Anthony (W3)

Origin of the name "Anthony":

Derived from the Latin "Antonius", an old Roman family name of unknown etymology. "Priceless" and "of inestimable worth" are popular folk definitions of the name.

Var: "Anton", "Antonio". Short: "Toni", "Tonio", "Tony".
...

• Anthonis
• Anthonij
• Anthoni
• Anthonio
• Anthonissen
• Anthonijsz
• Antony
• Anthony

"Anthony" im Telefonbuch

Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources

"Anthony" m. Latin Antonius, a Roman gens. The gens may itself be of Etruscan origin.
...

• "Antene"
• "Anthaine"
• "Anthenis"
• "Anthenius"
• "Antheunis"
• "Antheunisse"
• "Anthoen"
• "Anthoene"
• "Anthoenis"
• "Anthoin"
• "Anthoine"
• "Anthon"
• "Anthone"
• "Anthoni"
• "Anthonie"
• "Anthonii"
• "Anthonij"
• "Anthonijs"
• "Anthonio"
• "Anthonioto"
• "Anthoniotus"
• "Anthonis"
• "Anthonium"
• "Anthonius"
• "Anthonlin"
• "Anthonodi"
• "Anthony"
• "Anthonye"
• "Anthonys"
• "Anthoon"
• "Anthoyne"
• "Antoine"
• "Antol"
• "Anton"
• "Antone"
• "Antonelli"
• "Antonello"
• "Antonellus"
• "Antonelus"
• "Antoni"
• "Antonie"
• "Antonii"
• "Antonij"
• "Antonin"
• "Antonino"
• "Antoninus"
• "Antonio"
• "Antoniolo"
• "Antonium"
• "Antonius"
• "Antony"
• "Antonye"
• "Antonyo"
• "Antoyne"
• "Ianthol"
• "Iantol"
• "Iatol"
• "Thonin"
• "Thonius"
• "Thonnis"
• "Thonnys"
• "Thonyes"
• "Thonys"
• "Tones"
• "Tonis"
• "Tonnies"
• "Tonnis"
• "Tönies"

"Anthony", masc. proper name, from Latin "Antonius", name of a Roman gens (with unetymological "-h-" probably suggested by many Greek loan words beginning "anth-", such as "anthros" "flower", "anthropos" "man").

"St. Anthony" (4c.), Egyptian hermit, was patron saint of swineherds, to whom one of each litter was usually vowed, hence "Anthony" for "smallest pig of the litter" (1660s; in condensed form "tantony pig" from 1590s). "St. Anthony's Fire" (1520s), popular name for erysipelas, is said to be so called from the tradition that those who sought his intercession recovered from that distemper during a fatal epidemic in 1089.

"ANTHONY"

Origine et sens : "inestimable" (latin), "fleur" (grec).

Autres prénoms associés

"Andon", "Andoni", "Anthonny", "Antoine", "Antolin", "Anton", "Antone", "Antonello", "Antoni", "Antòni", "Antonie", "Antonien", "Antonin", "Antonino", "Antonio", "Antony", "Antton", "Anttoni", "Thony", "Titouan", "Toni", "Tonin", "Tonino", "Tonio", "Tonny", "Tony"
...

"Anthony", Male Name

Usage: Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic

Origin and Meaning: English form of "Antonius"
...

"Antonius", Male Name

Usage: Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian

Origin and Meaning

Roman nomen

• 1) Name with Etruscan roots of uncertain meaning
• 2) Name with Greek roots maybe meaning "priceless one"
• 3) Latin "antius" = "chief", "leader"
• 4) From the 17th century on, the name has incorrectly been associated with the Greek word "anthos" = "flower"

Related Names

• Aantuut
• Aatuut
• Anaton
• Anska
• Ante
• Anthon
• Anthoni
• Anthonie
• Anthonio
• Anthonius
• Anthony
• Antines
• Antinis
• Antoine
• Anton
• Antonesen
• Antoni
• Antonia
• Antonio
• Antonius
• Antoniusen
• Antoniussen
• Antons
• Antony
• Antoníus
• Antoska
• Anttaani
• Antto
• Antton
• Anttoni
• Anttooni
• Anttuuni
• Antuut
• António
• Antóníus
• Antût
• Toni
• Tonik
• Tonius
• Tynimys
• Tönius
• Ánton
• Âtût
• Ãntût

"Anthony"

Etymology: "Anthony" is the modern English form of an Ancient Greek name, "Antony". It original meaning is unknown, but it could be "Flowering" from "anther" ("flower"), or "Priceless", or "Beyond Praise".

The popularity of early saints like "St. Anthony the Great" and "St. Anthony of Padua" led to "Anthony" being fairly common in England from the 12th century on. From the 12th century until the 17th century, the name was commonly spelled "Antony", less the "h". However, a revived interest in the Greek language led to the assumption that "Antony" was derived from the word "anther" and the spelling was “corrected” by adding an "h".

• Adoni
• Akoni
• Anntoin
• Antain
• Antaine
• Antaki
• Antal
• Antecki
• Anthonie
• Anthonius
• Anthonye
• Antione
• Antoine
• Anton
• Antone
• Antonette
• Antoni
• Antonie
• Antonin
• Antonino
• Antonio
• Antonius
• Antonyo
• Antonín
• Antton
• Koni
• Thoin
• Thoine
• Thon
• Togni
• Toin
• Ton
• Tonete
• Toney
• Toni
• Tonin
• Tonio
• Tony
• Toño
• Tönjes

