156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



ara, and Goulcane or Goukain. The latter is an inversion of the- 

 Basque Jaincoa, the word for god."* The name of Juno, generally 

 read as Thalna, is really Morasa-hara ; the former part of the word 

 being the same as the Latin Murcia, wrongly identified with Venus. 

 But Cupid is a purely Etruscan word, for the form read Turia is 

 eally Cupido aurra, or the child Cupid. Maris Turan, so far from 

 being the son of Venus, is really mirahi uno Cupido raha, probably 

 meaning look towards Cupid.^" Venus is also an Etruscan word, 

 which has been read Pelias, as her son's name has been read Castur.^^ 

 The first is Banesa aurra no, of the son of Venus, and the second 

 uchirano Cupido, the precise meaning of the first part of which is 

 hard to determine, as uchi may be utz, hitz, and many other Basque 

 words. The name read Menle, Menerva, Menrva, does indeed denote 

 the' goddess Minerva, but her Etruscan name was Mineka ; for these 

 words give Mineka-sane, Mineka-netugira, Mineka-tugira. The 

 root men, power, is doubtless the chief element in the name. The 

 Etruscan title of Vulcan has been read Sethlans. It should be 

 nonemosarakano or non ema su rakano. The first three words mean 

 who gives fi/re. I am in doubt as to the precise meaning of rakano. 

 The accidental coincidences Hercur, Castur, Pelias, Menerva, have 

 done much to confirm Etruscan students in the application of Roman 

 values to the letters of Etruria, and, with the ingenious parallel 

 drawn by M. Brdal between the Umbrian and Etruscan tables of the 

 Eugubine inscriptions, threatened, for a time, to put an end to my 

 own researches. 



THE PHONETIC VALUES OF THE ETRUSCAN CHARACTERS. 



The Etruscan syllabary,^^ as represented by the sepulchral inscrip- 

 tions in Lanzi, is very poor, and it is still more so in the Eugubine 



2* Jaincoa, jinko, jangoiko, is supposed to be derived from jaun, lord, master, and goi-ko, of 

 the height. The Etruscan shows rather that the original was goijaun, the high lord. 



25 This and the accompanying Etruscan names of divinities are taken from the so-called 

 paterae, really bronze mirrors, found in Etruscan tombs. See Lanzi, Vol. II., table VI., seq., 

 and the Rev. Isaac Taylor's Etruscan Researches. The latter writer states that maris denotes 

 boy, a child of the gods. Thus maris luran means "the boy of Venus," and maris Thalna, 

 " the boy of Juno." Now the words read maris Turan, I read miratu uno Kupido raka, which 

 may be " this one looks towards Cupid." 



26 See Lanzi, Vol. II., Table VII., Plate 5, where in connection with the figures represented 

 appear the words TVDIA and /lELIAS. The first has been read Turia, the second Pelias. But 

 the first is Kupido aur, and the second Banesa aur no. Also Plate 6 of the same Table has 

 KASTVD, generally read Castur. It is Mtzrano Kupido. 



27 See page 163. 



