Re: PIE voiced aspirates (?)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:

>
> Although Etruscan had no voiced stops, or at least its
> alphabet did not, there are Latin words with voiced
> stops that purportedly came from Etruscan. Off the top
> of my head, I can think of balteus, the source of
> English belt. Would these words have been more likely
> to have originally been aspirated or non-aspirated
> stops in Etruscan or would it have been impossible to tell?

It's difficult to say. Etruscan often interchanged aspirates and
non-aspirates. I haven't been able to spot any patterns to it. I
wonder if aspiration was even phonemic.