• "Andon" f (Bul.) (Àíäîí) variant of "Anton"
• "Anthony" m (E.) - L. "Antonius"
• "Antoaneta" f (Bul.) (Àíòîàíåòà) - F. "Antoinette"
• "Antoine" [{'twan] f (F.) - L. "Antonius"
• "Antoinette" [{twa'nEt] f (F.) feminine form of "Antoine", formed with the diminutive suffix "-ette"
• "Anton" m (G., OS., Rus., Bul.) - L. "Antonius"
• "Antonette" f (Am.) adaptation of the F. "Antoinette"
• "Antonia" f (L., It., Sp., Port., E., OS., Pol., Rus., Bul., Serb.) feminine form of "Antonius"
• "Antonina" f (L., It., Sp., Port., E., Pol., OS., Rus., Bul.) feminine form of "Antoninus"
• "Antoninus" f (L.) - "Antonius". Antoninus Pius was a mild-mannered and capable Roman emperor (ruled 138-161 A.D.)
• "Antonio" m (It., Sp., Port.) - L. "Antonius"
• "Antonius" m (L.) - Etruscan, meaning unknown. It was a name of a Roman gens
• "Antwan" m (Am.) adaptation of the F. "Antoine" - L. "Antonius"
• "Dona" ['dOna] f (Bul.) (Äîíà) form of "Donka"
• "Doncho" ['dOntSO] m (Bul.) (Äîí÷î) popular pet form of "Andon" - L. "Antonius"
• "Donka" ['dOnka] f (Bul.) (Äîíêà) feminine form of "Donyo" or "Doncho"
• "Donyo" ['dOnjO] m (Bul.) (Äîíüî) popular pet form of "Andon" - L. "Antonius"
• "Latonya" f (Am.) An alteration of "Tonya" which is from "Antonia"
• "Latoya" f (Am.) variant of "Latonya"
• "Toinette" [twa'nEt] f (F.) pet form of "Antoinette"
• "Tona" f (Am.) short form of "Antonia"
• "Tonette" f (Am.) adaptation of F. "Toinette"
• "Toney" m (Am.) variant of "Tony" (2)
• "Toni" (1) f (Sp., Am.) pet form of "Antonia"
• "Toni" (2) mf (Bul.) pet form of "Anton" or "Antonia"
• "Tonia" f (Am.) short form of "Antonia".
• "Tonie" f (E.) pet form of "Antonia"
• "Tonisha" f (Am.) - "Toni" (1)
• "Tonita" f (Sp., Am.) diminutive form of "Toni" (1) with the suffix "-ita"
• "Tonja" f (Am.) alteration of "Tonia"
• "Tonka" f (Bul.) pet form of "Antonia"
• "Tonton" [t_'t_] f (F.) pet form of "Antoinnette".
• "Tony" m (E.) pet form of "Anthony"
• "Tonya" f (Am.) alteration of "Tonia"
• "Toto" m (F., It.) pet form of "Antoine" or "Antonio"

"Antony", "Anthony"

"Antony", "Anthony": From Latin "Antonius", meaning "inestimable". According to Littleton, the Antonian family were descended from "Antius", son of Hercules.

"Anthony" Surname Origin

(Latin) Hercules-descended. "Antius", a son of Hercules. The inserted "-h-" is probably due to the Dut. from "Anthonius".
...

Variations:

"Andy", "Antal", "Anthone", "Anthoney", "Anntoin", "Antin", "Antoine", "Anton", "Antone", "Antonello", "Antoney", "Antoni", "Antonije", "Antonin", "Antonine", "Antonino", "Antonio", "Antonius", "Antons", "Antony", "Antun", "Antuwan", "Antwahn", "Antwohn", "Antwon", "Antwuan", "Teunis", "Thonus", "Toney", "Toni", "Tony", "Twan"

SEE ALSO "Anfernee", "Danton"

OTHER FORM VIA "ANTON", "TONY", "Andon"

FEMININE FORMS "Antoinette", "Antonia"

• Anthony Roman general under Julius Caesar in the Gallic wars
• Anthony Burgess English writer of satirical novels (1917-1993)
• Anthony Charles Lynton Blair British statesman who became prime minister in 1997
• Anthony Comstock United States reformer who led moral crusades against art and literature that he considered obscene (1844-1915)
• Anthony Hopkins Welsh film actor (born in 1937)
• Anthony Trollope English writer of novels (1815-1882)
• Anthony Vandyke Flemish painter of numerous portraits (1599-1641)
• Anthony Wayne American general during the American Revolution (1745-1796)
• Chloe Anthony Wofford United States writer whose novels describe the lives of African-Americans (born in 1931)
• John Anthony Ciardi United States poet and critic (1916-1986)
• Mad Anthony Wayne American general during the American Revolution (1745-1796)
• Mark Anthony Roman general under Julius Caesar in the Gallic wars
• Mark Antony Roman general under Julius Caesar in the Gallic wars
• Saint Anthony's fire any of several inflammatory or gangrenous skin conditions
• Sir Anthony Hopkins Welsh film actor (born in 1937)
• Sir Anthony Philip Hopkins Welsh film actor (born in 1937)
• Sir Anthony Vandyke Flemish painter of numerous portraits (1599-1641)
• St. Anthony's cross cross resembling the Greek letter tau
• Susan Anthony United States suffragist (1820-1906)
• Susan B. Anthony United States suffragist (1820-1906)
• Susan B Anthony dollar a United States coin worth one dollar
• Susan Brownell Anthony United States suffragist (1820-1906)

...
"Anthony": a masculine name: dim. "Tony"; var. "Antony"; equiv. L. "Antonius", It. & Sp. "Antonio", Fr. "Antoine", Ger. & Russ. "Anton"; fem. "Antonia"

Origin of Anthony: with unhistoric "-h-" from Classical Latin "Antonius", name of a Roman gens

• ( 251-356); Egypt. hermit: founder of Christian monasticism: his day is Jan. 17: called the Great
• (1195-1231); Franciscan friar in France & Italy, born in Portugal: his day is June 13
• also called Saint "Anthony of Padua"
• see: "Mark Antony"
• 1820-1906; U.S. leader in the movement for women's suffrage

...

• Anthony Benezet (biography)
• Anthony Burgess (biography)
• Anthony Burns (biography)
• Anthony Caro (biography)
• Anthony Comstock (biography)
• Anthony Eden (biography)
• Anthony M. Kennedy (biography)
• Anthony McAuliffe (biography)
• Anthony Meuza Van Diemen (biography)
• Anthony of Padua (biography)
• Anthony Philip Heinrich (biography)
• Anthony Powell (biography)
• Anthony Quinn (biography)
• Anthony Trollope (biography)
• Anthony Van Dyck (biography)
• Anthony Wayne (biography)
• David Anthony Llewellyn Owen (biography)
• James Anthony Froude (biography)
• Lido (Lee) Anthony Iacocca (biography)
• Paul Anthony Samuelson (biography)
• Robert Anthony Stone (biography)
• Sir Anthony Hopkins (biography)
• St. Anthony (biography)
• Susan Brownell Anthony (biography)
• Alito Samuel Anthony, Jr.
• Anthony
• Anthony of Padua
• Anthony Susan Brownell
• anthonyite
• Blair Anthony Charles Lynton
• Burgess Anthony
• Ciardi John Anthony
• Comstock Anthony
• Corea Armando Anthony
• Eden (Robert) Anthony
• Kennedy Anthony McLeod
• knock-anthony
• Powell Anthony Dymoke
• Saint Anthony's cross
• saint-anthony-s-crosses
• Saint Anthony's fire
• saint-anthony-s-fires
• Samuelson Paul Anthony
• st-anthony-s-cross
• st-anthony-s-crosses
• st-anthony-s-fire
• Susan B. Anthony Day
• Trollope Anthony
• Vandyke Anthony
• Wayne Anthony wa

April (W3)

April: The name came from an Etruscan word associated with Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty.

