ETRURIA CAPTA. 175 



20. ZEOPA • 8VLNEI 



TransUt. — no ne mo tii ra • al pi sa ka ne \i 

 Basque — non Matura alabichi ganio 

 Translat. — where Matura's daughter is regarded 

 or, which Matura's daughter concerns*® 



Tlie first two words need no explanation. In modern Basque 

 alaba is daughter and alabichi, god-daughter ; but as the Etruscans 

 were certainly ignorant of Christian rites, which arose long after 

 their language was lost, the latter may originally have meant little 

 daughter. In ka,nio or ganio we have, I think, an instance of the 

 well-known power of the Euskarian to verbalize any parfc of speech, 

 for kan or gan is the postposition towards. There is a modern verb 

 ganatcea, to attract towards one, of which the root is this kan. We 

 cannot say in English " it towards him," but that is the meaning of 

 kanio, which may be rendered " concerns or relates to." The final 



C 310. (A)V • CEICNA ■ SELCIA. • C / • P 

 I arpe Sinhetzkara non sotze auv Chiba du 



"j it holds Sinhetzkara whom regards nbild Chiba ho has 



t 313. A • CAEOINA • SELCIA • ANNOS • XII 



The Etruscan inscriptions are written from right to left; the Latin in the ordinary waj'. 

 How can the accordance between these three pairs of inscriptions be acconuted for ? Many 

 Etruscan niseriptions in apparently I?oinan letters are really Etruscan, and the characters must 

 be read with Etruscan value.-;. But such is not the case with the three under consideration. It 

 is true we have not the originals of the Latin epitaphs, and there is some variation ia the 

 forms of annos m the different editions of Lanzi and in Fabretti. Nevertheless the formula 

 oix. an. sufficiently denotes a Latin inscription, and even if read in Etruscan yields no sense. 

 Also the Q of 312 is not Etruscan, and neither Caspo in it nor Tlaboni in 311 can be read as 

 Etruscan clauses. It is worthy of note that 309 accompanies the representation of a male 

 figure, and its correspondent 311 a female figure. The names Caspo, Tlaboni, Selcia, have no 

 connection with known Etruscan names nor with anything in the Latin language. The charac- 

 ters CAS/' occur in Lanzi, 165, 166, and CA is one of the commonest combinations of charac- 

 ters in Etruscan. I do not know another instance of YLA / VNI or Tlaboni. The word 

 SELCIA I I'ead non sotze aur. Its first word non is of common occurrence, and stands alone 

 in Lanzi, 143, 144. It appears frequently in SENYl non cjogoi, where in memory, as in Lanzi, 

 286, 293, 332, 407, and in the fuller SEIANYI non orogogi, where in remembrance, as in Lanzi, 

 423, but I do not remember meeting elsewhere with the complete SELCIA. If these words, 

 together with Caeeina, be renderings in Latin of Etruscan names hy one who understood the 

 Etruscan language, the contents of this paper are valueless, and Etruscan must retire once 

 more to its abode of impenetrable mystery. That they are such I do not believe, but I do not 

 profess to explain how they came into existence. Progress, on the basis of these correspon- 

 dences, should, if they are genuine, be easy, but the reverse is the case. They furnish an 

 entirely new, unrelated and uncouth language, adding little or no knowledge of the Etruscans 

 beyond a number of questionable proper names. I do not ask to have these correspondences 

 set aside, but invite the student to susiiend judgment upon their merits until he has weighed 

 tlie evidence in favour of the new syllabary. If that be found wanting, these correspondences 

 will be strong witnesses against it ; if, on the other hand, it stands the test, they will be con- 

 demned as the misleading work of ignorance or something else. 



*6 Instead of 8VLNBI Fabretti reads SVLVNEI albi azpi ganio. The word azpi, literally 

 under, may mean younger or youngest. 



