Etruscan alphabet

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The Marsiliana Tablet, with an archaic form of the Etruscan alphabet inscribed on the frame

The Etruscan alphabet was used by the

100 AD
.

The Etruscan

Western Greek alphabet. Several Old Italic scripts, including the Latin alphabet
, derived from it (or simultaneously with it).

Origins

The Etruscan alphabet originated as an adaptation of the

Pithekoussai and the city of Cumae in Campania.[1]
In the alphabets of the West, X had the sound value [ks], Ψ stood for [kʰ]; in Etruscan: X = [s], Ψ = [kʰ] or [kχ] (Rix 202–209).

The earliest known Etruscan

qoppa, but not omega
, which had still not been added at the time.

Letters

Phoenician model
Western Greek
Sound in Ancient Greek (Western) [a] [b] [ɡ] [
d
]		 [e] [w] [dz]~[z]~[zd] [h] [tʰ] [i] [k] [
l
]		 [m] [
n
]		 [o] [p] [ts]~[s] [k] [
r
]		 [s] [
t
]		 [u] [ks] [pʰ] [kʰ]
Old Italic (Unicode block) 𐌀 𐌁 𐌂 𐌃 𐌄 𐌅 𐌆 𐌇 𐌈 𐌉 𐌊 𐌋 𐌌 𐌍 𐌎 𐌏 𐌐 𐌑 𐌒 𐌓

𐌛

𐌔 𐌕 𐌖 𐌗 𐌘 𐌙 𐌚
Marsiliana tablet
Archaic Etruscan (to 5th c.)[2]
Neo-Etruscan[2]
Transliteration[3] a b c d e v z h θ i k l m n s᫈ o p σ q r s, ς t u s̽ φ χ f
Approx. pron. [a] — [k] — [e] [w] [ts] [h] [tʰ] [i] [k] [
l
] 		[m] [
n
] 		— — [p] [ʃ], [s] [k] [
r
] 		[s], [ʃ] [
t
] 		[u] — [pʰ] [kʰ] [f]

The shapes of the Archaic Etruscan and Neo-Etruscan letters had a few variants, used in different places and/or in different epochs. Notably, opposite letters were used for [s] and [ʃ] depending on the locality. Shown above are the glyphs from the Unicode Old Italic block, whose appearance will depend on the font used by the browser. These are oriented as they would be in lines written from left to right. Also shown are SVG images of variants shown as they would be written right to left, as in most of the actual inscriptions.[4][5]

Development

Small Etruscan bottle from 630 to 620 BCE with an early form of the alphabet
The alphabet in the cockerel bottle

The archaic form of the Etruscan alphabet remained practically unchanged from its origin in the 8th century BC until about 600 BC, and the direction of writing was free. From the 6th century BC, however, the alphabet evolved, adjusting to the phonology of the Etruscan language, and letters representing phonemes nonexistent in Etruscan were dropped. By 400 BC, it appears that all of Etruria was using the classical Etruscan alphabet of 20 letters, mostly written from right to left.

An additional sign 𐌚, in shape similar to the numeral 8, transcribed as F, was present in

voiced stops, for which B, C, D were originally intended (/b/, /ɡ/, and /d/ respectively). The B and D therefore fell out of use, and the C, which is simpler and easier to write than K, was adopted to write /k/, mostly displacing K itself. Likewise, since Etruscan had no /o/ vowel sound, O disappeared and was replaced by U. In the course of its simplification, the redundant letters showed some tendency towards a semi-syllabary
: C, K and Q were predominantly used in the contexts CE, KA, QU.

This classical alphabet remained in use until the 2nd century BC, when it began to be influenced by the rise of the Latin alphabet. Soon after, the Etruscan language itself became extinct — so thoroughly that its vocabulary and grammar are still only partly known, in spite of more than a century of intense research. The Romans, who did have voiced stops in their language, after taking over the archaic Etruscan alphabet in the 7th century BC, continued to use B and D for /b/ and /d/, and used C for both /k/ and /ɡ/, until they invented a separate letter G to distinguish the two sounds.

Legacy

The Etruscan alphabet apparently was the immediate ancestor for the

Messapian, North and South Picene, and Camunic inscriptions.[8]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-934078-49-5
    .
  2. ^ a b Bonfante 1983, p. 64.
  3. ISBN 978-0-9747927-4-3
    .
  4. OL 19629507M
    .
  5. OL 1198388M
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-107-10383-2
    .
  7. S2CID 161760080
    . Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  8. ISBN 978-1-61451-300-1
    . Retrieved 14 May 2023.
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