"April": the month of "Venus", Roman version of Gk "Aphrodite" (perh. through Etruscan version "Apru")

bbc.co.uk
Etruscan Antefix

Etruscan Antefix

Contributed by Norman Sanders

An antefix is a terracotta object placed along a house gutter to hold a row of tiles above it. This one is decorated with the head of a young man. It is in mint condition. It had been buried for nearly three thousand years and still bears traces of the soil. It tells me that the Etruscans spent a lot of effort decorating their houses, and had a deep appreciation of civic beauty. It was evidently made, as one of many, on a very early production line. This would have given a pleasing effect of uniformity along the house gutter. Since this was a cheap method of production, it tells us that economics was an important consideration even in those days.

bbc.co.uk
Etruscan Bronze Carafe

Etruscan Bronze Carafe

Contributed by Norman Sanders

I found this in a dried up Etruscan water tunnel below the foundation of a Roman villa. It was one item in a heap of Etruscan rubbish thrown into the tunnel by the Romans during the building of their villa, the hole being plugged by a large amphora. It struck me that the Romans had no interest or respect for historical artifacts. The site was high on an isolated hilltop commanding a beautiful panorama of the hills north of Rome. Clearly the Etruscans and the Romans had the same feelings for landscape as modern Italians, who were building a new villa on the site. Making this discovery was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me! I stopped breathing!

bbc.co.uk
Etruscan black figure vase

Etruscan black figure vase

Contributed by Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology

This Etruscan vase has been subject to many interpretations in the past. It is decorated in the black-figure technique that originated in the Greek city of Corinth, but was adapted throughout Greece and beyond in the 6th century BC. When the Ure Museum acquired it, in 1947, this amphora, meaning a jug carried from both sides, was taken to be a 'Pontic' creation. 'Pontic' refers to the Black Sea area. Through analysis of the clay, however, scholars have since determined that this pot was not made in the East but in the West, namely in Etruria. The Museum's founder, Percy Ure, interpreted the figures on the top part of the vase, at least, as telling the story of Troilos, the Trojan Prince who was ambushed by the Greek hero Achilles at a fountainhouse, to which he had escorted his sister, Polyxena, to fetch water. Professor Brian Sparkes has recently suggested, however, that on one side of the vase we see the Thracian king Rhesus, who came to the aid of the Trojans, only to be killed by Odysseus and Diomedes, Greek heroes who raided his camp while he and his men slept. As yet, there is no proof which of these two stories was intended by the unnamed painter of this amphora.

bbc.co.uk
Etruscan pottery wine jug

Greek/Etruscan pottery wine jug

Contributed by Anthony Brown

This wine jug (oinochoe) would have been used by everyday people across the Ancient Greek World. Found in Italy it was probably and Etruscan copy of a Greek original or it may have been an import from Attica (mainland Greece) itself. Either way it shows how Greek civilisation (and therefore Greek philosophy, thinking and culture) had spread across large areas of Europe.

The jug itself is of black-glazed pottery and although an everyday item it still shows a careful degree of attention with a small sculpted head of a god on the handle and the decorative striping on the lower half that represent the woven basket that was used to protect larger vessels like amphorae, and which can still be seen on bottles of Chianti to this day.

bbc.co.uk
Etruscan votive bronze of the God Laran

Etruscan votive bronze of the God Laran

Contributed by R W Traves Parkinson

Etruscan votive bronze of the God Laran

For clarification this is an object I own. It is part of the Traves Parkinson Collection - R W Traves Parkinson. This votive of the Etruscan God Laran was made in about 400BC. It was the Lar Familiaris or household God and would have been the centrepiece of the household shrine of an Etruscan family. The Lar Familiaris in the family shrine represented the spirits of the ancestors of the family. This particular bronze was found in a field near York and may have come to Britain in the rucksack of a Roman Legionary. The ninth legion raised by Julius Caesar in 58 BC was also based in York for more than 50 years. The ninth marched out of York in 117 AD to drive the Picts back into Scotland. The legend is that they marched north deep into the Grampian Mountains in full array but never returned, being lost to history in the mists of Scotland. Perhaps a member of the ill fated legion hid his treasured family heirloom before marching north, in order to keep it safe? Perhaps he was haunted by premonitions of the legions fate and hoped that either he or one of his comrades would return to reclaim the sacred image; but alas no one returned

Bonfante, Larissa (W3)

• Bonfante Warren, Larissa (1973): Roman costumes. A glossary and some Etruscan derivations. In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt I 4, 584-614.
• Bonfante, Larissa: Etruscan. University of California Press I British Museum, Berkeley, 1990. Reading the Past Series.
• Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante: The Etruscan Language. An Introduction, Manchester: University Press 1983, 174 S.
• Sebesta, Judith L. & Larissa Bonfante (Hrsg.) (2001): The World of Roman Costume, Madison, Wisconsin (Internet-Rezension in Bryn Mawr Classical Review:http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2002/2002-08-13.html).

Larissa Bonfante (born March 27, 1931, in Naples, Italy) is an Italian-American classicist, Professor of Classics emerita at New York University and an authority on Etruscan language and culture.

Born in Naples, a daughter of professor Giuliano Bonfante, Bonfante studied fine arts and classics at Barnard College, earning her B.A. in 1954; she completed her M.A. in classics from the University of Cincinnati in 1957 and her Ph.D. in art history and archaeology at Columbia University in 1966. She studied at Columbia with Otto Brendel. Bonfante received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 2007 from the Archaeological Institute of America.
...

Bonfante, Larissa - Overview

Works: 67 works in 289 publications in 7 languages and 5,799 library holdings

Genres: Chronologies History Conference papers and proceedings Catalogs Periodicals

Roles: Author, Editor, Other, Translator, Contributor

Most widely held works by Larissa Bonfante

• Etruscan dress by Larissa Bonfante( Book )
• Etruscan life and afterlife : a handbook of Etruscan studies by Larissa Bonfante( Book )
• The Etruscan language : an introduction by Giuliano Bonfante( Book )
• The world of Roman costume by Judith Lynn Sebesta( Book )
• Etruscan by Larissa Bonfante( Book )
• Etruscan myths by Larissa Bonfante( Book )
• The barbarians of ancient Europe : realities and interactions( Book )
• The origin of the Romance languages : stages in the development of Latin by Giuliano Bonfante( Book )
• Italy and Cyprus in antiquity, 1500-450 BC : proceedings of an international symposium held at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, November 16-18 2000( Book )
• The collection of antiquities of the American Academy in Rome by American Academy in Rome( Book )

britannica.com
Etruscan language

"Etruscan language", language isolate spoken by close neighbours of the ancient Romans. The Romans called the "Etruscans" "Etrusci" or "Tusci"; in Greek they were called "Tyrsenoi" or "Tyrrhenoi"; in Umbrian and Italic language their name can be found in the adjective "turskum". The Etruscans’ name for themselves was "rasna" or "rasna".
...
The Etruscan alphabet

"Etruscan" is written in an alphabet probably derived from one of the Greek alphabets. It is of very great importance that "Etruscan" is written in a recognizable alphabet related to the Greek and Semitic because sound values can be assigned with some degree of precision to each symbol. "Etruscan writing" proceeded from right to left and in earliest times had no word division or punctuation. In about the 6th century bc a system of points, or dots, consisting of four, three, or two dots inscribed vertically, was introduced to mark word boundaries and, in some instances, apparently, to indicate syllables and possibly abbreviations.
...
Grammatical characteristics
...
Vocabulary

Since the language is undeciphered, meaning can be assigned with certainty to only a few Etruscan words that occur very frequently in the texts. Some kinship terms are sure — among these are

• "ati", "mother",
• "clan" "son"
• "sec" "daughter",
• "puia" "wife".

