Inscriptions in Etruscan language. Deciphering Etruscan writing

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Etruscan- extinct Etruscan language, genetic origin which is not installed. Apart from the possible relationship of Etruscan with two other dead languages - Rhaetic and Lemnosian, the Etruscan language is considered an isolated language and has no scientifically recognized relatives. One of the hypotheses about the possible relationship of Etruscan is the version of S. A. Starostin and I. M. Dyakonov about the relationship of the Etruscan language with the extinct Hurrian and Urartian. Other researchers [ Who?] continue to insist on the relationship of Etruscan with the Anatolian (Hittite-Luwian) branch of the Indo-European languages. Given the few known Etruscan words and only limited knowledge of Etruscan grammar, all these assumptions are very to a large extent speculative.

Over the past 100 years, progress has been made in the study of the Etruscan language: many grammatical forms have been identified, and the meanings of about 50 words have been established with varying degrees of reliability. However, it is too early to talk about a final decipherment.

Researchers speak with varying degrees of confidence about the existence of relatives of the Etruscan language during the same historical period:

language of the Lemnos stela of the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. (presumably the language of the Pelasgians, according to Herodotus, who lived on the island during the specified period);
Rhaetic language (numerous brief monuments from Northern Italy V-II century. BC BC) and the related Kamun language;
Eteocypriot language (the language of the pre-Greek population of the island of Cyprus) - the inscriptions are made in the so-called Cypriot script (there are texts with parallel Greek translations).

The largest contribution to the study of the Etruscan language was made by researchers from Italy, Austria and Germany, primarily A. Trombetti, M. Pallottino, A. Pfiffig, H. Rix and others. former USSR(Russia) the most famous were A. I. Nemirovsky, A. I. Kharsekin and A. M. Kondratov.

The estimated distribution area of the Etruscan language in Italy during the 6th century BC. e.

Grammar

Alphabet

Initially, the archaic Western Greek alphabet was used, in addition to two characters that evolved in sound: S from [s] to [z], and TS from [t] to , later the sign 8 was added in the meaning of [p]. Some Etruscan and Rhaetian inscriptions used their own original characters. In the only text (Tabula Cortonensis), along with the sign M [m], there is a syllabic sign with the meaning .

Phonetics

The Latin transliteration of Etruscan words conveys many nuances that were not reflected in any way in the Etruscan inscriptions. Thus, in writing, the Etruscans did not distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants and omitted short vowels (lat. Subura - Etruscan spur, lat. Caere - Etruscan cisre, lat. Minerva - Etruscan menrva, etc.).

The letter distinguished 4 vowels: a, e, i, u (this feature is also characteristic of other Tyrrhenian languages).

The Etruscan language had a rich system of sibilants.

Vocabulary

Latin and Greek borrowings are noted. For lexical matches with the Huttian language, see the article Huttian language.

Morphology

Word formation and inflection are exclusively suffixal (prefixes are not marked). Agglutinating language with a strong tendency towards inflection.

Name

Noun and adjective are declined according to the general paradigm:

nominative-accusative(absolute): no indicator.
genitive I: -s ; genitive II: -(a)l.
locative: -i.
ablative I: -is ; ablative II: -(a)ls (called “double genitive” in some publications).
possessive I: -si ; possessive II: -(a)le.
plural: -r (animated) ; -χva (inanimate).
genitive plural numbers: -ra-s (animated) ; -χva-l (inanimate).
possessive plural numbers: ra-si (animated); -χva-le (inanimate).
joint case= “and ...” (analogue of Latin ...que): -c (added after all other morphological indicators)

Adjectives derived from nouns have the -na indicator.

Verb

Verb suffixes:

present time:-u.
past, active:-ce.
past, passive: -χe.
duty: -(e)ri.
injunctive:-e.
conjunctiva:-a.
imperative: no indicator (according to A.I. Nemirovsky - indicator -θ).
assets. prib. present vr.: -as(a); -u; -θ.
assets. prib. past vr.: -θas(a); -nas(a).
passive prib. (as well as parables from intransitive verb) past. vr.: -u; -icu; -iχu.

Particles

The negative particle has not been reliably identified.

Prepositions, postpositions, conjunctions, etc. are not identified; it is assumed that their role was played by case indicators, as well as descriptive phraseological units. Due to this feature of the Etruscan language, its syntax is rather poor.

Numerals

Thanks to the discovery of game cubes and numerous gravestone inscriptions, the numeral system has been generally restored, although debate continues about the meaning of some numerals:

1 θu(n)
2 zal, esal
3 ci
4 huθ
5 maχ
6 śa
7 semφ
8 cezp
9 nurφ
10 śar(doubtful)
20 zaθrum
"-twenty" = -alχ
"without ...-x" = -em

An interesting feature: numerals ending in “seven”, “eight”, “nine” did not exist (with the exception of 7, 8, 9). So, 27 was expressed as ciem cialx, lit. "3 minutes to 30", 19 like θunem zaθrum, lit. “without the 1st 20,” etc. Hence the feature of Roman numerals, borrowed from the Etruscans, when the smaller numeral before the larger one is subtracted from it (for example, XIX - 19).

		18 eslem zathrum 19 thunem zathrum 29 thunem cealch 30 cialch (cealch)	50 muvalch (machalch) 90 nurphalch(?)

18 eslem zathrum

19 thunem zathrum

29 thunem cealch

30 cialch (cealch)

50 muvalch (*machalch)

90 *nurphalch(?)

Syntax

Calendar

The names of the eight months of the sacred calendar are known.

uelcitanus(lat.) = March.
aberas(lat.) = April; apirase= in the month of April.
ampiles(lat.) = May; anpilie= in the month of May.
aclus(lat.) = June; acal(v)e= in the month of June.
traneus(lat.) = July.
ermius(lat.) = August.
celius(lat.) = September; celi= in the month September.
xof(f)er(?)(lat.) = October.

Connections with other languages

Researchers

The following are the researchers of the Etruscan language:

Bauke van der Meer, Lammert - leading expert on Etruscan religion
Beekes, Robert - supporter of the Asia Minor hypothesis, also explores the hypothesis of a pre-Greek substrate
Bonfante, Giuliano and Bonfante, Larissa - father and daughter, authors of the widely known reference guide on grammar and vocabulary of the Etruscan language
Velikoselsky, Oleg Anatolyevich - linguist
Wolanski, Tadeusz - amateur philologist who claimed to be able to decipher most of the inscriptions in Etruscan
Georgiev, Vladimir Ivanov - tried unsuccessfully to interpret the Etruscan language as related to Lydian
Zavaroni, Adolfo - systematized and published on the Internet a complete corpus of inscriptions in Etruscan and supposed related languages
Pfiffig, Ambros Joseph
Ricks, Helmut - author of the hypothesis about the Tyrrhenian family of languages
Savenkova, Elena Dmitrievna
Kharsekin, Alexey Ivanovich
Yatsemirsky, Sergey Alexandrovich
Ciampi, Sebastian

Inscriptions

Currently, more than 12 thousand are known. Etruscan inscriptions, but among them very few contain more than twenty words. In 1893, inscriptions in Etruscan began to be collected in the Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum. Inscriptions according to their intended purpose can be divided into 5 categories:

dedication inscriptions, which are mainly contained on vases where the name of the owner or donor is indicated, for example mi Larθa - I [am] the property of Lart (T.L.E. 154), mi mamerces: artesi - I [am] the property of Mamercus Arte (T.L.E. 338);
votive inscriptions addressed to a hero or an altar, for example mini muluvanece Avile Vipiiennas - Aulus Vibenna gave me (T.L.E. 35);
funerary inscriptions on sarcophagi and tombs, for example mi larices telaθuras suθi - I [I am] the tomb of Larisa Telatura (T.L.E. 247);
inscriptions on steles dedicated to a specific person;
long inscriptions containing more than 20 words are the least numerous. For example, only 8 inscriptions containing more than 40 words are known:

Liber Linteus ("Linen Book") - a book written on linen, containing about 1,200 words, including 500 different ones;
tiles from Capua (V-IV centuries BC) contain a boustrophedon inscription consisting of 62 lines and approximately 300 words that can be read;
a boundary post from Perugia (2nd century BC) contains information about the division of two plots of land, contains 46 lines and 130 words;
a lead tape found in the sanctuary of Minerva (5th century BC) contains 11 lines and 80 words (40 of them can be read);
a lead disk from Magliano (5th century BC) contains more than 80 lines;
Aribal (VII century BC) contains 70 words;
tablets from Pyrga (5th century BC) - three gold plates, two of which contain 52 words in the Etruscan language;
a bronze tablet from Cortona (III-II centuries BC) contains inscriptions about the sale of land property, engraved on both sides (32 lines on one, 8 on the other).

