1890.J dJ [Brinton. 



On Etruscan and Libyan Names. A Comparative Study. 



By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. 



{Read before the American Philosophical Society, February 7, 18 go.) 



§ 1. Introductory. Libyan Epigraphy. 



In October last (1S89) I laid before this Society a series of con- 

 siderations drawn from the physical traits of the Etruscans, their 

 customs, arts and language, going to show that they were an offshoot 

 or colony of the Libyans or Numidians of North Africa — that stock 

 now represented by the Kabyles of Algeria, the Rifians of Morocco, 

 the Touaregs of the Great Desert and the other so-called Berber 

 tribes. 



So far as I was aware, this opinion had never been advanced 

 before, although it would seem a natural and obvious one. Nor 

 have I yet found that any writer had clearly stated it previously ; 

 though I have discovered that occasional earlier observers have been 

 struck with some of the resemblances which so impressed me, and I 

 am glad to add the weight of their testimony to my own. Thus, 

 M. Louis Rinn, Vice-President of the Historical Society of Algiers, 

 after alluding to what he considers a point of resemblance between 

 the Berber and the Etruscan language, adds, " A comparative study 

 of these two peoples would certainly bring into prominence other 

 similarities, yet more remarkable, in their customs, in the forms 

 and designs of their potteries and in their tongues."* M. Rinn 

 quotes the old traveler, Dr. T. Shaw, as suggesting one or more 

 similarities in Kabyle and Etruscan place-names, but he gives no 

 exact references, and a search through Shaw's Travels has not en- 

 abled me to find the passages. 



In the present article, I shall carry out to a limited extent a com- 

 parison between the proper names preserved in the oldest Libyan 

 monuments and a series of similar names believed to be genuine 

 Etruscan. I am aware that this is not the way to study the relation- 

 ship of languages a fond ; but the material is not obtainable in 

 this country to do more, and if it were, I have not that familiarity 



* Les Origines Berbtres. Etudes Linguistiques et Ethnologiques, p. 190 (Alger., 1889). I re- 

 gret that I cannot speak favorably of this laborious production ; but its author is fantas- 

 tical rather than scientific in most of his researches. The similarity referred to is that 

 of the geographical name Taderta which I mention hereafter. 