Less certain but probably correct are words designating members of the larger societal organization:

• "lavtn" "family"
• "zilc" "official"
• "maru" "official"
• "spur" "city"
• "rasna" or "rasna" "Etruscan", "Etruria".

A pair of dice certainly have on them the names of the numbers from one through six. Although the order of these numbers has been and still is disputed, the arrangement most generally accepted is this:

• "thu" "one"
• "zal" "two"
• "ci" "three"
• "sa" "four"
• "mach" "five"
• "huth" "six".

Among the continuing mysteries of Etruscan are the reasons why the Etruscans left no written records of their great civilization other than inscriptions and occasional texts and why the Romans, who knew the Etruscans intimately, transmitted little or nothing to posterity about either Etruscan literature or their language, which must certainly have been spoken, or at least preserved, by some families in Rome long after the period of Etruscan greatness had passed.

christianlehmann.eu
Etruscan

Etruscan

Christian Lehmann

Universität Erfurt

Languages of antiquity

I. Specimina from corpus

• Pyrgi tablets
• Agram mummy bandage
• Cortona tablet
• Golden book

II. Language description

• 1. Setting of the language
• 1.1. Language name
• 1.2. Ethnographic situation
• 1.3. Genetic situation
• 1.4. Cultural situation
• 1.5. Social situation
• 2. Language system
• 2.1. Expression systems
• 2.1.1. Phonology
• 2.1.2. Writing
• 2.2. Semantic system
• 2.2.1. Grammar
• 2.2.1.1. Morphology
• 2.2.1.2. Syntax
• 2.2.2. Lexicon

III. Comments on description
IV. References

2.2.2. Lexicon

A certain portion of the Etruscan lexicon is known by now. The table contains some basic vocabulary.

kinship

• apa - father
• ati - mother
• ruva - brother
• clan - son
• sec - daughter
• papa - grandfather
• teta - grandmother
• papals - grandchild
• nefts - nephew

persons

• talipha - girl
• ais - god

objects

• capra - urn
• murs, murtana - sarcophagus
• cupe, culikhna - cup
• suphi - tomb
• malena, malstria - mirror
• fleres - statue

abstract

• avil - year
• fler - sacrifice

dafont.com
Etruscan Font

Etruscan by Dave Bastian

Etruscan (W3)

"Etruscan" als Farbe:

- #712f26 - Etruscan

"Etruscan" als Farbe:

- #673923 - Etruscan

"Etruscan Red" als Farbe:

- #b85d43 - Etruscan Red

"Etruscan Red" als Farbe:

- #8c4743 - Etruscan Red

• András, Elter: Etruscans, Huns and Hungarians
• Beekes, R. S. P.: The origin of the Etruscans / R.S.P. Beekes, Published 2003
• Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899: On Etruscan and Libyan names: A comparative study, Published 1890
• Crawford, Alexander Crawford Lindsay, Earl of, 1812-1880: Etruscan inscriptions analysed, translated and commented upon, Published 1872
• Dumézil, Georges, 1898-1986: Archaic Roman religion: with an appendix on the religion of the Etruscans; translated by Philip Krapp; foreword by Mircea Eliade. v.1, Published 1996
• Fraser, John, of New South Wales: The Etruscans: Were They Celts? Or, the Light of an Inductive Philology Thrown on Forty Etruscan Fossil Words Preserved to Us by Ancient Authors; With Incidental Notices of the Etymology of 2000 Words in the Classical and Modern Languages, and Discussions on Greek and Roman antiquities and mythology. (Paperback), Auflage: Jahr: 2010, ISBN: 9781176339033 Verlag: Nabu Press, Produkt-Art: Softcover
• Fowler, Murray: Materials for the study of the Etruscan Languages - Prepared by Murray Fowler and Richard George Wolfe, Roma: Ateneo 1980, XI, 604 S.
• Hempl, George, 1859-1921: Early Etruscan inscriptions Fabretti 2343-2346, Published 1911
• KOBAKHIDZE, E. : The Greek-Etruscan Relations in the Sphere of Mythology (207-213),
• POLISENSKY, Mirek B.: The Language and Origin of the Etruscans, 1991, Transal Books
• Sverdrup, Harald Ulrik: A description of the Etruscan language and a glossary, Published 2004
• Taylor, Isaac, 1829-1901: Etruscan researches, Published 1874
• Watmough, Margaret M.T.: Studies in the Etruscan loanwords in Latin, Published 1997

The Etruscans were a people who lived in central Italy. Their state was a federation of cities, and included areas such as Etruria, Latium and Campania. They also founded Rome. Latium separated somewhere around 500 BC, soon followed by Rome and other cities. The Etruscans lost their independence in the 4th century BC and were assimilated in the Roman Republic in 265 BC. However, their influence remained in Roman culture (laws, architecture, sacral acts, etc.).

Before the days of ancient Rome's greatness, Italy was the home of a nation called "Etruria", whose people we call the "Etruscans". Its civilization prospered between 950 and 300 BCE. in northwestern Italy — in a region between the Arno River (which runs through Pisa and Florence) and the Tiber (which runs through Rome). These people rose to prosperity and power, then disappeared, leaving behind many unanswered questions concerning their origin and their culture. Because little Etruscan literature remains and the language of inscriptions on their monuments has been only partially deciphered, scholars have gained most of their knowledge of the Etruscans from studying the remains of their buildings, monuments, vast tombs, and the objects they left behind, notably bronze and terra cotta sculptures and polychrome ceramics.

Among theories about the Etruscans' origins are the possibilities that they migrated from Greece, or from somewhere beyond Greece. Perhaps they traveled down from the Alps. Or, as their pre-Indo-European language might suggest, they may have been a people indiginous to today's Tuscany who suddenly acquired the tools for rapid development. The uncertainty is held unresolved.

Theirs was an area of good farmland, forests and mineral resources, all of which the Etruscans exploited skillfully. In time, they became traders, their mariners often doubling up as pirates. And as wealth grew, a social pecking order followed, with a powerful aristocracy living in stone palaces and their serfs occupying wooden huts.

