From: "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...>
Date: Sat Mar 10, 2001 6:27am
Subject: Etruscan and Anatolian
Mr Caws:
>Well, Etruscan certainly seems to have a lot to
do with IE. Wouldn't
>an Anatolian explanation be just as easy,
though?
It wouldn't seem so. While there are parallels
especially between Anatolian
and Etruscan, most IEists feel confident that
Etruscan is non-IE and
non-IndoAnatolian. I will have to agree here
with the consensus. You have to
understand that Anatolian preserves archaisms in
IE that other languages
don't preserve (like the heteroclitic -r/-n
declension seen with *wodr, for
example). So, for a pro-IndoTyrrhenian,
amateur-linguist-person-thing like
myself, I choose to interpret the similarities
between Etruscan and
Anatolian partly through the slightly closer
relationship between Tyrrhenian
languages and the archaistic Anatolian branch of
IE and partly through
possible borrowings that could very well have
occured between each other
given the geographical proximity of these two
language groups after 4000
BCE. (Or at least, so say I.)
>The Anatolian Branch IE Speakers come in and
their language combines >with
>earlier non-IE language related to Khattic,
Hurro-Urartean and >who knows
>what else.
Actually Hittite /pir-/ and Luwian /parna/,
meaning "house", smells rather
fishy when compared to Egyptian [pr]. Maybe
Piotr knows the etymology of
this word (nudge, nudge)? I looked on this
website ...
http://www.wordgumbo.com/ie/cmp/luwi.htm
... but alas, to no avail. The etymology remains
hidden from my eyes and I
am filled with schoolgirl curiosity.
> These guys wre probably already in the sea
somewhat, trading in the
>Aegean.
One would assume. If it had been done by earlier
peoples then surely the sea
trade would have been taken up by later
Anatolians as their languages spread
through to Anatolia.
>Certain mythological references point to them
being pretty IE,
Be careful. Etruscan mythology may have common
motifs with other IE peoples
(as well as Sumerians, Akkadians and Egyptians)
not because of a genetic
relationship but because of later ties with the
dominant Middle-East and
contact with a million-and-one peoples before
arriving in Italy. Etruscan
mythology also has some querky features as well
(eg: the 16 divisions of the
sky) and it's fun to think about how they might
have arose when sipping a
nice tall glass of Iced Capp at a local cafe.
(As you can see, I'm a
caffeine junky.)
- gLeN
Forgive for mentioning:
McCallisters Etruscan Glossary contains:
"barga": "hut"
and
"Pyrgi": "the towers"
Would any of these in any way be conncted to Hittite "pir-" or Luwian
"parna"?
Regards
Morten