At 5:18:20 AM on Monday, July 21, 2003, g wrote:
> Brian M. Scott wrote:
>> They are derived from the name of the Volcae, a Celtic
>> tribe. Piotr gave a very detailed discussion in Message
>> 1167.
> The Etruscan toponym Vulcii (Volcii, too?) a mere co-
> incidence?
Apparently so. I asked in sci.lang, where there's a fellow,
Douglas G. Kilday, who appears to be genuinely
knowledgeable, and got this response:
--- begin quote ---
"Brian M. Scott" <
b.scott@...> wrote in message ...
> A question recently came up elsewhere: is there any reason
> to suppose a connection between Etruscan <Vulci> and the
> Celtic ethnonym <Volcae>, source of <Vlach>, <wealh>,
> etc.?
Not to my knowledge. The back vowel in <Vulci> is due to the
same Latin process that has given <vult> (archaic <volt>)
beside <velit>. The Etruscan name was <Velcl>, attested in
the locative <Velclthi>. Similar locatives <Tarchnalthi> and
<Velsnalthi> correspond to the cities called in Latin
<Tarquinii> and <Volsinii (Novi)>. At least in the case of
<Tarquinii>, we can infer that the Latin name, meaning
literally 'the Tarquins', signifies that the city was
founded by, and originally run by, members of the gens
Tarquinia. Etruscan <Tarchnal> is not formally a plural, but
it must have originally signified 'belonging to the gens
Tarchna'. Likewise we can infer that <Velsnal> and <Velcl>
were originally the cities 'belonging to the gentes Velzna
and Velcha' respectively, making allowance for phonetic and
orthographic shift (all the locatives cited are recent). The
element <Velch-> is fairly common in Etruscan gentilicia. I
do not know its meaning. It is possible that the Etruscan
name for the month of March was *<Velchitna>, since we have
the gloss "Velcitanus Tuscorum lingua Martius mensis
dicitur". This, however, is insufficient to indicate the
meaning of the root.
I do not know the origin of the ethnonym <Volcae>, or
whether it could have earlier been *<Velcae>. Certainly
there was trade between Etruria and Gallia Narbonensis, and
probably there were Etruscan merchants residing in Gaul in
the VI-V cent., but I find it very difficult to envision a
scenario by which an important Celtic tribe would have
adopted its name from an Etruscan gentilicium or
appellative.
DGK
--- end quote ---
Brian