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It may, therefore, be asserted not only that the Etruscan decades 
can be explained by the x\ltaic languages, but that every Altaic 
language, from the Baltic to the Amoor, possesses either one or 
both of the two Etruscan decadal suffixes which we find in such 
records of age as machs me-a-lchl-sc, or machs zb-thrum-s. 
So much for the Etruscan decades. They have given us what 
seems to be a key to the lost speech of the Etruscans. We have 
now to see if our key is the key. Will it give consistent and pro- 
bable interpretations of the six digits on the dice which have so 
long baffled the efforts of philologers ? 
The great difficulty in interpreting the words on the dice is to 
obtain a starting-point. This, fortunately, is supplied by the de- 
cades. We have seen that the Etruscan decade za-theum meant 
for-ty, hence we gather that the first syllable za was equivalent to 
“ four ” in Etruscan. You are aware that the Accadian, one of 
the cuneiform languages of Babylonia, presents us with the most 
ancient form of Turanian speech. In Accadian the number 
“ four ” is sa or sci-na. Therefore, in endeavouring to interpret 
the numerals on the dice, we may begin by assuming that the 
word sa means “ four.*’ 
Our next step is also on firm ground. In the Etruscan Museum 
at Florence there is an Etruscan die marked with pips. On this 
die the face with four pips has opposite to it a face with two pips. 
Moreover, Signor Campanari, a well-known archaeologist, who col- 
lated a number of Etruscan dice marked with pips, comes to the 
conclusion that the Etruscan practice was to put “four” and 
“ two ” on opposite faces. Let us now take our dice and see what 
word comes opposite to SA. In both of the dice it is ci or Ki. 
This word therefore ought to mean “ two ” in Etruscan, and if our 
key is the right key, it ought also to mean “two ” in the Altaic 
languages. This we find to be the case. Throughout the Altaic 
languages ki is the stem of the numeral “ two/’ In twenty-three 
Turkic and Tataric languages iki or ikke means “ two.” In Wotiak 
ki (in ki-z= 20) means “ two.” In Tschercmiss ko (in ko-lo=20) 
means “ two.” In the Finnic languages kik, kyt, ket, kciks, or some 
similar word, means “two.” In Samoyed ky-dy means “two.” 
In Yenissei ki-na means “two.” In Avar ki-go means “two.” 
In these languages the last syllable is a numerical formative. In 
Accadian, the most ancient Altaic language, kas is “ two.” More 
than all, in those Altaic languages which have preserved a dual, the 
dual formative is k or g. 
There are various subsidiary proofs that we are right so far in 
taking sa as “four ” and ci as “ two.” First, the effigy of the man 
whose age is maciis zatheums represents a man in the prime of life, 
and we have seen that zatiikum ought to mean “forty.” Again, 
the decade ci-em-zathrms must denote some multiple of forty, and 
