ETRURIA CAPTA. . 191 



and goi, goya, koya, high, elevated. ^^ The Etruscan form Goijaun 

 is more in accordance with the genius of the Basqiie language than 

 the modern Jainko. The repeated artu is the common verb " to 

 take, receive." Azpiko, literally, he who is under, now means a 

 slave, but may refer to any subject or servant. The form auretsa is 

 not modern Basque. It is apparently composed of aurre before, the 

 French devant, and etsi, esteem. A word that may correspond is 

 aurkeztu, to present, in which the inserted k may be simply euphonic. 

 Probably auretsd means homage, the regard of one who presents 

 himself before Deity. The che of azpiko-che may intensify azpiko in 

 the direction of humility. It will thus answer to the Japanese 

 humble prefixes ki and hei. 



A somewhat difiicult votive tablet follows, my object being not to 

 present the simpler texts, but to give a just view of the inscriptions, 

 with all their variations and difficulties. 



272. /1-ADOI baratii mai zarratu mai 



ANOADNEI rakachiratukanio erruki jarritu ganio 

 YVDINAM Kupido uga rano Cupid uga rano 



Translation — The written tablet concerns an act of sympathy toward the 

 mother of Cupid. 



Here we find an act of worship towards Venus, the Istapeko of 

 the Basques. The engraver has raade a mistake in the first letter, 

 which should be the corresponding sa, za.^'' The full form of mai, 

 mahi, table, follows. In raka the root of erruki, urriki, sympathy, 

 compassion, appears. That root I am convinced is the postposition 

 rako, towards. It appeal's as a verb in the Eugubine tables, as does 

 rano, regularly conjugated with the auxiliaries, to denote siding, 

 sympathizing, agreeing, taking part with. Jarri means to set to, 



" to strike violently," and forms olan-driho, correction by blows. The Choctaw ahlepah is 

 probably the same word as the Basque chiribi, chiribiri, a fiddle, which makes cMribikar a 

 fiddler. The player is degraded to the position of a mere carrier of the instrument by the 

 suffix kar from ekarri, instead of the old word ola, olin, bola, bolin. 



The three languages employ difi'erent auxiliaries, and show much diversity in the use of pro- 

 nouns, but their particles and construction are virtually one as well as their vocabulary. The 

 Choctaw language, or that of the Tshekto as they call themselves, connects geographically 

 with the Japanese through the Siberian Tchuktchis. Tlie Basque, Japanese and Choctaws do 

 not represent the dispersed of one tribe, but different tribes of a great national dispersion. 



'6 The original Khitan word for lord probably ended in mi, like the Japanese kimi, lord, 

 master, kami, god. , The Corean word for lord, and master of the house, is koun. This seems 

 to be the Etr. form kaon. As kobe became jabe, so kaon became jaun in Basque. A similar 

 case is joan to go, sometimes pronounced goan and gan. In Etruscan it is gum or goen. 



67 Fabretti gives the first character correctly as L. 