Notes

Literature

Burian Y., Moukhova B. Mysterious Etruscans. lane from Czech. ed. "Science", M., 1970.
Nemirovsky A. I. Etruscans: from myth to history. M., 1983.
Penny J. Languages of Italy // . T. IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525-479 BC e. Ed. J. Boardman et al. Trans. from English A. V. Zaikova. M., 2011. pp. 852-874. - ISBN 978-5-86218-496-9
Ridgway D. Etruscans // Cambridge History of the Ancient World. T. IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525-479 BC e. M., 2011. pp. 754-803.
Savenkova E. D. Etruscan morphemics: Experience in formal modeling. St. Petersburg, 1996.
Savenkova E. D., Velikoselsky O. A. On the issue of prefixation in the Etruscan language // Problems of modern theoretical and synchronic-descriptive linguistics. Linguistics. History of linguistics. Sociolinguistics. Issue 5., St. Petersburg, 2003. ISBN 5-288-03321-8.
Secrets of ancient letters. Decryption problems. Collection. M. 1975.
Yatsemirsky S. A.. Experience comparative description Minoan, Etruscan and related languages. M.: “Languages of Slavic Culture”, 2011. ISBN 978-5-9551-0479-9
L'enigma svelato della lingua etrusca, Giulio M. Facchetti, Newton & Compton editori, Roma, 2000. Seconda edizione 2001.
Il "mistero" della lingua etrusca, Romolo A. Staccioli (alla fine dell'opera è presente un glossario di vocaboli etruschi attualmente decifrati con certezza.) Newton & Compton editori, Roma, 1977. 2° edition, 1987.
Gli Etruschi: una nuova imagination, Mauro Cristofani, Giunti, Firenze, 1984.
L'etrusco una lungua ritrovata, Piero Bernardini Marzolla, Mondadori, Milano, 1984
Lingua e cultura degli Etruschi, Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante, Editori Riuniti, 1985
Rivista di epigrafia etrusca, Mauro Cristofani (nella rivista Studio Etruschi, pubblicata dall" Istituto di Studi Etruschi e Italici, Firenze)
Fowler M., Wolfe R.G. Materials for the Study of the Etruscan Language: in 2 vols. Wisconsin, 1965.
Rix, Helmut: Etruskische Texte, 1991, ISBN 3-8233-4240-1 (2 Bde.)
Rix, Helmut: Rätisch und Etruskisch, Innsbruck , Inst. für Sprachwiss. , 1998, ISBN 3-85124-670-5
Pfiffig, Ambros Josef: Die etruskische Sprache, Verl.-Anst. , 1969
Perrotin, Damien Erwan: Paroles étrusques, liens entre l"étrusque et l’indo-européen ancien, Paris, L "Harmattan, 1999, ISBN 2-7384-7746-1
Pallottino, Massimo: La langue étrusque Problèemes et perspectives , 1978
Guignard, Maurice: Comment j'ai déchiffré la langue etrusque, Burg Puttlingen, Impr. Avisseau, 1962
O. Hoffmann - A. Debrunner - A Scherer: Storia della lingua greca, Napoli, 1969, vol. I, pp. 25-26.
Il popolo che sconfisse la morte. Gli etruschi e la loro lingua, Giovanni Semerano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003.

Spreading

Etruscan first attested by inscriptions from the 8th century. in northwestern Italy. Later, the Etruscan language gradually spread east almost to the Alps and continued to exist in this territory under Roman rule.

Etruscan inscriptions are also found outside of Etruria. The most distant example was found in Gaul (lead tablet from Pec-Malo):

ve[n]elus. ṣạịs. -[-?-]
zeke. kissne(e). hekiu[-?-]
veneluz. ka. utavum [-?-]
(h)eitva. kiven. mis[-?-]
mataliai. melẹ[-?-]
(VACAT) zik. hinu. tuzụ[

Frame

Currently, more than 12 thousand Etruscan inscriptions are known, but very few of them contain more than twenty words. In 1893, inscriptions in Etruscan began to be collected in the Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum. Inscriptions according to their intended purpose can be divided into 5 categories:

dedication inscriptions, which are mainly contained on vases where the name of the owner or donor is indicated, for example mi Larθa - I [am] the property of Lart (T.L.E. 154), mi mamerces: artesi - I [am] the property of Mamercus Arte (T.L.E. 338);
votive inscriptions addressed to a hero or an altar, for example mini muluvanece Avile Vipiiennas - Aulus Vibenna gave me (T.L.E. 35);
funerary inscriptions on sarcophagi and tombs, for example mi larices telaθuras suθi - I [I am] the tomb of Larisa Telatura (T.L.E. 247);
inscriptions on steles dedicated to a specific person;
long inscriptions containing more than 20 words are the least numerous. For example, only 8 inscriptions containing more than 40 words are known:

Liber Linteus ("Linen Book") - a book written on linen, containing about 1,200 words, including 500 different ones;
tiles from Capua (V-IV centuries BC) contain a boustrophedon inscription consisting of 62 lines and approximately 300 words that can be read;
a boundary post from Perugia (2nd century BC) contains information about the division of two plots of land, contains 46 lines and 130 words;
a lead tape found in the sanctuary of Minerva (5th century BC) contains 11 lines and 80 words (40 of them can be read);
a lead disk from Magliano (5th century BC) contains more than 80 lines;
Ariball (VII century BC) contains 70 words;
tablets from Pyrga (5th century BC) - three gold plates, two of which contain 52 words in the Etruscan language;
a bronze tablet from Cortona (III-II centuries BC) contains inscriptions about the sale of land property, engraved on both sides (32 lines on one, 8 on the other).

Grammar

Alphabet

By 700 BC. e. The Etruscan alphabet consisted of 26 letters:

𐌀

𐌁

𐌂

𐌃

𐌄

𐌅

𐌆

𐌇

𐌈

𐌉

𐌊

𐌋

𐌌

𐌍

𐌎

𐌏

𐌐

𐌑

𐌒

𐌓

𐌔

𐌕

𐌖

𐌗

𐌘

𐌙

By 400 BC. e. The classical Etruscan alphabet consisted of 21 letters:

𐌀

𐌂

𐌃

𐌄

𐌅

𐌆

𐌇

𐌈

𐌉

𐌋

𐌌

𐌍

𐌐

𐌑

𐌓

𐌔

𐌕

𐌖

𐌘

𐌙

𐌚

This alphabet was used until the 2nd century BC. e., until it began to be replaced by the Latin alphabet.

Phonetics

The letter distinguished 4 vowels: a, e, i, u (this feature is also characteristic of other Tyrrhenian languages).

The Etruscan language had a rich system of sibilants.

Vocabulary

The Etruscan language contains Latin and Greek borrowings. For lexical matches with the Huttian language, see the article Huttian language.

Morphology

Word formation and inflection are exclusively suffixal (prefixes are not marked). Agglutinating language with a strong tendency towards inflection.

