Re: On the origin of the Etruscans

I really like the idea of the Etruscans being Indo-European in origin,
or at least closely related to the Indo-Europeans.

If indeed their language is an offshoot of an Anatolian one, which
would at least partly verify Fred Woudhuizen, then it would suit the
stele that was found in the Aegean that appears to have a quasi-
Etruscan tongue (the Lemnos stele).

It makes some sense, too; Tarchun (Tarquin) in similar to Tarhunt, one
of the Anatolian Gods (the Thunder God). The name itself might reflect
a Luvian ancestry; didn't PIE *e sometimes become /a/ in Luvian? If
that's the case, then we may have a descendant of *terh2-on[t] or
something like, having to do with passing through (a rite of
passage? "He who has passed through"?).

However, if Etruscan is NOT an Anatolian tongue, then there is little
doubt that it is still somehow related to PIE. There are such striking
grammatical and important lexical similarities that it would be counter-
intuitive to deny a relationship.