Etruscan and Lemnian appear to be twigs of the Pelasgian Branch of the Indo-European Language Tree

Abstract

Bell and Howell Information and Learning: Foreign text omitted (...) In the light of the recent discovery that the Etruscan language is interpretable when viewed as a Creole language based on Ancient Greek, the notionally related Lemnian language is analyzed from this viewpoint. Despite the paucity of Lemnian inscriptions, and consequently of Lemnian words, a plausible set of translations is obtained. These are presented herewith, complete with their etymological bases and archaeological implications. Key Words: Etruscan, Lemnian, Pelasgian, Greek languages Introduction Among legends concerning the origin of the Etruscans, there is one grouping them originally with the inhabitants of the islands of Lemnos and Imbros into a nation known as Pelasgian (de Simone). Subsequently, so goes the story, some of this nation emigrated to Italy to become the (...) or Etruscans, while others remained in Lemnos. Interest in this legendary Etruscan-Lemnian relationship was heightened by the discovery, at Kaminia in Lemnos, of a funerary stele that bore a picture of a warrior, surrounded by an inscription in an archaic Greek alphabet. This alphabet was very similar to that adopted by the Etruscans (Kretschmer). The discovery was made around 1880 (Pauli, 1886), and it occasioned a long and lively debate over the relationship of the language of the inscription to Etruscan (Pallottino). Transliteration of Text of the Stele The Lemnian Language Lemnian uses essentially the same Greek alphabet as do Etruscan and Lydian. It further resembles Lydian (but not Etruscan) in using the character for I anomalously, and the symbol (down arrow) for q, but it eschews the many other Lydian anomalies. It has both aspirates: ph and th, for which it uses the appropriate Greek characters. Phonologically it has a distinctly Anatolian character, both as to vowels (using only one of the o/u pair, but atypically preferring o over u); and, as to stopped consonants, using only the unvoiced k and t (but avoiding the issue regarding p). It probably derived the aspirated stops: ph and th from Indic bh and dh. The text has a complement of diphthongs and glides matching that of archaic Etruscan. Syntactically, as far as one can tell with such a small sample, it seems cognate with Anatolian languages such as Hittite. Morphologically, however, it expresses its borderline geographic location in evincing a mixed Anatolian-Indic character. As in both Hittite and Lydian, it uses the particle -m as an enclitic copula. Etruscan-Lemnian Comparison Etruscan uses with complete orthodoxy (including the correct characters for l, p, and q) the same Greek alphabet that Lemnian employs with the alterations noted above. Etruscan phonology is similar to Lemnian, but it uses the vowel u rather than o, and adds the sound f, for which it uses the Lydian character 8. Etruscan syntax is completely anomalous, as would be expected in a Creole language, but, for the same reason, its morphology (apart from absence of b, d, and o) is Greek orthodox. Its resemblances to Lemnian consist of: (i) same alphabet; (ii)similar phonology (but lacking o);and (iii) the three words: maru