Name

Noun and adjective are declined according to the general paradigm:

nominative-accusative(absolute): no indicator.
genitive I: -s ; genitive II: -(a)l.
locative: -i.
ablative I: -is ; ablative II: -(a)ls (called “double genitive” in some publications).
possessive I: -si ; possessive II: -(a)le.
plural: -r (animated) ; -χva (inanimate).
genitive plural numbers: -ra-s (animated) ; -χva-l (inanimate).
possessive plural numbers: ra-si (animated); -χva-le (inanimate).
joint case(or conjunction?) = “and ...” (analogue of Latin ...que): -c (added after all other morphological indicators)

Adjectives derived from nouns have the -na indicator.

Verb

Verb suffixes:

present time:-u.
past, active:-ce.
past, passive: -χe.
duty: -(e)ri.
imperative: no indicator (according to A.I. Nemirovsky - indicator -θ).
assets. prib. present vr.: -as(a); -u; -θ.
assets. prib. past vr.: -θas(a); -nas(a).
passive prib. (as well as parables from intransitive verb) past. vr.: -u; -icu; -iχu.

The linking verb “to be” in the present tense was omitted; its past tense forms amuce, amce, ame are known.

Particles

The negative particle has not been reliably identified. According to A. Morandi, the particle ei is negatively prohibitive.

Prepositions and postpositions are not identified; it is assumed that their role was played by case indicators, as well as descriptive phraseological units. Due to this feature of the Etruscan language, its syntax is rather poor.

Of the conjunctions, ...s (“and”) is reliably identified, attached to the word after all other morphemes.

Numerals

Thanks to the discovery of game cubes and numerous gravestone inscriptions, the numeral system has been generally restored, although debate continues about the meaning of some numerals:

1 θu(n)
2 zal, esal
3 ci
4 huθ
5 maχ
6 śa
7 semφ
8 cezp
9 nurφ
10 śar(doubtful) or halχ(S. Yatsemirsky)
20 zaθrum
"-twenty" = -alχ
"without ...-x" = -em

An interesting feature: multi-digit numerals ending in “seven”, “eight”, “nine” did not exist (with the exception of 7, 8, 9). So, 27 was expressed as ciem cialx, lit. "3 minutes to 30", 19 like θunem zaθrum, lit. “without the 1st 20,” etc. Hence the feature of Roman numerals, borrowed from the Etruscans, when the smaller numeral before the larger one is subtracted from it (for example, XIX - 19).

		18 eslem zathrum 19 thunem zathrum 29 thunem cealch 30 cialch (cealch)	50 muvalch (machalch) 90 nurphalch(?)

18 eslem zathrum

19 thunem zathrum

29 thunem cealch

30 cialch (cealch)

50 muvalch (*machalch)

90 *nurphalch(?)

Syntax

Calendar

The names of the eight months of the sacred calendar are known.

uelcitanus(lat.) = March.
aberas(lat.) = April; apirase= in the month of April.
ampiles(lat.) = May; anpilie= in the month of May.
aclus(lat.) = June; acal(v)e= in the month of June.
traneus(lat.) = July.
ermius(lat.) = August.
celius(lat.) = September; celi= in the month September.
xof(f)er(?)(lat.) = October.

Connections with other languages

Tyrrhenian family

Related to the Etruscan language are the Lemnos language (Lemnos island) and the Rhaetan language (eastern Alps). H. Rix united these languages into the Tyrrhenian family.

Indo-European languages

The question of the genealogy of the Etruscan language, like the Tyrrhenian languages, remains open. The hypothesis of kinship with Indo-European languages, popular until the mid-20th century, currently does not enjoy the support of researchers. The hypotheses about the relationship with the Paleo-Balkan and Anatolian languages were discussed longer than others (V. Georgiev). Despite the lack of kinship, Etruscan borrows from Italic languages, primarily from Latin, are quite archaic in form (Etruscan nefts = Latin nepos< *nepots), что может свидетельствовать о контактах в дописьменную эпоху.

Languages of the Caucasus

A. Trombetti noted the structural similarity of the Etruscan language with the North Caucasian (Nakh-Dagestan). Some morphological and lexical similarities with the Hurrian-Urartian languages are also noted.

Pre-Greek languages of Crete and Cyprus

Supporters of the relationship of the Etruscan language with the pre-Greek languages of Crete (Minoan and/or Pelasgian) are currently S. Yatsemirsky in Russia and G. Facchetti in Italy. T. Jones proposed an interpretation of one of the Eteocypriot texts (the bilingual tablet from Amathus) in Etruscan, but was not supported by other linguists.

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Notes

Literature

Burian Y., Moukhova B. Mysterious Etruscans. lane from Czech. ed. "Science", M., 1970.
Nemirovsky A. I. Etruscans: from myth to history. M., 1983.
Penny J. Languages of Italy // Cambridge History of the Ancient World. T. IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525-479 BC e. Ed. J. Boardman et al. Trans. from English A. V. Zaikova. M., 2011. pp. 852-874. - ISBN 978-5-86218-496-9
Ridgway D. Etruscans // Cambridge History of the Ancient World. T. IV: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525-479 BC e. M., 2011. pp. 754-803.
Savenkova E. D. Etruscan morphemics: Experience in formal modeling. St. Petersburg, 1996.
Savenkova E. D., Velikoselsky O. A. On the issue of prefixation in the Etruscan language // Problems of modern theoretical and synchronic-descriptive linguistics. Linguistics. History of linguistics. Sociolinguistics. Issue 5., St. Petersburg, 2003. ISBN 5-288-03321-8.
Secrets of ancient letters. Decryption problems. Collection. M. 1975.
Yatsemirsky S. A. Experience in comparative description of Minoan, Etruscan and related languages. M.: “Languages of Slavic Culture”, 2011. ISBN 978-5-9551-0479-9
L'enigma svelato della lingua etrusca, Giulio M. Facchetti, Newton & Compton editori, Roma, 2000. Seconda edizione 2001.
Il "mistero" della lingua etrusca, Romolo A. Staccioli (alla fine dell'opera è presente un glossario di vocaboli etruschi attualmente decifrati con certezza.) Newton & Compton editori, Roma, 1977. 2° edition, 1987.
Gli Etruschi: una nuova imagination, Mauro Cristofani, Giunti, Firenze, 1984.
L'etrusco una lungua ritrovata, Piero Bernardini Marzolla, Mondadori, Milano, 1984
Lingua e cultura degli Etruschi, Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante, Editori Riuniti, 1985
Rivista di epigrafia etrusca, Mauro Cristofani (nella rivista Studio Etruschi, pubblicata dall" Istituto di Studi Etruschi e Italici, Firenze)
Fowler M., Wolfe R.G. Materials for the Study of the Etruscan Language: in 2 vols. Wisconsin, 1965.
Rix, Helmut: Etruskische Texte, 1991, ISBN 3-8233-4240-1 (2 Bde.)
Rix, Helmut: Rätisch und Etruskisch, Innsbruck , Inst. für Sprachwiss. , 1998, ISBN 3-85124-670-5
Pfiffig, Ambros Josef: Die etruskische Sprache, Verl.-Anst. , 1969
Perrotin, Damien Erwan: Paroles étrusques, liens entre l"étrusque et l’indo-européen ancien, Paris, L "Harmattan, 1999, ISBN 2-7384-7746-1
Pallottino, Massimo: La langue étrusque Problèemes et perspectives , 1978
Guignard, Maurice: Comment j'ai déchiffré la langue etrusque, Burg Puttlingen, Impr. Avisseau, 1962
O. Hoffmann - A. Debrunner - A Scherer: Storia della lingua greca, Napoli, 1969, vol. I, pp. 25-26.
Il popolo che sconfisse la morte. Gli etruschi e la loro lingua, Giovanni Semerano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003.

