ETRURIA CAPTA. 157 
Tables. It possesses no sign whatever to mark independently the 
short vowels. Indeed, it is doubtful if it has any vowel sign at all, 
for the simple perpendicular line, or Roman I, rather seems to 
represent an aspirate, and may give ha, he, hi, ho, hu. It is the 
Aztec hui or ui, a thorn. This vowel sign or aspirate syllable some- 
times presents difficulty, by appearing with its duplicate IT, for these 
_two perpendicular lines or parallels denote the short sound of ¢ or d 
in composition, te, ti, de, di, et, ed. In Aztec it is represented by 
titlan or tlantli, the teeth. In the Hittite inscriptions it is generally 
perpendicular, but, on the bilingual of Tarkutimme, it is horizontal. 
The aspirate syllable appears in composition with a character identi- 
cal in its simple form with the Roman C, when the compound 
assumes the shape of K. The C is a weak sibilant, chi, che, x1, ze, is. 
The combination K gives fitz, ots, uchi. C is the Aztec chichi, 
which Brasseur de Bourbourg renders powmons, mamelles. It occurs 
frequently in the Hittite inscriptions, alone and in composition. 
The only other case of combination is in the form B, in which the 
aspirate or broad vowel is joined to the character resembling the 
figure 8.% This figure 8 is the Etruscan 1 in all its powers, la, le, li, 
lo, lu, al, el, il. With the prefixed I, in the form B, it seems to 
denote ol, ul. The Aztec has no hieroglyphic for 1, but that for 
tlalli, a piece of ground, the Basque lurra, is identical in form with 
the older square form of 8, which is common in Etruscan inscriptions, 
and has generally been read as h. The Corean | is square or 
angular; that of Cyprus is identical with the Etruscan. The 
Ktruscan has only one character for all the powers of 7, which is 
hardly ever initial in Basque words. It is almost identical with 
the Roman A, but with rounded top, and has been thus read. In 
the Hittite monuments it presents a rounded form, at once giving 
the bow as its original The Aztec has no r, but, as I have shown 
in my article on the Aztec and its relations, the peculiar Mexican 
combination ¢J may represent an original r or 1. The Aztec symbol 
coinciding is tlaottolli, the bow, the Koriak ratla.” In the Lycian 
°8 In the Cippus of Perusia this form, which is common in the Eugubine Tables, is replaced 
by the horizontally intersected parallelogram,read by Etruscologists as h. Generally the latter 
character and 8 appear to denote the same sounds and to belong to different stages of the 
written language. ‘ But the Cippus shows beyond doubt that the angular form was reserved for 
preceded by a long vowel. In B, the combination T8 appears, the perpendicular line repre- 
senting the long vowel. 
29T compare the Aztec with the Koriak of eastern Siberia as the resemblance between the 
Koriaks, Tchuktchis and Kamtchadales on the one hand and the American Indians on the other 
3 
