J96 
assumptions, can we detect any elements of Etruscan grammar in 
the huge chaos of the Etruscan inscriptions? We can only work, 
with any safety, from the known to the unknown. Now it is a 
certainty that the words on the dice are numerals. It is therefore 
obvious that if any of the words on the dice occur in other inscrip- 
tions, some contiguous word may be expected to exhibit a plural 
form. Now the numerals ci, zal, and hutii, are found not only 
on the dice but also in other inscriptions. In every case where 
they are found the next word ends in r. We have the following 
phrases : — 
ci CLENAR 
CLENAR CI 
CLENAR ZAL 
HUTH NAPER 
HUT NAPER 
NAPER CI 
NAPER XII 
Here there is a very definite grammatical result. It is as certain 
as any such inference can be that -ar or -er was a plural suffix in 
Etruscan. Now Dr. Schott, perhaps the highest authority on 
the Altaic languages, has expressed his opinion* that in all the 
Altaic languages the plural has been developed from a primitive 
form in r. This is still the plural sign in many Turanian lan- 
guages, j- though, in others, it has become either s, t, or lc, according 
to well-known phonetic laws. 
The Etruscans seem also to have had a plural in l as well as in 
r, since we find numbers expressed by figures in juxtaposition with 
the word ril, which must mean “years/' This transition from r 
to l is very simple, and has taken place in the Tungusic languages, 
which mostly form their plurals in l, instead of in r. 
What was the Etruscan genitive ? This is not difficult to detect, 
and is of great importance. The inscription on a recently-found 
sarcophagus runs as follows : — 
RAMTHA: PHURSETHNEI : ARNTIIAL: SECII : TIIANCIIVILUS: SEINTIIIAL: 
AVILS XXXII 
Here the first three words constitute the name of a woman ; the 
word secii, as we have seen, means “ daughter and the two next 
words constitute the name of a man. What is the inference ? If 
we had such an inscription as 
“ Sarah Jane daughter William Johnson age 32,” 
* Schott, Tatar. Sprach., pp. 48, 4!). 
t The Dravidic plural is mar, the Mongol ic is ri, n ar, and ner, the Turkic 
is lar, hr, nar, ner, tar and ter, and in the case of some pronouns it is r only. 
