156 REPORT — 1851. 



that the word -ing, which is appropriated by the Ing-cEvones, Angli, English, 

 and other pure Low-German tribes, seems to signify 'a man,' or 'a warrior' 

 (Grimm, I).3L i. p. 320), and as cpiinna is the Icelandic for mulier. Tor' 

 ing and Tar-quin are antithetical terms. The Low-German name Tor-quil 

 is probably a by-form of the latter ; at any rate we cannot but be struck by 

 the resemblance of these Northern and Etruscan names. The mythical 

 Tanaquil of Etruria reminds us of Tanaquisl, the old Scandinavian name 

 for the Tanais, which however is feminine (Grimm, D. Gr. iii. 385). 



It is obvious that we cannot expect to find one uniform language in the 

 Etruscan Inscriptions, which belong to very different epochs, and are 

 scattered over the whole of the territory occupied in different proportions by 

 a mixture of cognate tribes. In the most ancient fragments, and especially 

 in those which are found in the south of Etruria, we should expect to find a 

 predominance of the Pelasgian element, which is common to Greek and 

 Latin : and in point of fact, many of these inscriptions differ little, if at all, 

 from Archaic Greek. We should have no difficulty about the remains of the 

 Etruscan language, if all the fragments were as easily deciphered as mi 

 Kalairu fuius=^eljx\ KaXuipov Fikos. In some we find not only the Greek 

 language, but the Hexameter line, which is peculiar to the Greeks ; thus we 

 have, in the Museum at Naples,, the following line : mi ni Mulve nehe Velthu, 

 IT Pupliana, " I am not Mulva nor Volsinii, but Populonia;" and we find a 

 complete couplet on the vase found by Galassi at Cervetri : 



mi ni kethtima, mi mathu maram lisiai thipure'imi ; 

 ethe erai sie epana, mi nethu nastav helephu, 



** I am not dust, I am ruddy wine on funereal ashes : where there is feasting 

 under-ground, I am water for thirsty lips." In other inscriptions we natu- 

 rally find a nearer approximation to the IJmbrian language, as represented by 

 the Eugubine tables. And I propose to show that where we cannot derive 

 any assistance from Pelasgian or old Italian sources, the Scandinavian lan- 

 guages will furnish us with certain and ready help. I must premise, how- 

 ever, that I do not intend to engage in any detailed explanation of the 

 Etruscan inscriptions : it will be sufficient for my present purpose, if I can, 

 by a few decisive instances, establish the character of the language, and thus 

 confirm the other proofs of Scandinavian or Gothic affinity. 



With this view, the proper mode of proceeding, as it appears to me, is to 

 begin with those inscriptions which involve repetitions of the same phraseo- 

 logy, and of which the jsrimayacie interpretation is most simple and obvious. 

 When, for example, we find on sepulchres such inscriptions as : eca suthinesl 

 Titnie (Dennis, i.24-2. p.443), or eca suthi Larthial Cilnia (Dennis, i. p. 500), 

 or kehen suthi hinthiu thues (Vermiglioli, i. p. 64), or eka suthi amcie Titial 

 (Vermigl. i. p. 73), we can hardly doubt that eha and kehen are either adverbs 

 or pronouns signifying ' here ' or ' this,' in accordance with the root which 

 appears in all the Indo-German languages, and that suthi implies either 

 lamentation or recollection. Now in Icelandic sut is dolor, mcestitia ; and, in 

 the same language, nesla or hnesla* is futiis, laqueus ; so that we might trans- 

 late eka suthinesl Titnie and eka suthi Larthial Cilnia. by : " this is the sorrow- 

 ful inscription for Titinius," and " this is the mourning for Cilnius the son of 

 Larthius." If this were an isolated parallelism between the Scandinavian and 

 Etruscan, it would prove little beyond the fact that there is a certain similarity 

 of sound between the two languages. But by the side of the eka or keJien 



* In the transition from Icelandic to Swedish, h falls away before all consonants ; thus 

 hnyckr becomes nyck, &c. The same occurs in Latin, as in res for hra-is, from hir = x^'p. 

 The root of hne-sla is ne, the terminatioa beiug sla, as in reyn-sla, &c. 