An excerpt characterizing the Etruscan language

I sat down next to her on the edge of the wooden partition and asked why she was so sad. She didn’t answer for a long time, and then finally whispered through her tears:
- My mother left me, but I love her so much... I guess I was very bad and now she will never come back.
I got lost. And what could I tell her? How to explain? I felt that Veronica was with me. Her pain literally twisted me into a hard, burning ball of pain and burned so hard that it became difficult to breathe. I wanted to help them both so much that I decided that whatever happens, I won’t leave without trying. I hugged the girl by her fragile shoulders and said as softly as possible:
– Your mother loves you more than anything in the world, Alina, and she asked me to tell you that she never abandoned you.
- So she lives with you now? – the girl bristled.
- No. She lives where neither you nor I can go. Her earthly life here with us is over, and she now lives in another, very beautiful world, from which she can watch you. But she sees how you suffer and cannot leave here. And she can’t stay here any longer either. That's why she needs your help. Would you like to help her?
- How do you know all this? Why is she talking to you?!.
I felt that she still didn’t believe me and didn’t want to recognize me as a friend. And I couldn’t figure out how to explain to this little, ruffled, unhappy girl that there was an “other” distant world, from which, unfortunately, there is no return here. And that her beloved mother speaks to me not because she has a choice, but because I was simply “lucky” to be a little “different” than everyone else...
“All people are different, Alinushka,” I began. – Some have a talent for drawing, others for singing, but I have such a special talent for talking with those who have left our world forever. And your mother speaks to me not at all because she likes me, but because I heard her when no one else could hear her. And I am very glad that I can help her in at least something. She loves you very much and suffers very much because she had to leave... It hurts her very much to leave you, but it is not her choice. Do you remember she was seriously ill for a long time? – the girl nodded. “It was this illness that forced her to leave you.” And now she must go to her new world where she will live. And for this she must be sure that you know how much she loves you.
The girl looked at me sadly and quietly asked:
– She lives now with angels?.. Dad told me that she now lives in a place where everything is like on the postcards that they give me for Christmas. And there are such beautiful winged angels... Why didn’t she take me with her?..
- Because you have to live your life here, dear, and then you will also go to the same world where your mother is now.
The girl beamed.
“So I’ll see her there?” – she babbled joyfully.
- Of course, Alinushka. So you should just be a patient girl and help your mom now if you love her so much.
- What should I do? – the little girl asked very seriously.
– Just think about her and remember her, because she sees you. And if you don't be sad, your mother will finally find peace.
“Does she see me now?” the girl asked and her lips began to twitch treacherously.
- Yes Dear.
She was silent for a moment, as if gathering herself inside, and then she clenched her fists tightly and quietly whispered:
- I’ll be very good, dear mommy... you go... please go... I love you so much!..
Tears rolled down her pale cheeks like large peas, but her face was very serious and concentrated... Life dealt her a cruel blow for the first time and it seemed as if this little, so deeply wounded girl suddenly realized something for herself in a completely adult way and now I tried to accept it seriously and openly. My heart was breaking with pity for these two unfortunate and such sweet creatures, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t help them anymore... The world around them was so incredibly bright and beautiful, but for both it could no longer be their common world. ..
Life can be very cruel sometimes, and we never know what the meaning of pain or loss is in store for us. Apparently, it is true that without losses it is impossible to comprehend what fate gives us, by right or by luck. But what could this unfortunate girl, cowering like a wounded animal, comprehend when the world suddenly fell upon her with all its cruelty and the pain of the most terrible loss in her life?..
I sat with them for a long time and tried as best I could to help them both find at least some kind of peace of mind. I remembered my grandfather and the terrible pain that his death brought me... How scary it must have been for this fragile, unprotected baby to lose the most precious thing in the world - her mother?..
We never think about the fact that those whom fate takes from us for one reason or another experience the consequences of their death much deeper than we do. We feel the pain of loss and suffer (sometimes even angry) that they left us so mercilessly. But what does it feel like for them when their suffering multiplies thousands of times, seeing how we suffer from this?! And how helpless should a person feel, not being able to say anything more and change anything?..
I would have given a lot back then to find at least some opportunity to warn people about this. But, unfortunately, I didn’t have such an opportunity... Therefore, after Veronica’s sad visit, I began to look forward to when I could help someone else. And life, as always usually happened, did not take long to wait.
Entities came to me day and night, young and old, male and female, and everyone asked me to help them speak with their daughter, son, husband, wife, father, mother, sister... This continued in an endless stream, until, in the end, I I felt that I had no more strength. I didn’t know that when coming into contact with them, I had to be sure to close myself with my (and very strong!) defense, and not open up emotionally, like a waterfall, gradually giving them all my life force, which was then still Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to make up for it.
Very soon I literally had no strength to move and went to bed... When my mother invited our doctor, Dana, to check what had happened to me again, she said that it was my “temporary loss of strength from physical fatigue”... I I didn’t say anything to anyone, although I knew very well the real reason for this “overwork.” And as I had been doing for a long time, I simply honestly swallowed any medicine that my cousin prescribed for me, and, after lying in bed for about a week, I was again ready for my next “exploits”...
I realized long ago that sincere attempts to explain what was really happening to me gave me nothing but headaches and increased constant monitoring behind me are my grandmothers and mothers. And to be honest, I didn’t find any pleasure in this...
My long “communication” with the essences of the dead once again “turned upside down” my already quite unusual world. I could not forget that endless stream of deep human despair and bitterness, and I tried in every possible way to find at least some way to help them. But the days passed, and I could not come up with anything on my own, except, again, to act in the same way, only this time spending my life force on it much more carefully. But since I couldn’t take what was happening calmly, I still continued to make contacts and tried to help, as best I could, all the souls who despaired of their helplessness.
True, sometimes there were funny, almost funny cases, one of which I wanted to talk about here...