Theirs was not, however, a centralized society dominated by a single leader or a single imperial city. Rather, towns and hill-top villages (many of which survive to this day, albeit with few traces of their Etruscan origins) appear to have enjoyed considerable autonomy. But they spoke the same language, which also existed in a written form. Further, their religious rituals, military practices and social customs were largely similar. For their Greek contemporaries and Roman successors, the Etruscans were clearly a different ethnic group.

Cremation and the burial of ashes in clay urns was a common practice in this area before the advent of the Etruscan era. Among the objects we have that tell us much about the Etruscans are their cinerary urns.

"Etruscan", member of an ancient people of Etruria, Italy, between the Tiber and Arno rivers west and south of the Apennines, whose urban civilization reached its height in the 6th century bce. Many features of Etruscan culture were adopted by the Romans, their successors to power in the peninsula.
...

Etruscan

The "Etruscan" script is used to write both the Etruscan and Oscan (or Oscan-Umbrian) languages. "Etruscan" was the language of a people (who called themselves "rasna") in "Etruria", corresponding to modern "Tuscany" in western Italy. The Etruscan civilization lived alongside the Romans and there was much contact between the two. Inscriptions in Etruscan date from about the 7th century BC through the first century AD. The Etruscan and Oscan languages are unrelated, Oscan being an Italic language similar to Latin and Etruscan being imperfectly known and of uncertain linguistic affiliation.

"Etruscan" is written horizontally from right to left (occasionally boustrophedon). Archaic inscriptions have no spaces between words, but later inscriptions frequently have single or double dots between words. The letters "ii" and "uu" are used in Oscan but not in Etruscan.

The letters "s" and "o" (0E and 0F) appear in Etruscan inscriptions only in the context of abecedaries and were apparently not used in writing the Etruscan language.

Etruscan numerals are imperfectly known. They are similar to Roman numerals, but they are read and written from right to left, in contrast to Latin. The numerals at 26 and 27 are uncertain.

Issues: The numerals are too uncertain at this time to warrant a final encoding; more information is necessary.

Some Sources

• Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Article: Etruscan Language. Bonfante, Larissa. Etruscan.

• 00 ETRUSCAN LETTER A
• 01 ETRUSCAN LETTER B
• 02 ETRUSCAN LETTER C
• 03 ETRUSCAN LETTER D
• 04 ETRUSCAN LETTER E
• 05 ETRUSCAN LETTER V
• 06 ETRUSCAN LETTER Z
• 07 ETRUSCAN LETTER H
• 08 ETRUSCAN LETTER TH
• 09 ETRUSCAN LETTER I
• 0A ETRUSCAN LETTER K
• 0B ETRUSCAN LETTER L
• 0C ETRUSCAN LETTER M
• 0D ETRUSCAN LETTER N
• 0E ETRUSCAN LETTER S
• 0F ETRUSCAN LETTER O
• 10 ETRUSCAN LETTER P
• 11 ETRUSCAN LETTER SH
• 12 ETRUSCAN LETTER Q
• 13 ETRUSCAN LETTER R
• 14 ETRUSCAN LETTER S
• 15 ETRUSCAN LETTER T
• 16 ETRUSCAN LETTER U
• 17 ETRUSCAN LETTER SS
• 18 ETRUSCAN LETTER PH
• 19 ETRUSCAN LETTER KH
• 1A ETRUSCAN LETTER F
• 1B ETRUSCAN LETTER II
• 1C ETRUSCAN LETTER UU
• 1D
• 1E
• 1F
• 20
• 21 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL I
• 22 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL V
• 23 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL X
• 24 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL L
• 25 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL C
• 26 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL UNKNOWN A
• 27 ETRUSCAN NUMERAL UNKNOWN B

Etruscan

• 1. pertaining to Etruria, its inhabitants, civilization, art, or language.
• 2. an inhabitant of ancient Etruria.
• 3. the extinct language of Etruria, not known to be related to any other language.

...

"Etruscan" (n.): 1706, from Latin "Etruscus" "an Etruscan", from "Etruria", ancient name of "Tuscany" (see "Tuscan"); of uncertain origin but containing an element that might mean "water" (see "Basque") and which could be a reference to the rivers in the region.

Basque

1817 (adj.), 1835 (n.), from French, from Spanish "vasco" (adj.), from "vascon" (n.), from Latin "Vascones" ("Vasconia" was the Roman name for the up-country of the western Pyrenees), said by von Humboldt to originally mean "foresters" but more likely a Latinized version of the people's name for themselves, "euskara" or "eskuara".

This contains a basic element "-sk-" which is believed to relate to maritime people or sailors, and which is also found in the name of the "Etruscans" .... [Room, "Placenames of the World," 2006]

Earlier in English was "Basquish" (1610s, noun and adjective); "Baskles" (plural noun, late 14c.); "Baskon" (mid-15c.).

Etruscan™ Schriftfamilie

Entworfen von Timothy Donaldson (1995)

Limericks on "Etruscan"

c. 750 BCE: The Etruscans establish Italy's first civilization, in the region between the Arno and the Tiber

• c. 550 BCE: The murals of Etruscan tombs, such as the Tomb of the Lionesses in Tarquinia, give a lively glimpse of an earlier tradition in Greek art
• c. 550 BCE: An Etruscan dynasty rules in Rome and Etruscan influence is now dominant throughout central Italy
• 510 BCE: According to legend, the Etruscans are driven from Rome by popular outrage after the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius

396 BCE: The Romans capture the nearby Etruscan town of Veii, beginning a long process of territorial expansion

...
... the Etruscan language has been deciphered (cf. Giuliano & Larissa Bonfante's book on the subject), but the problem is that there are few texts lengthy enough to say much about its structure other than that its apparently not Indo-European. There are hundreds of examples of inscriptions that can be translated into simple sentences such as "This cup belongs to Larth son of Larth."
...

...
The Latin alphabet was taken over from the Greek through Etruscan. The order of the letters is therefore much the same as in Greek, as is also true of most of their pronunciation. The 23-letter alphabet is as follows:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z
...

• "Etruscan": a native or inhabitant of ancient "Etruria"
• "Lucius Tarquinius Superbus", "Tarquin", "Tarquinius", "Tarquinius Superbus", "Tarquin the Proud": according to legend, the seventh and last Etruscan king of Rome who was expelled for his cruelty (reigned from 534 to 510 BC)

"Etruscan" of "Etruria" or its people, language, or culture

Origin of Etruscan: from Classical Latin "Etruscus" from uncertain or unknown; perhaps Etruscan an unverified form "etrsco-".

• a person born or living in Etruria
• the language of the ancient Etruscans: it is not known to be related to any other language

Also "Etrurian"
...

