206 
and variations made in the most careful and convincing manner, how it was 
that the language of the Etruscans must be identified with the speech of the 
Turanian races, and with no others. I think the paper is very valuable as a 
logical exercise, and also because it asserts most distinctly a hypothesis which 
I have adhered to for some years. I always thought that the Etruscan would 
turn out to be Finn, and I am glad to find that Mr. Taylor has arrived at 
that conclusion. When I began to study philology, the Finn hypothesis was 
sneered at by some savants, but it is now declared to be an indisputable 
fact. There is a peculiar word used of this people ; Diodorus says, “ They 
call themselves Rasena.” Now we find the Finns speaking of themselves, 
and of their equally Turanian neighbours, as “ Suomalainen ” and “ Rosso- 
lainen ” ; and thus we find the root of “ Rasena ” (the Latin Rhoxolani) in a 
Finn word. Considerations of this kind inclined me much to adopt the Finn 
hypothesis. It is necessary to justify the introduction into our Transactions 
of a paper like the present, and that justification I was prepared to offer, but 
Mr. Taylor has done it for himself. Before I conclude, I should like to ask 
Mr. Taylor one question, on a subject mentioned by Dr. Lepsius ; and that is, 
whether there are any remains of Etruscan roots in the language of the 
Grisons in the Alps. 
Mr. Taylor. — With regard to the name of Rasena, I think it can be 
philologically shown that the Etruscans were closely related to the Accadians, 
and in the tenth chapter of Genesis we find that two of the cities that were 
built were called Accad and Resen. As to the remains of the Etruscans 
in the Grisons, a scientific commission was sent out to try and find Etrus- 
can words, but it met with no marked success. I do not think Dr. Steub’s 
work carries much conviction. No doubt there are some resemblances, but 
they are very feeble, and we cannot tell what the Etruscan words are. In 
the Grisons a glacier is called base, and that word, I believe, is the name for 
a snow-covered mountain in Lapp. 
A vote of thanks to the Society of Arts for the use of their room 
brought the proceedings of the session to a close. 