It was a gray cloudy day outside. Low lead clouds, swollen with water, barely dragged themselves across the sky, threatening at any moment to burst into a “waterfall” downpour. The room was stuffy, I didn’t want to do anything, just lie there, staring at “nowhere” and not think about anything... But the fact is that I never knew how not to think, even when I honestly tried to relax or rest. So I sat in my dad’s favorite chair and tried to drive away my “dreary” mood by reading one of my favorite “positive” books.
After some time, I felt someone else’s presence and mentally prepared to greet the new “guest”... But instead of the usual soft breeze, I was almost glued to the back of the chair, and my book was thrown to the floor. I was very surprised by such an unexpected violent manifestation of feelings, but decided to wait and see what would happen next. A “disheveled” man appeared in the room, who, without saying hello or identifying himself (which everyone else usually did), immediately demanded that I “immediately go with him” because he “urgently needs me”... He was so nervous and “boiling” that it almost made me laugh. There was no smell of sadness or pain, as happened with the others. I tried to pull myself together to look as serious as possible and calmly asked:
- Why do you think that I will go somewhere with you?
- Don’t you understand anything? I'm dead!!! – his voice screamed in my brain.
“Well, why I don’t understand, I know perfectly well where you’re coming from, but that doesn’t mean at all that you have the right to be rude to me,” I answered calmly. “As I understand it, it’s you who need help, not me, so it would be better if you try to be a little more polite.”
My words gave the man the impression of an exploding grenade... It seemed that he himself would immediately explode. I thought that during his life he must have been a very spoiled person by fate or simply had a completely creepy character.
– You have no right to refuse me! Nobody can hear me anymore!!! – he yelled again.
The books in the room spun like a whirlwind and fell together on the floor. It seemed as if a typhoon was raging inside this strange man. But then I also became indignant and slowly said:
“If you don’t calm down right now, I’ll leave the contact, and you can continue to rebel alone if it gives you so much pleasure.”
The man was clearly surprised, but “cooled down” a little. It seemed that he was not used to not being obeyed immediately as soon as he “expressed” any of his desires. I never liked people of this type - neither then nor when I became an adult. I have always been outraged by rudeness, even if, as in this case, it came from a dead person...
My violent guest seemed to calm down and asked in a more normal voice if I wanted to help him? I said yes, if he promises to behave normally. Then he said that he absolutely needed to talk to his wife, and that he would not leave (from the earth) until he could “get through” to her. I naively thought that this was one of those options when the husband loved his wife very much (despite how wild it looked to him) and decided to help, even if I didn’t like him very much. We agreed that he would return to me tomorrow when I was not at home and I would try to do everything I could for him.
The next day, from the very morning I felt his crazy (I can’t call it anything else) presence. I mentally sent him a signal that I couldn’t rush things and would leave the house when I could, so as not to raise unnecessary questions among my family. But that was not the case... My new acquaintance was again completely unbearable, apparently the opportunity to talk to his wife again made him simply insane. Then I decided to rush things and get rid of him as soon as possible. Usually I tried not to refuse help to anyone, so I did not refuse this strange, eccentric entity. I told my grandmother that I wanted to take a walk and went out into the yard.
“Well, lead the way,” I mentally said to my companion.
We walked for about ten minutes. His house was on a parallel street, very close to us, but for some reason I didn’t remember this man at all, although I seemed to know all my neighbors. I asked how long ago he died? He said that it had been ten years already (!!!)... It was completely impossible, and in my opinion it was too long ago!
“But how can you still be here?” – I asked dumbfounded.
“I told you, I won’t leave until I talk to her!” – he answered irritably.
Something was wrong here, but I couldn’t figure out what. Of all my dead “guests,” not one was here on earth for so long. Perhaps I was wrong, and this strange man loved his wife so much that he could not bring himself to leave her?.. Although, to be honest, for some reason I had great difficulty believing this. Well, he didn’t look like an “eternally in love knight”, even with great stretch... We approached the house... and then I suddenly felt that my stranger was timid.
- Well, shall we go? – I asked.
“You don’t know my name,” he muttered.
“You should have thought about this at the beginning,” I answered.
Then suddenly it was as if some kind of door opened in my memory - I remembered what I knew about these neighbors...
It was quite a “famous” house for its oddities (which, in my opinion, only I believed in in our entire district) house. There were rumors among the neighbors that the owner was apparently not completely normal, since she constantly told some “wild” stories with objects flying in the air, writing pens, ghosts, etc. etc... (similar things are shown very well in the film "Ghost", which I saw many years later).
The neighbor was a very pleasant woman of about forty-five, whose husband actually died about ten years ago. And from then on, all these incredible miracles began in her house. I visited her several times, eager to find out what was going on there, but, unfortunately, I was never able to get my reclusive neighbor to talk. Therefore, now I completely shared the impatience of her strange husband and hurried to enter as quickly as possible, anticipating in advance what, according to my ideas, was supposed to happen there.
“My name is Vlad,” my former neighbor croaked.
I looked at him in surprise and realized that he was very afraid... But I decided not to pay attention to it and entered the house. A neighbor was sitting by the fireplace embroidering a pillow. I said hello and was about to explain why I came here, when she suddenly said quickly:
- Please, honey, leave quickly! It can be dangerous here.
The poor woman was scared half to death, and I suddenly understood what she was so afraid of... She apparently always felt the presence of her husband when he came to her!.. And all the poltergeist manifestations that had happened to her before apparently occurred through his fault. Therefore, feeling his presence again, poor woman she just wanted to “protect” me from possible shock... I gently took her hands and said as softly as possible:
– I know what you are afraid of. Please listen to what I have to say and this will all end forever.
I tried to explain to her as best I could about the souls coming to me and how I was trying to help them all. I saw that she believed me, but for some reason she was afraid to show it to me.
“Your husband is with me, Milya, and if you want, you can talk to him,” I said carefully.
To my surprise, she was silent for a long time, and then quietly said:
“Leave me alone, Vlad, you’ve tormented me long enough.” Leave.

The Etruscan alphabet is a set of symbols that make up the Etruscan language, the most mysterious language in the world, which can be read but cannot be understood. Despite the large number famous monuments Etruscan writing, numbering thousands of copies, scientists around the world have still not been able to solve this mystery.

Who are the Etruscans

The Etruscans are a powerful people who lived in Italy from the 9th century. BC e., even before the appearance of the Romans. The state of Etruria had federal structure and consisted of 12 independent cities. Each city was ruled by its own king, but in the 4th century. BC e. The aristocracy came to power.

The Etruscan state maintained trade and industrial ties with Ancient Greece (Corinth), as evidenced by drawings and written monuments. Clay urns and vessels with drawings found near Tarquinia show the close connection between Etruscan and Greek art. According to some reports, one of the skilled Greek draftsmen brought the alphabet to the country. The fact that the Etruscan alphabet originated from the Greek is also indicated by the shape and meaning of its letters.

The rise of the state of Etruria

The Etruscan state widely developed trade and industrial activity. The territory from the seaside of Tarquinia to the gulf near Vesuvius was convenient for sailors, so the Etruscans tried to oust the Greeks from trade in the Mediterranean. Agriculture and crafts were well developed in the state. Evidence of the development of the art of construction are the ancient remains of buildings and tombs, roads and canals.

The ruling nobility, the Lucumoni, supervised the construction of cities, gaining glory through battles and raids on their neighbors.

Much of what is now considered originally Roman was actually made and founded by the Etruscans: for example, the ancient temple on the Capitoline Hill was built by craftsmen from Etruria. The kings of Ancient Rome also came from the Tarquin family, many were borrowed from the Etruscans, and many historians also attribute the origin of the alphabet in the Roman Empire to the Etruscans.

The heyday of the state of Etruria dates back to 535 BC. e., when the army of the Carthaginians and Etruscans defeated the Greeks, however, within a few years, due to the disunity of the state, Rome successfully conquered more and more new Etruscan cities. Already by the middle of the 1st century BC. e. Roman culture completely absorbs the local one, and the Etruscan language is no longer used.

Language and art in Etruria

The Etruscans had a well-developed art: making marble sculptures, technique. The famous statue of a she-wolf feeding the founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, was created by Etruscan craftsmen who studied with the Greeks. The painted terracotta sculptures preserved the facial features of the Etruscan people: slightly slanted almond-shaped eyes, a large nose, and full lips. The inhabitants of Etruria are very similar to the inhabitants of Asia Minor.

Religion and language greatly distinguished the Etruscans from neighboring peoples due to their foreignness. Even the Romans themselves could no longer understand this language. The Roman proverb “Etruscan cannot be read” (etruscum non legitur) has survived to this day, which predetermined the fate of Etruscan writing.

Most of the Etruscan texts that have been found by archaeologists over last centuries, are funerary and dedicatory inscriptions on tombstones, vases, statues, mirrors and jewelry. But any scientific works or medical (according to some sources, medicine and drug treatment were highly developed in Etruria) will most likely no longer be found.

Attempts to decipher the Etruscan language have been made for more than 100 years. Many scientists tried to do this using analogies with Hungarian, Lithuanian, Phoenician, Greek, Finnish and even Old Russian languages. According to the latest data, this language is considered isolated from all other languages of Europe.

Early Etruscan alphabet

In order to decipher words in an unknown language, scientists first find recognizable words (names, titles, titles), and then, after transferring from a known language, try to find repetitions in words or grammatical forms. In this way, the syntax, vocabulary and composition of an unknown language are comprehended.

Today, in museums and repositories around the world there are more than 10 thousand inscriptions (on dishes, on tablets, etc.) using the Etruscan alphabet. Its origin is interpreted differently by different scientists. Some researchers call it Pelasgian (proto-Tyrrhenian) and believe that it originated from pre-Greek, others - Dorian-Corinthian, and still others - Chalkidian (Western Greek).

Some scientists suggest that before him there was a more ancient alphabet in use, which is conventionally called “proto-Etruscan,” but no written evidence or finds have been found. The archaic Etruscan alphabet, according to the scientist R. Carpenter, was most likely composed of “several Greek” and invented in the 8th-7th centuries. BC e.

Entries in the Etruscan language are read horizontally from right to left, sometimes there are inscriptions made by boustrophedon (the lines are read “snake”, one in turn from right to left, the other from left to right). The words were often not separated from each other.

This alphabet is also called Northern Italic and is considered to have originated from Phoenician or Greek, and some of its letters are very similar to Latin ones.