• Etruria
• etrurian
• etrurians
• etruscan-bear
• etruscan-bears
• etruscan-shrew
• etruscans
• etruscologist
• etruscologists

Etruscan calf
Etruscan style (W3)

"Etruscan" als Farbe:

- #712f26 - Etruscan

"Etruscan" als Farbe:

- #673923 - Etruscan

"Etruscan Red" als Farbe:

- #b85d43 - Etruscan Red

"Etruscan Red" als Farbe:

- #8c4743 - Etruscan Red

Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books

A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

Etruscan calf ( Etruscan style )

A method of decorating calfskin bindings by acid staining, so called because of the contrasting colors or shades of leather (light brown or terra cotta) in conjunction with dark brown or black tooling. The terra cotta shades and decoration represent Greek and Etruscan vases. Etruscan bindings usually have a rectangular panel on each cover, or, occasionally, a plain oval with a classical urn in the center. They are tooled in black, surrounded by a border of Greek palmate leaves, which are also in black. and with outer borders of classical design (Grecian key or Doric entablature) tooled in gold. The spines are also decorated with classical ornaments.

Many 19th century authorities attributed this style to John Whitaker: however, it seems more likely that it was the creation of WilliamEDWARDS OF HALIFAX .

There appears to be no very conclusive evidence as to the origin of the style, but it is known that Edwards employed it at an early date, circa 1785. It was popular during the period 1785-1820. (69 , 94 , 97 , 158 , 280 )

Etruscan Venus Surface (W3)

Etruscan Venus Surface

A three-dimensional shadow of a four-dimensional "Klein bottle".

SEE ALSO: Ida Surface, Klein Bottle
...

The "Klein bottle" is a closed nonorientable surface of Euler characteristic 0 (Dodson and Parker 1997, p. 125) that has no inside or outside, originally described by "Felix Klein" (Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen 1999, p. 308). It can be constructed by gluing both pairs of opposite edges of a rectangle together giving one pair a half-twist, but can be physically realized only in four dimensions, since it must pass through itself without the presence of a hole. Its topology is equivalent to a pair of cross-caps with coinciding boundaries (Francis and Weeks 1999). It can be represented by connecting the side of a square in the orientations illustrated in the right figure above (Gardner 1984, pp. 15-17; Gray 1997, pp. 323-324).

It can be cut in half along its length to make two Möbius strips (Dodson and Parker 1997, p. 88), but can also be cut into a single Möbius strip (Gardner 1984, pp. 14 and 17).

The above picture is an immersion of the "Klein bottle" in (three-space). There is also another possible immersion called the "figure-8" immersion (Apéry 1987, Gray 1997, Geometry Center). While Gray (1997) depicts this embedding using the eight curve (aka. lemniscate of Gerono), it can also be constructed using the usual (Bernoulli) lemniscate (Pinkall 1985, Apéry 1987).
...

europeana.eu
Results for Etruscan

1 - 12 von 679 Ergebnissen zu "Etruscan"

February (W3)

January 3, 2012 by Lucy Ferriss

Time of the Season

January arrives, looking forward and back. That’s Janus, god of gates and doors, beginnings and endings. As we pass through the portal into 2012, let’s linger for a moment on Old Double-Face, along with the panoply, not only of mythic figures but also of linguistic traditions, that informs the ways in which we refer to time.

January’s easy, but as soon as we leave his forward-looking visage we run into trouble. February might be named for the Etruscan (i.e., pre-Roman) god Februus, who ruled the underworld (and February can sure get gloomy); it could also be named for the Roman Februa festival of purification (februare, “to purge”). Since February was the last month in the Roman calendar, both purification and remembrance of the dead make sense.

Things get simple again with March—first month of the Roman year, god of war, might as well start the year off with some good old-fashioned hostilities. Not to mention how it comes in like a lion. April may come from aperire, “to open,” which makes sense for daffodils, but you’ll also find proponents of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, as the month’s source. That may work south of the Mason-Dixon line. Talk to anyone in New England about mud season, and they would prefer to assign beauty to May—which, suitably for everyone, is named for Maia, goddess of growth, the earth, spring, and bunny rabbits.

But wait. The next month, June, may be named for Juno, but it may also come from iuniores, young men—as opposed to maiores, the old men who preceded them in the month of (you guessed it) May.

So much for gods and Etruscans. The mourners of Julius marked his assassination by renaming what was then the fifth month (Quintilus) July; and Augustus raised them one by renaming the sixth month (Sextilis) August because some lucky things apparently happened to him right about then. (He also stole that extra day from February, but that’s another story.) Thereafter, imagination runs dry. We get seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months—September, October, November, December—in quick succession, with no one offering to rename them according to their current configuration because after all, who wants November to start before Labor Day?

Once curiosity kicks in about timekeeping, it’s hard to stop. Days of the week, for instance. Why, having hung out with the Romans for month-naming, do we suddenly switch to Norse Gods? Well, we don’t switch entirely. There being seven days to the week is the result of much calendar-tinkering and also of the Romans’ awareness of seven heavenly bodies—Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. (The Greeks didn’t bother with weeks, thus missing out on long weekends and TGIF.) We kept the sun and Saturn for our weekend days, and as worship of the sun gained in ascendancy among pre-Christian Romans, Sunday took its place as the first day of the week—a place, you may note, that it’s gradually losing as some calendars place Monday in that spot.

Frigga, ready to party

Monday is a straight Teutonic translation, “moon” for “luna.” Tyr, who inspired “Tuesday,” is the Viking god of war, equivalent to Mars. (We keep the French form when we refer to Mardi Gras.) Wednesday, Woden’s day, substitutes a much bigger deity for the Roman messenger god Mercury: Woden, or Odin, was the main guy in Norse mythology, the equivalent of Jupiter, who originally got the next day, preserved in French as jeudi but switched for English purposes to Thor’s day, or Thursday. Friday, originally assigned to the Roman goddess of beauty, finds its English origin in Frigga, Norse goddess of fertility, who is often depicted as, well, generous in her proportions. Now that’s an improvement, at least if you don’t want dieting to get in the way of a good launch to the weekend.

We’ll stop there, before we get to the various debates over season-naming, the origins of fortnights or ides, why we refer to the second day instead of the twoth day, or the ill luck of Friday the 13th. Happy New Year!

fescennine (W3)

"FESCENNIA", an ancient city of Etruria, which is probably to be placed immediately to the N. of the modern Corchiano, 6 m. N.W. of Civita Castellana (see FALERII). The Via Amerina traverses it. G. Dennis (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, London, 1883, i. 115 proposed to I) lace it at the Riserva S. Silvestro, walls exist. At Corchiano itself, however, similar walls may be traced, and the site is a strong and characteristic onea triangle between two deep ravines, with the third (west) side cut off by a ditch. Here, too, remains of two bridges may be seen, and several rich tombs have been excavated.

