96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CAXADIAX INSTITUTE. 



Etruscan civ'ilizatiou. The Etruscans had reached a high degree of 

 civilization. At an early period, long before the dat^ of the earliest 

 of these inscriptions, the Etruscans were in close relations, commer- 

 cial and otherwise, with two of the most civilized nations of the 

 ancient world, the Greeks and the Carthaginians, and among whom 

 the Alphabet had reached the fullest development. It is inconceiv- 

 able, — it is wholly inconsistent with what we know of linguistic de- 

 velopment, that the Etruscans should, alone of these nations, have 

 remained in the sjdlabic stage, that while in every other respect they 

 should have been noted for their civilization, — a civilization to which 

 evei-y museum in Europe bears evidence, that yet in their language 

 they should have belonged to a past epoch. In a work of William 

 Humboldt, "tjber die Verschiedenheit des Menschlichen Sprachbaues, 

 und ihren Einfluss auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschenge- 

 schlechtes," there are such expressions as this : "There is a mutual 

 action of language on the mind and intelligence of a people, and of 

 the mind and intelligence on the language. This is a capital fact. 

 The mind of a nation, and the character of its language arc so inti- 

 mately bound up together, that, if the one is given, the other may be 

 exactly deduced from it." We hold it impo-sible that a nation which 

 was in a degree of equality with the Greeks, — a nation from which 

 the Romans borrowed some of the most prominent features of their 

 civilization, should have made no advance in their language beyond 

 the syllabic state. But suppose we admit Prof. Campbell's assertion, 

 let us see what he makes of it. We have already stated that there 

 are some forty or fifty words occurring in Greek and Latin authors, 

 and written in Greek and Latin characters. These words, however, 

 he treats as literal or alphabetic ; but it happens that some of these 

 words oocur in the inscriptions, and here he treats them as syllabic. 

 But so elastic in his mode of procedui'e that both alike are made to 

 serve his purpose. He says : " Of the Etruscan words furnished by 

 classical authors, many at once reveal their Basque origin. Lar or 

 Lars, as Lars Porsena is the Basque larri — Great." This titular 

 prenomen appears to have been one of the most common among the 

 Etruscans, as : Lars Porsena, Lars Tolumnius, Lars Herminius 

 Now when it is found in Greek or Latin writers it is allowed to retain 

 its literal form, but when it occurs in the incriptions it is syllabic, 

 and is read Saratuka, and means "engraved." It occurs in an abbi'evi- 

 ated form at page 34 of " Etruria Capta," and again at page 29, in 



