maslic

The first civilization of the Italian peninsula was the Etruscan civilization. It flourished from seventh to fourth century BC. The Etruscan influence started to weaken in the late fourth century BC due to a set of complex circumstances and their dispute with Rome. By the time of Julius Caesar, the Etruscan identity and language were almost completely erased. Who were the Etruscans? Why their language is seen as a language isolate, a non-Indo-European island in an Indo-European sea? There were many attempts to compare the Etruscan words with words from other languages but that path was abandoned by the end of the nineteenth century. The great Massimo Pallottino, the father of etruscology, openly doubted the etymological method while Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante, the authors of the most comprehensive book about the Etruscan language, saw no possible benefit in its use. The author of this book took the opposite path. He compared the Etruscan words with roots and words from another language and he used the etymological method. The results are very surprising.