Etruscan was a language spoken and written in the ancient region of
Etruria (current
Tuscany in
Italy). However,
Latin completely superseded Etruscan, leaving only a few documents and a few loanwords in Latin (e.g.
persona from Etruscan
phersu). Although some scholars claim that Etruscan is an
Indo-European language, most see it as an
isolated language or as part of some super-family like
Nostratic.
Due to its isolation, no significant certain translations from Etruscan into modern languages have been produced yet, however we can be fairly certain of how the language was pronounced as the Etruscan speakers wrote using a variant of the Greek alphabet.
The reconstructed phonemes of Etruscan:
/a/ letter: A
/e/ letter: E
/i/ letter: I
/u/ letter: V
/w/ letter: F
/h/ letter: H
/p, p_j/ /p_j/ is /p_h/ according to some scholars, the same applies to /t_j/ and /k_j/ letters: P, Phi
/t, t_j/ letters: T, Theta
/k, k_j/ letters: K, Khi
/ts/ letter: Z
/s/ letter: S
/S/ letter: San
/f/ letter: 8, FH
/l/ letter: L
/r/ letter: R
/m/ M
/n/ N
Rix also postulates several syllabic consonants, namely /l, r, m, n/ and palatal /l, r, n/ as well as a labiovelar spirant. The palatal series may be somehow connected to the palatalization[?] so typical of Romance languages.
See also: Etruscan civilization, Zagreb mummy[?]
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