The Etruscan alphabet with translation was reconstructed by scientists back in the 19th century. How to pronounce each of the letters of the Etruscan alphabet is known, and any student can read it. However, no one has yet been able to decipher the language.

Marcilian alphabet

Writing among the Etruscans appeared in the middle of the 7th century. BC e., and it was found on some household items when archaeological excavations: These are scratched inscriptions on vessels, on valuable objects from tombs.

Most complete example The alphabet appeared when a tablet from the Marciliana de Albegna was found during excavations of the necropolis (now located in the Archaeological Museum in Florence). It is made of ivory, measuring 5x9 cm and covered with wax residue with embossed letters. On it you can see 22 letters of the Phoenician (Middle Eastern) alphabet and 4 Greek at the end, of which 21 are consonants and 5 vowels. The very first letter of the alphabet, the letter “A,” is on the right.

According to researchers, the tablet served as an ABC book for a person who was learning to write. Having studied it, scientists came to the conclusion that the Marsilian alphabet comes from Greek. The font of these letters is very similar to Chalcidian.

Another confirmation of such an alphabet is its presence on a vase that was found in Formello, and another found in a tomb in Cervetri (now in the museums of Rome). Both finds are dated to the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. The inscription on one of them even has a list of syllables (syllabary).

Development of the alphabet

To answer the question of how the Etruscan alphabet changed, how many characters were in it at the beginning and whether their number changed later, it is necessary to trace this from the “written exhibits” found and described by researchers.

Judging by archaeological finds, more than late period(by the 5th-3rd centuries BC), it changed gradually, which can be seen by comparing samples on tablets from Viterbo, Colle, etc., as well as alphabets from Ruzella and Bomarzo.

In the 5th century BC. e. the Etruscan alphabet already had 23 letters, since some of them were no longer used. By 400 BC. e. a “classical” alphabet was formed, consisting of 20 letters:

4 vowels: letter A, then E, I, I;
16 consonants: G, U-digamma, C, H, Th, L, T, N, P, S(an), R, S, T, Ph, Kh, F (eight).

Late Etruscan inscriptions began to be made differently: after the “right to left” method, boustrophedon was used, later, under the influence of the Latin language, the “left to right” method was used. Then inscriptions appear on 2 and some Etruscan letters become similar to the Latin alphabet.

The New Etruscan alphabet remained in use for several hundred years, and its pronunciation even influenced the Tuscan dialect in Italy.

Numbers in Etruscan writing

Identifying Etruscan numerals also proved difficult. The first step in determining the numbers was a discovery in Tuscany in the mid-19th century. two words with 5 words on their faces: math, thu, huth, ci, sa. Trying to compare the inscriptions with other bones that have dots on their faces, scientists were unable to determine anything, because the dots were applied chaotically.

Then they began to examine tombstones, which always contain numbers, and as a result it turned out that the Etruscans wrote numbers by summing tens and units, and sometimes subtracting smaller numbers from larger ones (20-2=18).

A scientist from Germany G. Stoltenberg made a systematization and found out that the number “50” is determined by the word muvalch, and “5” by mach. In a similar way, the verbal designations 6 and 60, etc. were found.

As a result, Stoltenberg concluded that Etruscan writing served as a prototype for Roman numerals.

Plates from Pyrga

In 1964, between the slabs of the temple, not far from the ancient port of Pyrgi, which belongs to the Etruscan city of Pere, archaeologists found 3 plates from the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. made of gold with writing, one of which was in Phoenician, and 2 in Etruscan. The very presence of these tablets speaks of the connection between Carthage and the Etruscan city of Pyrgi. At first, scientists perked up, assuming that it was bilingual (identical text in 2 languages), and they would be able to read the Etruscan inscriptions. But alas... The texts turned out to be not exactly the same.

After an attempt to decipher these tablets by two famous scientists Pallotino and Garbini, conclusions were drawn that the inscription was made when dedicating a statue or temple to the goddess Uni-Astarte. But on the smaller tablet it mentioned Teferi Velinas and described the ritual of sacrifice. It turned out that both Etruscan texts have similar places, but it was not possible to completely decipher them.

Attempts to decipher the texts on these plates were made many times by scientists from many countries, but each time the meaning of the text was different.

The connection between the Etruscan language and its Near Eastern counterparts

One of the oddities of the Etruscan alphabet is the very small use, and sometimes the absence of vowels. By the style of the letters, you can see that the Etruscan letters are identical to the Phoenician ones.

The ancient writings of the Middle East are very similar to "Phoenician" and are written in the language used by the Etruscans. From which we can conclude that in the period from the 13th century. and until the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. written language on the territory of Italy, the coast of the Middle East, and northwest Africa was the only one similar to Etruscan.

At the beginning of our era, Etruscan inscriptions in these territories disappear, replaced by Greek and Aramaic ones. Most likely, this was due to the historical era of increased power in the Roman Empire.

"The Book of the Mummy" and other texts

One of the largest Etruscan texts was found in the 19th century, a Croatian tourist brought a mummified woman from Egypt to Zagreb. Later, after unwinding strips of linen from it, scientists discovered inscriptions that were later identified as Etruscan. The linen book consists of 12 pieces of fabric, which, when combined, produced a scroll 13.75 m long. The text consists of 12 columns, read from right to left.

After many years of research, it was concluded that the “Book of the Mummy” is a calendar that prescribes the performance of various religious ceremonies.

Another similar Etruscan large text was found at construction work in the city of Cortona, which was previously one of the main cities of Etruria. The Cortonese text was studied by the famous linguist V. Ivanov, who came to the conclusion that the Etruscan and North Caucasian languages are related.

One of the scientist’s conclusions was the assertion of the powerful influence of Etruscan culture and writing on Roman and Latin.

Comparison of Etruscan and Lezgin languages

Another version of the origin and reading of the Etruscan language was published in 2013 by linguist researchers Y. Yaraliev and N. Osmanov under the title “History of Lezgins. Etruscans." They claim that they were able to decipher the Etruscan alphabet and, most importantly, translate the texts using the Lezgin language, one of the modern languages of the Dagestan branch.

They were able to read all the available Etruscan texts, including 12 pages from the Book of the Mummy and another 320 tablets with Etruscan texts. The data obtained, they claim, makes it possible to reveal ancient historical connections between the Middle East and the Caucasus.

"Slavic" theory of the origin of the Etruscans

Supporters of the Proto-Slavic origin of the Etruscans believe that the Etruscans called themselves “Raseni” or “Roseni”, which is consonant with the word “Russians”. They provide other evidence of the closeness of these cultures and languages.

The deciphering of the tablets from Pyrgi also attracted the attention of supporters of the Slavic theory of the origin of the Etruscan language. One of the researchers who was interested in Etruscan writing was the Russian scientist V. Osipov. He made an attempt to rewrite the Etruscan text with the usual letters of the Russian alphabet in the standard direction (from left to right) and even divided it into words. And I received... a description of the ancient ritual of erotic games on Solstice Day.

Osipov draws analogies with the Slavic holiday of Ivan Kupala. After his discovery, the scientist sent a translation of the text from Pyrgi and his explanations to scientists working on Etruscan writings in different countries. Subsequently, he translated several dozen more inscriptions using his own method, but so far scientists have not reacted in any way to such a breakthrough in research.

Another Russian scientist V. Shcherbakov put forward the theory that bronze mirrors that they placed in tombs can be used to decipher the Etruscan writing. Using mirrors, text can be read in different directions, and some letters can be upside down.

Historians explain this by saying that the craftsmen who made the inscriptions themselves were not literate, but copied letters from mirrors, and the images of letters in the mirrors turned out to be rotated or upside down. By moving the mirrors, Shcherbakov made his own version of deciphering the text.

Research by Z. Mayani and others

Attempts to read and translate Etruscan tablets by comparing the Etruscan alphabet and the Old Albanian alphabet were made by the French scientist Z. Mayani, who in 2003 published the book “The Etruscans Begin to Speak,” which became popular throughout Europe. He made 300 etymological comparisons between the dictionaries of these languages (Etruscan and Illyrian), but did not receive support from linguists.

