Re: [tied] Re: Etruscan numerals

Rob:

> Was the evolution something like this:
>
> North(-West) Semitic /sab`atum/ (sab`-at-u-m?)
> > Tyrrhenian /sept(u)m/
> > Proto-Etruscan /sepm/ (reduction of consonant cluster)
> > Early Etruscan /semp/ (metathesis)
> > Etruscan /semph/ (aspiration of final stops)

I'd say this:

"a Semitic dialect during 3000 BC or so" with *sab`um

> Tyrrhenian *sepHa
> EtrucoCypriot *sempHa
> Etruscan /sempH/


> Also, do you ascribe the phoneme /x/ to |s'|,

Yes. I got too lazy writing two characters and there is no "x" (ie:
/ks/) in Etruscan anyway :)

> Concerning /ati/, it seems similar to Gothic |aiþi| /eTi/.

Yes. I don't know exactly why.

> Perhaps the -ce perfect(ive) ending is related to that of the Greek
> k- perfects?

I'm going to post my ideas on Etruscan verb morphology shortly, and
I don't agree with what you're saying. I have another connection
within IE itself.

> Etruscan /huth/ was earlier /hut/, right?

I'm reconstructing Tyrrhenian *hota so far, becoming EtruscoCypriot
*huta > Etruscan /hutH/.

> Did */o/ merge with/become /u/ everywhere?

Not in my view. Tyrrhenian mostly had an initial stress accent. So
*o in the first syllable of Tyrrhenian words becomes EtruscoCypriot
*u but elsewhere *a.


= gLeN