168 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
clumsy tools borrowed from many distant lands I have rough-hewn 
out of the Etruscan quarries. The syllabary presented is far from 
an ideal one, but it is certainly as perfect as that of the ancient 
Pheenicians, who ignored vowels altogether, and hardly inferior to the 
Hebrew syllabary, prior to the invention of the vowel points within 
the Christian era.” 
Basque: iraulzi duen gatillu mai * su imi * * * * * tanka bu * * * 
overturn who does vase tablet * * fire place * * * * * strike let * * * 
I have not hazarded a complete translation of this corresponding inscription. The K utz may 
be an Etruscan form of or, which is now edo. The tinal kumago shows the same root as magola, 
which Van Eys (subst. makilla) supposes to be maka, makatu, strike. Such a Malay-Polyne- 
sian form as ku-mago is hardly in accordance with Basque structure. Nor can I suggest at 
present an explanation of no mamituka. The Basque hasa verb mamitu, to curdle, and another, 
mamutu, to disguise one’s self in hideous fashion, derived from mamu, a spectre or hobgoblin 
to frighten children with. The Japanese momonjii has the same meaning as mamu. Can 
these words connect with the oriental Mamitu, goddess of fate, in the Izdubar legends (G. 
Smith: The Chaldzan Account of Genesis) ? 
The supposed syllabary I do not regard as such, but as an ingenious combination of characters 
on a consistent plan, setting forth words of two syllables, which are not only individually 
significant, but which may also have formed complete sentences in combination. The Basque 
roots are largely dissyllabic, so that the parent Etruscan may have been a biliteral language. 
The first character in the supposed syllabary is not b, but the replacer of V, be, bi, pe, pi. It 
occurs in this hooked form in the Hittite inscriptions and in Asia Minor. In C1 f£ AL VLE 
we may find behi cow ; bera, bere, bero, the first signifying equally tender and below, the second, 
his, her, its, and the third, hot, heat ; bebe, probably an old form of one of the auxiliaries; and 
bein, once. 
[ALAA AY AE bai, bahi; barru, buru, baru, borra; babe, pabe; bane. Bai has the 
double meaning “yes” and ‘‘spot,” bahi is a pledge. Barru means ‘‘ within,” buru, head, 
baru, fasting, and borra, mallet ; babe is the Etruscan for ‘‘father,” and pabe is Basque help, 
support ; bune is Etruscan join, unite. TITATVTE koi gare jabe gune in modern Basque, but 
in Etruscan gui gure gube gune. This reads correctly “ we are desiring the place of the master.” 
Similarly we might read 8ISASVSE as lohi lara labe lane, and make Basque of it as lohilla ra 
labe lan, towards January the oven works. I do not profess to have. read any of these lines, 
but that they can be read consistently I have little doubt. Corresponding rhyming fragments, 
but not so perfect in their structure as the one under consideration, are to be found in the 
nursery lore of all civilized peoples. The reason why final 7, ra, be and ne were chosen for the 
composition of the piece is that being postpositions they would fit into the mosaic more per- 
fectly than other syllables. Final iis hardly a postposition, but a sign of the dative case. 
. 
39 The poverty of the Etruscan syllabary is by no means without parallel. When the Semitic 
peoples replaced a cumbrous hieroglyphic system by what are now known as alphabets, they 
really adopted syllabaries as bare as that of the Etruscans. The Hebrews had only one purely 
vowel character, namely aleph, and although they had expedients for representing long vowel 
sounds they were very frequently omitted. Thus, as Gesenius states, one form might be read 
qatal, qatel, qatol, q’tol, qotel, qittel, qattel, quttal. According to the same authority: “‘ the 
Pheenicians did not even indicate the long vowels, except in very rare cases; their oldest 
monuments can hardly be said to have any designation of vowels.” The Mongolian and 
Buriatic syllabaries present similar deficiencies, the same sign representing different sounds, 
and words quite distinct in meaning and pronunciation being written with the same characters: 
see Encye. Brit., Article Mongols. The Javanese, Batak, Tagala, and other syllabaries of the 
Malay Archipelago are equally defective: see Crawford’s Indian Archipelago, Vol. II., pp. 70-71. 
The alphabet of the Tuaricks of Africa is really a syllabary having no characters whatever to 
a 
