Re: Etruscana (was: some Proto-Quendic grammar)

On Friday, November 21, 2003, at 08:07 PM, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:

> At 19:56 21.11.2003, Ray Brown wrote:
>
>> All the evidence I've seen so far points IMO to its being a language
>> isolate.
>
> What about "Lemnian" then?
OK - Etrusco-Lemnian is an isolate group, possibly.

We have AFAIK just the one stele from Lemnos.  The language of the
inscription does
have some structural resemblances to Etruscan and one can make some fuzzy
sense
of it using what we know of Etruscan.  Certainly, it seems reasonable to
consider the
languages related; but it would help if we discovered other inscriptions
on the island
that could confirm this.

But what I meant is that none of the wider relationships proposed so far
have IMO
sufficient evidence.  It is probable that Etrusco-Lemnian did have other
connexions
(as, I guess, did Basque once have) - it's just that we cannot establish
them with
any certainty.  So IMO this group remains an isolate.

But I've just come across an article by R.S.P. Beekes.  I haven't had time
to read it
yet.  Who knows? Perhaps he can shed some light   :)

Ray
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