--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "C. Darwin Goranson"
<cdog_squirrel@...> wrote:
> 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...
Sorry, there appears to be a misunderstaing here; that was
originated by my unhappy choice of the term "Anatolian" in the
opening sentence of my post archived at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/47547
I had written:
"The theory about the Anatolian origin of the Etruscan people *and*
language appears to have been strengthened by a new genetic study of
cattle in the Tuscan region."
The term "Anatolian" is used in my note in a geographical, not in a
linguistic sense; in fact, I wanted to refer to Beekes' hypothesis
that the homeland of the Tyrsenoi (= Etruscans) lay in northwestern
Anatolia, just south of the Sea of Marmara.
Beekes' booklet, available as a PDF at
http://www.knaw.nl/publicaties/pdf/20021051.pdf ,
is really worth reading for anyone interested in the problem of the
Etruscan origins (and also that of the origin of the Etruscan
language). However, he doesn't maintain that the Tyrsenoi spoke an
IE-related language. He thinks that they lived in close proximity to
the (IE-speaking) Lydians, though. Please read the paper, that's
so much interesting!
Best,
Francesco