See A. Buglione, Conte di i\Ionale, in Römische Mitteilungen (1887), p. 21 seq.

"FESCENNINE VERSES" ("Fescennina carmina"), one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, subsequently developed into the Satura and the Roman comic drama. Originally sung at village harvest-home rejoicings, they made their way into the towns, and became the fashion at religious festivals and private gatherings especially weddings, to which in later times they were practically restricted. They were usually in the Saturnian metre and took the form of a dialogue, consisting of an interchange of extemporaneous raillery. Those who took part in them wore masks made of the bark of trees. At first harmless and good-humoured, if somewhat coarse, these songs gradually outstripped the bounds of decency; malicious attacks were made upon both gods and men, and the matter became so serious that the law intervened and scurrilous personalities were forbidden by the Twelve Tables (Cicero, De re publica, iV. 10). Specimens of the "Fescennines" used at weddings are the Epithalamium of Manlius (Catullus, lxi. 122) and the four poems of Claudian in honor of the marriage of Honorius and Maria; the first, however, is distinguished by a licentiousness which is absent in the lafter. Ausonius in his Cento nuptialis mentions the "Fescennines" of Annianus Faliscus, who lived in the time of Hadrian. Various derivations have been proposed for "Fescennine". According to Festus, they were introduced from "Fescennia" in Etruria, but there is no reason to assume that any particular town was specially devoted to the use of such songs. As an alternative Festus suggests a connection with "fascinum", either because the "Fescennina" were regarded as a protection against evil influences (see Munro, Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus, p. 76) or because "fascinum" (= "phallus"), as the symbol of fertility, would from early times have been naturally associated with harvest festivals.

H. Nettleship, in an article on The Earliest Italian Literature (Journal of Philology, xi. 1882), in support of Munros view, translates the expression verses used by charmers, assuming a noun "fescennus", connected with fas fan.

The locus classicus in ancient literature is - Horace, Epistles, ii. 1. 139; see also Virgil, Georgics, ii. 385; Tibullus ii. I. 55; E. Hoffmann, Die Fescenninen, in Rheinisches Museum, Ii. p. 320 (1896); art. LATINLITERATUiIE.

Fescennine Verses

Fescennia, ae, f. : Fescennie (ville d'Etrurie).

Fescenninicola, ae : qui aime les poésies fescennines.

Fescenninus, a, um : de la ville de Fescennie, fescennin.

• Fescenninus (versus) : vers fescennins (burlesques et satiriques).
• Fescennina, orum, n. (s.-ent. carmina) : poèmes fescennins.
• Fescennina locutio, Cat. 61.127: style des poésies fescinnines.
• Fescenninus pes, Diom. : le pied fescennin, l'amphimacre.
• Fescenninus homo, Cato. : grossier personnage, bouffon.

Fescennium, ii, n. (= Fescennia) : Fescennie (ville d'Etrurie).

fescennine

Limericks on "Fescennine"

"fescennine": "Licentious"; "obscene"; "lewd"

Synonyms: "bawdy"; "loose"; "Rabelaisian"; "racy"; "strong"; "unbridled"

Etymology: From the ancient Etrurian city of "Fescennia" known for its licentious poetry.

fescennine

"fescennine", adjective: "Obscene" or "scurrilous".

[After "Fescennia", a town of ancient Etruria known for its ribald and scurrilous songs sung at festivals and weddings.]

Fescennine

Investigation of this useful, albeit extremely rare, adjective for matters considered "licentious", "obscene" or "scurrilous" was provoked by a message from Curt Weil, who pointed out that it appeared in Jim Meddick’s Monty comic strip on 8 July 2008. Monty criticises a man for seemingly talking to a dolphin, which Monty calls a fish. The dolphin responds and his interlocutor translates it: “He said, firstly: Dolphins are not fish. They are mammals. Then he said something rather unflattering and fescennine about primates.”

The word comes from the name of the ancient Etruscan town of "Fescennia", whose location isn’t known for sure, though it was somewhere near Civita Castellana or Corchiano in the modern region of Lazio in central Italy. Like many rural communities, it had a tradition of ribald and "scurrilous" songs that were performed at festivals such as harvest-home and weddings. These could be in the form of extempore verses that were aimed at another member of the company, who was expected to respond in kind.

The Romans took over the idea, applying it particularly to bawdy verses sung to the happy couple at their nuptials, though later the "fescennine" verses were cleaned up and made more urbane and sophisticated.

2. Weird Words: Fescennine

"Licentious", "obscene", "scurrilous".

Investigation of this useful, albeit extremely rare, adjective was provoked by a message from Curt Weil, pointing out that it appeared in Jim Meddick's Monty comic strip on 8 July 2008. Monty criticises a man for seemingly talking to a dolphin, which Monty calls a fish. The dolphin responds and his interlocutor translates it: "He said, firstly: Dolphins are not fish. They are mammals. Then he said something rather unflattering and fescennine about primates."

The word is a toponym, named after the ancient Etruscan town of "Fescennia", on the River Tiber in modern Tuscany. Like many rural communities, it had a tradition of ribald and "scurrilous" songs that were performed at festivals such as harvest-home and weddings. These could be in the form of extempore verses that were aimed at another member of the company, who was expected to respond in kind.
...
FESCENNINE Several readers, better informed about the geography of Italy than I am, have pointed out that the Etruscan town Fescinnia that's the source of this word can't be in Tuscany, where I put it. Though nobody seems to know its location for certain, it's usually taken to be near either Civita Castellana or Corchiano, which are in the Lazio region.

Fescennine

Haruspex (W3)

"haruspex" also "aruspex"

NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. "haruspices" also "aruspices"

A priest in ancient Rome who practiced divination by the inspection of the entrails of animals.

ETYMOLOGY: Latin. See "gher-" in Appendix I.

ENTRY: "gher-"

DEFINITION:

"Gut" [dt. "Eingeweide", "Gedärme"], "entrail". Oldest form "*gher-", becoming "*gher-" in centum languages.

1. Suffixed form "*gher-no-". "yarn", from Old English "gearn", "yarn", from Germanic "*garn", "string".

2. Suffixed form "*gher-n-". "hernia", from Latin "hernia", "protruded viscus", "rupture", "hernia".

3. Suffixed o-grade form "*ghor-d-". "chord", "cord", "cordon"; "harpsichord", "hexachord", "tetrachord", from Greek "khord", "gut", "string".

4. O-grade form "*ghor-". "chorion", from Greek "khorion", "intestinal membrane", "afterbirth".

5. Possible suffixed zero-grade form "*gh-u-". "haruspex", from Latin "haruspex", "he who inspects entrails", "diviner" ("-spex", "he who sees"; see "spek-"), but perhaps borrowed from Etruscan. (Pokorny 5. her- 443.)

