The writing system of the Etruscans is highly correlated with other Indo-European systems (particularly Greek), but the language of the Etruscans is quite the opposite. Linguists have a hard time placing it within a language family, and it seems fairly isolated.
This is the Etruscan alphabet (or at least one version of
it; it evolved over time):
Look familiar? It should. The Etruscans developed their
writing system based on the Greek system, and the Greek alphabet has a
prominent place in the evolutionary history of the Latin alphabet that we use. Like
us, they wrote from left to right (thought there are a few exceptions to this).
In my previous posts (here and here), I have discussed the
lack of Etruscan literature available—really, all we have is about 13,000 short
inscriptions (things like funerary inscriptions on urns or graffiti scratched
on pottery), which don’t provide a lot of material for learning a dead
language. Because of this, historians are left in an interesting conundrum:
Etruscan texts can be read (they know how to pronounce the words), but scholars
aren’t always sure about what the words mean.
Here are some examples of Etruscan writing (you can imagine how difficult it would be to try to study a language when all you have are things like this):
In spite of the connection between the Etruscan and Greek
writing systems, the languages of two civilizations were very separate.
Etruscan did not come from the Indo-European family of languages, and this makes
it different from the other languages of ancient Italy, as well as from Greek and
Celtic (explained a little bit more here). There is only one language known to
be similar to Etruscan, and it only survives in a few inscriptions from the
Aegean area (around the Balkans).
I think it is interesting to see how elusive a thing knowledge of the past really is. The Etruscans spoke and wrote and read, and probably produced texts in which they wrote about their beliefs and experiences, but because of probably natural causes (disaster and material disintegration are two prominent theories), almost none of it survives today. Even the surviving text has little meaning to scholars, because there is so much that remains unknown.
I think it's awesome that the development of other written languages was influenced by the Etruscans. But at the same time, because they all differ, it's hard because scholars can't use Greek and Latin to decipher all of what few texts were have of the Etruscan language. I think it's also interesting that we have more evidence and finds of the Greek language and Latin language than of what the Etruscans wrote down.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is little writings left now because writing was not a very common medium or because lots of people didn't know how, or maybe it was because lots has been destroyed. If people carve into stone I am sure it lasts a lot longer than paper writings or papyri. There are SO many different medium in which we can write. anything practically, just ask graffiti artists.
ReplyDeleteMike, my vote would be that a lot of it was destroyed. Like Ramses who had the inscriptions of other pharaohs chiseled off so that he was the beginning. Maybe the other cultures that took over after the Etruscans didn't want there to be a record of them.
ReplyDeleteI also vote for it being destroyed. I feel like it was common practice for a civilization, when taking over another civilization or when trying to stomp out a culture/revolt they destroyed as much written knowledge as they could... It make me think of how important books/written history/language etc is to a person and to a society... think about it, if we couldn't talk or communicate the ENTIRE human race would be nothing!
ReplyDeleteLauren can correct this, but there doesn't seem to be a really violent take-over or invasion that was the absolute downfall of the Etruscans in their history that suggests the kind of cultural domination that would cause a destruction of records. The right conditions just don't seem to exist for it. They were finally overtaken by Rome, and Romans actually have a pretty good reputation as Empire-makers that allow people to keep their original culture as long as they pay taxes. (The Jewish rebellion and destruction was an exception, and really the Jews started it.) I agree with what Lauren said in her post, that the theories of natural causes and decay of the records are the most plausible.
ReplyDeleteThe Roman emperor Claudius wrote twenty volumes about Etruscan history and culture. It was, of course, destroyed. He is the last known speaker of Etruscan, and was possibly of Etruscan descent.
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