Based on the findings of writing, scientists also identified several types of late Etruscan alphabets, which include the Northern Etruscan and Alpine, Venetian and Rut alphabets. It is generally accepted that the early Etruscan alphabet served as the basis for them. Moreover, all these scripts were used by the inhabitants of Tuscany and Italy at the beginning of the 1st century BC. e., after the disappearance of the Etruscan original. When people will be able to understand the Etruscan language remains a mystery for the last millennia.

One of these riddles differs from the others in that it was able to stubbornly resist all attempts to solve it and retained its secret, despite the fact that it has been resting in the very heart for more than two and a half millennia. ancient civilization. This is the “riddle of all Italic riddles,” the language of the Etruscans. It is language, and not writing, that we know writing, and even a long time ago.

True, the writing signs of this ancient cultural people, from which his closest neighbors the Romans learned an infinite amount (and, probably, even more than we know), were first torn from the tenacious clutches of oblivion during the Renaissance. From that time on, gradually, step by step, science conquered more and more new signs, until finally Richard Lepsius added one of the most important and last letters. Thus, the decryption process lasted for centuries!

The first impetus for the scientific formulation of the question of ancient Italian writing was a discovery made in 1444. This year, in Gubbio, ancient Iguvia, once located in equally ancient Umbria, seven bronze tablets were discovered quite by accident in an underground crypt, partially inscribed on both sides; later the tablets were taken for storage to the city hall.

Five of them contained inscriptions in the Umbrian language, written in the Umbrian script. The signs of this letter, common to all other ancient Italian alphabets, which owe their existence to the writing of the Greeks and the cultural mediation of the Etruscans, clearly betrayed their origin.

The language of the inscriptions was related to Latin. And yet, despite these starting points of research and auxiliary means, the decipherment of the Umbrian letter, and even more so the explanation of the language, which at one time gave the twenty-two-year-old Lepsius not only a doctor’s cap, but also the well-deserved fame of a decipherer, continues to remain an unsolved task of paramount importance.

In the 15th century, and much later, when studying the Iguvian tables, scientists proceeded from the assumption that they were not looking at the Umbrian alphabet, but the writing of the ancient Etruscans, and this, of course, greatly hampered decipherment. Only in 1539 Teseo Ambrogio from Pavia, an orientalist and famous writer, made significant contributions to the study of the Etruscan language.

In his impressive work, written in Latin, “An Introduction to Chaldean, Syriac, Armenian and Ten Other Languages,” published a year before the author’s death, hidden among other things was a valuable idea that could serve to progress in solving the problem of Etruscan writing and language: identification sign with the letter "f".

Subsequently, this assumption was rejected and consigned to oblivion, and then experienced a second discovery. About 200 years later, the work “Museum Etruscum” by a certain Anton Francesco Gori was published in Florence; it contained the Etruscan alphabet, in which 15 letters were correctly identified and designated.

In 1789, Abbot Luigi Lanzi, in his three-volume work, correctly identified the sign with “s”, and more than 50 years later Richard Lepsius was able to show that the letter known from the Italian form of the name Odysseus that has come down to us did not mean “x”, but “z” "

Previously, this name was mistakenly read based on its Latin form, Uluxe, but Lepsius proved that in this writing, to which the Greek original is much closer, the name sounded Utuze. Subsequently, when, based on newly acquired knowledge about the more ancient forms of various Greek alphabets, it was possible to identify with Greek (ch) and finally discover in the inscriptions the long-sought sign for “q” (1880), the decipherment of Etruscan writing, at least in in the proper sense of the word, was finished.

And from now on, the 20th, and even more so the 20th century, inherited only the task of explaining language. But on this front of science, one can only note numerous individual attacks and reconnaissance in force, while the enemy’s main positions are still well camouflaged and invulnerable.

The Etruscan alphabet exhibits a number of characteristic features. The most striking of them is probably the sign - “f”, which is known in the same meaning and from the Asia Minor Lydian alphabet this is one of many arguments in favor of the old tradition, dating back to Herodotus, which tells that the Etruscans migrated from Asia Minor and not were the original population of Italy.

In their writing, the Etruscans abandoned the use of ancient signs (o, ks, v), but h was always written in its ancient form. There are no signs for voiced plosives b, d and g. Writing uses letters (th, ph and kh) also to represent sounds t,p and k.

And finally, the direction of writing (usually from right to left) indicates that the Etruscan alphabet deviated from the Greek ancestral basis quite early, probably in the 5th century BC, that is, when the direction of writing among the Greeks was still predominantly right to left. What is the reason that researchers, having learned to read every word written in Etruscan, still barely understand, or rather, almost completely do not understand this language?

It is widely believed that this is due to the small number of language monuments available for study. We possess 9000 Etruscan inscriptions; however, four-fifths of them are very short funeral texts, giving us only proper names and some kinship terms.

Among the major monuments, mention should be made of a clay tablet from Santa Maria di Capua from the 5th century BC, containing about 300 words, followed by a (later) inscription on stone (Cppus Perusnus), kept in the museum of the city of Perugia and consisting of approximately 120 words; two tablets containing curses, two dice with the numerals from "one" to "six", one very interesting lead tablet from Magliano (5th century BC), the text of which consists of at least 70 words arranged in the form spirals and, finally, the famous bronze liver, which apparently served “ teaching aid"for novice predictors, it is often compared with similar objects among the Babylonians and Hittites. All these inscriptions are inscribed on stone, clay and metal.

Rice. 1. Inscription in Etruscan on the sarcophagus (Klassen E. Ancient history Slavs and Slavic-Russians. - M.: White Alva. 2005. - P. 285. Fig. 31).

Transliteration: E muchyovyavimi. Translation: They are martyrs.

As we see, only a fragment of the inscription has survived.

The Etruscan alphabet is very similar to the alphabet of the ancient Vlachs:
A - A
M - B, V
K - B, V as in Old Russian
> - B, D - Вь
J - B
III (F) - J?
W - J
V - DTS
R - DSCH
HER
Y - HER
N - F
I - And - before acc.

H - Kh?
L - L, Lee
N - M, I - M
H (in reg. st.) - N, + - НН
O, S - O
^, P - P
@, Q (circle with a dot in the middle) - P
F - TS
T - TS
t - T?
V - U, V
S - C
F - Ць
G - H
U - H
Sh - Sh
Shch - Shch
: - Kommersant
I - b
Y - Yu, I
* - I
O (as in "omega") - I

In Etruscan:
TI - H
OE is read as E under beat.
OA - like A with emphasis
IO - Yo
^A - Me?
OO - U
YO - And
AE - E
EO - CO

About after ch. points to unstressed syllable, : and dot before ch. - on the stressed ch. sound, : after acc. - on a hard consonant sound, I after consonant. - to soft acc. sound.

Santiy, part 6.

Many people mistakenly believe that written sources appeared on Slavic land thanks to the enlighteners of the Slavs - Saints Cyril and Methodius. They, indeed, accomplished a feat by translating many books of the New Testament from the Roman language into Russian, contributing to the triumph of Orthodoxy, but before their arrival the Slavs already had a written language. The evidence will now be presented to you, since it was possible to decipher several inscriptions on the SANTIYA "DACS".

The discovery of Santi is associated with the King of Romania, Charles the First. Charles the First was an ethnic German from the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family. He headed two principalities - Moldavian and Muntean (Eastern Wallachia), which formed the Romanian kingdom. The favorite vacation spot of Charles the First and his family was the Sinaia monastery.

In the outbuildings of the monastery, gold plates with ancient writings totaling about four hundred were discovered, which were immediately handed over to the king. To replenish the royal treasury, Charles ordered most of the gold plates to be melted down. With the proceeds from the sale of gold, a palace was built in Sinai for the royal family. The fact that the king committed a crime against Slavic world, no one understood. However, the king ordered an exact copy of the plates to be made on lead.

