

Thesan... dunno. It appears native. Note the -an suffix that appears all
over the place (Sethl-an-s, Tur-an)

Turan almost appears to mean "gift" (/tur/ "to give")... or is it a clipped
version of earlier *Aturan (loaned from Semitic or IE)? Say, that reminds me
of what I was reading one day on the Pyrgi Tablet...

/atranes zilacal seleitala acnasvers.../

Fufluns is from Latin Populonus.

Apulu seems to be from Greek Apollo.

Torsten:
>Yes, welcome back gLeN
>
>Look at the above Etruscan name for Minotaurus: Thevrumines. Weren't
>you looking for a "backward" composition of Etruscan composite nouns?

Hey, Tee. Haha, I know. I realized that a couple of weeks ago, yes. Thanx,
though. Unfortunately, afaik, this *thevru "bull" has not been found in
isolation so some people might still complain... but then surely *thevru
must have existed. Then again, isn't *Mines declined in the genitive?

- gLeN


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