Re: Backward Etruscan

--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:

> --- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> > > > Me:
> > >>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.
> >
> > Chris G:
> > >I have seen some try to reconstruct a proto-form, *Menesua,
> relating >it to
> > >the moon and to menstruation.
> >
> > That would be great if Etruscan were an IE language... but it's
> only related
> > to IE at best, not part of it. The Etruscan word for "moon" is
> known to be
> > /tiur/ and I haven't seen any such "moon" word like *menes-

outside

> of IE.
> > Plus, *-s- changes to -r- in _Latin_. We're not talking about
> Latin. We're
> > talking about Etruscan. So, we would be best to look for

something

> along the
> > lines of preEtruscan *Mener-va instead. This *mener- looks like

the

> plural
> > of something and this would go well with the -va suffix... but I
> still don't
> > have a clue as to what it might mean. Good try though.
> >
> > I notice that there are other Etruscan deities starting with /man-

/

> that
> > might relate to the etymology of Menrva, like Mania, the goddess

of

> the
> > underworld, and Mantus, god of the underworld. As well, there are
> words like
> > /mani/ "the dead". I see a common theme happenin' here. Is it
> possible that
> > *Mener-va originally meant "place of the dead" or "the dead"?

Could

> Minerva
> > have been originally the embodiment of the underworld just like
> Canaanite
> > Mot, before being artificially connected with Athena? Just a
> thought.
> >
> > - gLeN
> >
> Here's a nice repository for *man- words:
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/man.html
>
> Feel free to use it.
>
> Torsten

I visited the aforementioned site, and I noticed a lot of man or
men words connected with knowledge/mind. Seeing as how that's one of
Minerva's primary attributes, could this work? -Mr. Caws