The photo shows one such copy.
Transliteration.
1. Tshenedschev tsyaei yatshe... I-
2. khey, tshalimtsya, atsuzhtshdshche tse-
3. me? Atsyai levaev is destined... Looking for-
4. why the hell! Al, maybe tshdschab ayo kho-
5. ni yamatsetshana ee? And it's poisonous
6. dshetshi tseyzhyaeva her - tse egg
7. It’s the same thing. Atseyo dshe tsits-
8. And let's go ahead. Tsho
9. what? Shdshchay, beat. Yovyein-
10. her zhayodtsyotshi - liquid...
Translation.
1. Her sons were taken (to the army)...
2. Who, taking pity. will judge the mother?
3. Such is the fate of the lion... Of course.
4. Or maybe she is there for her horses
5. were not taken for our needs? And if
6. to honor the works of the righteous her is an egg
7. truths. Her breasts
8. very heavy and large. What else?
9. Apparently, he beats his righteous man.
10. Her complaints are lies...

At the beginning of our era, the Slavs already lived in the Carpathians. They were inhabited by the carriers of the “Carpathian mound culture” - carp. Carps are also called "dacians". The ancient "Dacians" are the ancestors of the Moldavians.

“The historical path of the culture of the Carpathian mounds,” states the “Old History of Ukraine” published in 1995 in Kiev, “is a clear illustration of the asimilation of the ancient words of the Geto-Dacians. binny reasons for the originality of words of the Yan ethnic groups, Why do ninis live in the Carpathians? But the fact is that there was no assimilation of the Getae by the Slavs, since the Getae themselves were Slavs. The most important indicator ethnic background- this is a language. The language that the “Geto-Dacians” spoke, judging by the results of the deciphered ancient Wallachian writing, is Slavic, therefore, both the so-called “Dacians” and the Moldovlachs are Slavs. The Wallachians forgot their native Slavic language only in the 20th century.

However national identity in the culture, for example, the Hutsuls are clearly present. It is explained by the fact that the Salt Route passed through the Carpathians and Lemberg, along which salt was transported from Crimea to Western Europe. The trade in salt from the Solotvyno salt mines is just a cover for those who transported Sivash salt from town to town, from one city with a suburb closed from prying eyes to another city with the same ghetto. The salt along this route was carried by the descendants of the Khazars, who outwardly were no different from the Lemkos.

Several years ago, geneticists found that a significant part of Lemkos and Romanians have DNA haplogroup R1b (are Erbins). This only indicates that the Erbins Western Europe forgot their native language and began to speak Romance and Germanic languages, and the Lemkos did not reject the language of their ancestors, remaining Slavs. The Lemkos themselves consider themselves Russians or, in other words, Rusyns.

The Erbins (Celts), like the representatives of R1a, were Slavs at the beginning of our era, as the Santi letters tell us.

A - A
Y - AY
M - B, V
K - B, V as in Old Russian
P - V
III (W) - J
V - DTS
R - DSCH
HER
G - F bl. to Shch
N - F
Z - ZH
S - W
I - And - before acc.
^ - J; Yu if it's a right triangle
Y - Y
X - Kx
L - L, Lee
N - M
H (in ed. st.) - N
O - O
^ - P
@, Q - P
F - TS
T - TS
t - T
V - U, V
E - C, Tse
Y - H
Sh - Sh
Shch - Shch
O - b
I - b
Y - Yu, I
* - I
O (as in "omega") -I

OE is read as E.
OA - like A with emphasis.
IO - Yo
DA - I
OO - U
YO - And
AE - E
YAE - E
EO - CO
EO - HEY
About after ch. indicates an unstressed syllable, before - a stressed ch. sound, O after acc. - to a hard consonant sound, I after consonant. - to soft acc. sound.

The first written evidence, according to modern scientists, about the Romanian language, which was allegedly spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans, belongs to the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, who, according to Latin theologians (and what theologians!), lived in the 6th century AD. e. according to the official chronology. This evidence is connected, imagine, with military expedition Romans against the Obras (Avars), during which a certain mule driver, who for some reason is identified as a representative of the people close to the Wallachians, accompanying rear service Byzantine army, noticed how a load was falling from one of the animals, and shouted to his companion: “Torna, torna, fratre” (“Turn, turn, brother”). The fact that a significant number of immigrants from Italy lived in Romea, that Rome on the Bosphorus was for a long time called the Latin Empire, and that the Latin language itself was just being formed in those days was not taken into account by modern scientists.
It is believed that the oldest written text in Romanian - this is a letter to Neaksu, dated for some reason in 1521. However, it is written on writing paper, which began to be produced in the 17th century. Thus, the dating is incorrect. Most likely, the manuscript was created in the 18th-19th centuries. In 1818, Gheorghe Lazar founded the first Romanian-language school in Bucharest. A legitimate question arises: did there exist Romanian language in the 18th century or was it created artificially in the 19th century?

Rice. 1. Title page books by Yu. Venelin "Vlach-Bulgarian or Daco-Slayan charters".
The material collected by Yu. Venelin, a Russian scientist of the first half of the 19th century, indicates that the Wallachians spoke Russian in the 18th century (see Fig. 1-2).

Rice. 2. Certificate written in Russian at the end of the 17th century.
What the Wallachians are up to XIX century did not know anything about the Romanian language, the book proves
G. Hanselia "Synopsis" (see Fig. 3):

Rice. 3. On the page among the Slavic languages, instead of Wallachian, the Moldavian language is mentioned (G. Henselio. Synopsis universae philologiae. - N.: Сomiss. komanniana, 1741. - P. 423). That is, the Wallachians in the 18th century. belonged to Moldovans and spoke Russian. The Romanian language did not exist in Moldova at that time and will not exist for another century and a half! If today's Romanians honored the memory of their ancestors, they would bow to the Moldovans of Transnistria and ask them to send teachers to teach them the language of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Moreover, the Hungarians (Ugrians, Hungars) in the 18th century. spoke one of the Slavic dialects, since the Hungarian language was artificially created only in the 19th century. The very fact of the artificial creation of the Hungarian language does not at all imply that Orthodox Ugric Rusyns should have immediately spoken it. Under the influence of what people forget their native language, one can guess.

The Cyrillic alphabet remained in use in Wallachia until 1862. This year the Romanian alphabet was officially established. The population of the country, despite this, continued to speak their native Wallachian dialect of the Russian language. Of course, the intelligentsia was the first to speak Romanian, but the people did not want to give up their native language.

Part of the population of Romania began to speak Romanian only before WWII under the influence of the fascist government. In secondary schools of the SRR, teaching was conducted in Romanian, so it was only in the second half of the 20th century. Romanian became the native language for the population of Romania.

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Inscriptions in Etruscan language. Deciphering Etruscan writing

Grammar

Alphabet

Phonetics

Vocabulary

Morphology

Name

Verb

Particles

Numerals

Syntax

Calendar

Connections with other languages

Researchers

Inscriptions

Notes

Literature

Links

Are common

Decryption

Vocabulary

see also

Spreading

Frame

Grammar

Alphabet

Phonetics

Vocabulary

Morphology

Name

Verb

Particles

Numerals

Syntax

Calendar

Connections with other languages

Tyrrhenian family

Indo-European languages

Languages ​​of the Caucasus

Pre-Greek languages ​​of Crete and Cyprus

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Notes

Literature

Links

Are common

Decryption

Vocabulary

An excerpt characterizing the Etruscan language

Who are the Etruscans

The rise of the state of Etruria

Language and art in Etruria

Early Etruscan alphabet

Marcilian alphabet

Development of the alphabet

Numbers in Etruscan writing

Plates from Pyrga

The connection between the Etruscan language and its Near Eastern counterparts

"The Book of the Mummy" and other texts

Comparison of Etruscan and Lezgin languages

"Slavic" theory of the origin of the Etruscans

Research by Z. Mayani and others

Languages of the Caucasus

Pre-Greek languages of Crete and Cyprus