The Etruscan Language: An Introduction (review)

This book is a revised and enlarged version of the 1983 edition. Written for an English-speaking audience, it represents the most complete reference book for the Etruscan language. Compared to the previous edition, this book contains a larger number of texts, a completely rewritten section on mythological figures, an up-to-date bibliography, and a deeper study of the sources. Moreover, it includes studies of the most recent archaeological discoveries, such as the Zagreb mummy wrappings, the Piacenza liver, the Capua Tile, and the Tabula Cortonensis. The book is divided into three parts: ‘Historical background’, ‘The language’, and ‘Study aids’. In Ch. 1, Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante provide a very detailed history-oriented archaeological introduction to the Etruscan world. They offer a survey of the main Etruscan cities, with the complete list of their archaeological rests and cemeteries. This chapter also contains maps and charts which simplify the assimilation of the great quantity of information the reader is presented with.

Ch. 2 opens the second part of the book. In this chapter we find the report of a debate taking place over 2,000 years ago among Homer, Herodotus, Vergil, Horace, and Dyonysius of Halicarnassus about the origin of the Etruscan language and of the name Etruscan, plus a list of texts. The study of bilingual inscriptions and the helpful contribution of glosses in Greek and Latin for deciphering Etruscan is reported in Ch. 3. Ch. 4 offers an introduction to the Etruscan alphabet, clearly derived from the Greek one. The strictly phonetic nature of the Etruscan alphabet also suggests its pronunciation. In Ch. 5, B&B outline the main features of Etruscan syntax and morphology. The very detailed list of pronouns, adjectives, numbers, conjunctions, and adverbs is not supported by an equally deep syntactic analysis, very likely because of the very short length of the inscriptions. The chapter ends with a list of loanwords from other languages into Etruscan and from Etruscan into other languages. A very short Ch. 6 traces the spread of the Etruscan alphabet.

Part 3 offers a rich sample of inscriptions and texts, both photographed or reproduced in a clear pedagogical fashion. For each text, a transcription with translation is provided (but no interlinear glosses). Right after the inscription section is a section on Etruscan glosses found in Greek and Latin literature. The following section is dedicated to the major mythological Etruscan figures. A very large bibliography, a glossary of the most common words, and some last charts conclude the book.

All in all, this volume is a wonderful introduction to Etruscan language and culture, and a successful attempt to make Etruscan understandable to nonspecialists. B&B have been able to satisfy the expectations of both archaeologists and linguists.