Theoretical synopsis of Etruscan verbs

Okay, I have thanksgiving turkey to eat pretty soon so I'll be brief
about this and we can ask questions after the holidays :)

Basically this is my current view of Etruscan verbs based on the
scanty ideas presented by the Bonfantes' books and after getting my
hands dirty to try and identify my own patterns. If you find my account
absolutely sickening, I shall expect to enjoy the angry email that
follows.

I'm thinkin' something to the effect of:

VERB (+ MOOD) (+ ASPECT) (+ TENSE)
ZERO (act) ZERO (dur) a (pres-fut)
an (mid) as (aor) e (past)
acH (pas) ac (per)

Get it? Good. There are _no_ personal endings whatsoever as we
might see in IE. This makes me disappointed but what can you do, eh?
So this explains EVERYTHING, I dare say:

/eca tva/ "this shows, this will show"
(tva- "to show" + -a [present-future])
ACTIVE DURATIVE PRESENT-FUTURE

/Hercle Unial tHra sce/ "Heracles suckled Uni's breast"
(sca- "to suckle" + -e [past])
ACTIVE DURATIVE PAST

/mi ama/ "I am, I will be"
(am- "to be" + -a [present-future])
ACTIVE DURATIVE PRESENT-FUTURE

/an ame/ "he was"
(am- "to be" + -e [past])
ACTIVE DURATIVE PAST

/an turuce/ "she has given"
(tur- "to give" + -uc- [perfect] + -e [past])
ACTIVE PERFECT PAST

/avil eniaca pulumcHva/
"[its] age shall outnumber the stars"
(en- "to outnumber" + -ac- [perfect] + -a [pres-fut])
ACTIVE PERFECT PRESENT-FUTURE

/vinum trin/ "wine is given, one gives wine"
(tur- "to give" + -in- [middle] + (-a [pres-fut]))
MIDDLE DURATIVE PRESENT-FUTURE

/s'utHi cericHunce/ "the tomb was built"
(*cericH "something built" + -un- [middle] + -c- [perfect]
+ -e [past])
MIDDLE PERFECT PAST

/zilcHnce/ "he led, he was a zilch"
(zilcH "leader" + -n- [middle] + -c [perfect] + -e [past])
MIDDLE PERFECT PAST

/tHemiasa/ "he builds, his having built"
(tHem- "to build" + -as- [aorist] + -a [pres-fut])
ACTIVE AORIST PRESENT-FUTURE


Further, the passive ending that was identified as -cHe is not only
in theory -cH-e, but also would form nouns on its own without the
tense marker (zil-cH "leader, one who governs", ruma-cH "Roman, one
from Rome").

Oh yeah, and you can forget those crackpots claiming that /-ne/ is
the "future tense". I've found no support for that apparently random
interpretation. I say it's the 'middle past'. So /tur-un-e/ actually
probably means "[it] was given", not "[he] will give". Argh!

There are also participle endings:

*-tH (active)
*-u (passive)

They may be used on there own without an implied /ama/ "is". Examples:

caru (ama) "(is) created"
nuntHentH "having been offered" (note middle -en-)
*multH "having blessed"

That should get everybody's goat now :) Let the flames begin!


= gLeN