Liver of Piacenza

The entire known universe of the ancient Etruscans is held inside this bronze model of a sheep’s liver.

The Palazzo Farnese is a 16th century palace-turned-museum in the northern Italian city of Piacenza. Inside is something 1,600 years older than the palace itself: a bronze model of a sheep’s liver containing the whole cosmic order known to the ancient Etruscans.

The palace was built by the Duke and Duchess of Parma in about 1550, but shouldn’t be confused with the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (there you can drop in on the French Embassy, but you won’t see an Etruscan sheep’s liver). It’s open to the public for tours of the rooms and furnishings, and they have some Botticelli and other important paintings, some friezes and frescoes, and some ancient armor and weaponry. But their prized possession is this little liver.
...

Haruspex (pl. haruspics)

Persons who interpreted the will of the gods by inspecting the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice (old Latin, "haruga", "a victim"; "specio", "I inspect").

Cato said, “I wonder how one haruspex can keep from laughing when he sees another.”

"Haruspices", ancient Etruscan diviners, “entrail observers” whose art consisted primarily in deducing the will of the gods from the appearance presented by the entrails of the sacrificial animal, especially the liver and gallbladder of sheep. An Etruscan model liver from Piacenza survived in the 21st century. Haruspices also interpreted all portents or unusual phenomena of nature, especially thunder and lightning and unusual or monstrous births, and they prescribed the expiatory ceremonies after such events. This formed a most complicated pseudoscience, in sharp contrast to native Roman divination. The art was practiced in Rome by Etruscans, and, although of great importance especially under the early republic, it never became a part of the state religion. Under the empire there existed a collegium of 60 Haruspices; however, it was never a state priesthood but a body of salaried expert advisers. Haruspices were still active at the time of the Theodosian Code (5th century ad) and John Lydus (6th century ad).
...

...
Romans had a specialized diviner called a "haruspex" who cut open animals and examined their entrails. This practice is called "haruspicy".
...

...
Origin of "haruspex"

1575-1585: Latin, equivalent to "haru-" (akin to "hira" "intestine"; see "chord") + "spec-" (stem of "specere" "to look at") + "-s" nominative singular ending
...

"haruspex" (n.)

1580s, from Latin "haruspex" (plural "haruspices") "soothsayer by means of entrails", first element from PIE root "*ghere-" "gut", "entrail"; second element from Latin "spic-" "beholding", "inspecting", from PIE "*speks" "he who sees", from root "*spek-" "to observe". The practice is Etruscan. Related: "Haruspical"; "haruspication".

"haruspex", (pl. "haruspices"). Persons who interpreted the will of the gods by inspecting the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice (old Latin, "haruga", "a victim"; "specio", "I inspect").

Cato said, “I wonder how one haruspex can keep from laughing when he sees another.”

"haruspex" - a priest in ancient Rome who practiced divination by the inspection of the entrails of animals

It was a "haruspex" who warned Julius Caeser, "Beware the Ides of March."

Think we today are too sophisticated for such things? Think again.

... faith healers, witches, Tarot readers, numerologists, fortune-tellers, astrologers, and other contemporary counterparts of the ancient augur, auspex, and haruspex continue to thrive as both cult and business. ... Greeley reported that 73 percent of Americans believe in miracles and 40 percent report contact with the dead, while people in other Western industrialized countries score comparably high on the "magic" scale.

- Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays, The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters

A reader notes: The Romans felt that this was a loanword from Etruscan, but I've seen IE etymologies provided for it, but just can't remember them at the moment. The "-spex" part probably has something to do with "specio" "to look" (at, behold). Cf. the "-dex" in "judex" "judge" from "dico" "to speak", "say", "tell".

"haruspex": A person who predicts the future using entrails

Definition of "haruspex", plural "haruspices": a diviner in ancient Rome basing his predictions on inspection of the entrails of sacrificial animals

"Haruspex", "harú picis", pen. corr. ab haruga nominatur, vt air Donatus.

A diuinour or soathsayer by looking in beastes bowels. Vanus haruspex. Sil. Vetus haruspex. Propert.

"HARUSPICES", or "ARUSPICES", were soothsayers or diviners, who interpreted the will of the gods. They originally came to Rome from Etruria, whence haruspices were often sent for by the Romans on important occasions (Liv. XXVII.37; Cic. Cat. III.8, de Div. II.4).
...
The name of "haruspex" is sometimes applied to any kind of soothsayer or prophet (Prop. III.13.59); whence Juvenal (VI.550) speaks of Armenius vel Commagenus haruspex.

The latter part of the word "haruspex" contains the root "spec"; and Donatus (ad Ter. Phorm. IV.4.28) derives the former part from "haruga", a "victim". Cf. Festus, s.v. "Harviga", and Varro, De Ling. Lat. V.98, ed. Müller. (Göttling, Gesch. der Röm. Staatsv. p213; Walter, Gesch. des Röm. Rechts, §§ 142, 770, 2nd ed.; Brissonius, De Formulis, I.29, &c.)

...
The Etruscan civilization was a deeply religious one, and a fundamental part of of their religion was divination, the determination of the will or thoughts of the gods through a worldly medium. The most popular method of divination by the "haruspex" was that of inspection of entrails, though they also watched the world for a variety of other signs such as the flights of birds. Distinct areas of an animal's liver (usually a goat or some other small animal) related to different aspects of a particular point of question, and the condition of these areas could reveal the favor or disfavor of a thing. One great archaeological find was this "haruspex stone" which outlined the various areas important to divination, giving us a priceless glimpse into the exact formulae behind the rites. The haruspices were a college of their own much like the pontiffs or augurs of Rome, but outside the state cult, who's numbers were restricted to 60 across the known world.
...

"haruspex"
...
Etymologies: (from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition):

Latin; see "ghere-" in Indo-European roots.

"Haruspex"

A "haruspex" in ancient Rome was a religious official who interpreted omens by inspecting the entrails of sacrificial animals.

The "haruspices" were part of a group of seers or auguries whose official function was not so much to foretell the future as to work out whether the gods approved of some proposed course of political or military action. Nothing of importance was undertaken until the auguries had been consulted. Many omens were actively watched for, such as the flight of birds, the pecking behaviour of sacred chickens, or the sound of thunder. The Romans borrowed these techniques from their predecessors, the Etruscans.

Edward Gibbon, in "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", was disdainful of what he saw as the barbarous rites of the period: “Amidst the sacred but licentious crowd of priests, of inferior ministers, and of female dancers, who were dedicated to the service of the temple, it was the business of the emperor to bring the wood, to blow the fire, to handle the knife, to slaughter the victim, and, thrusting his bloody hands into the bowels of the expiring animal, to draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the consummate skill of an "haruspex", imaginary signs of future events. The wisest of the Pagans censured this extravagant superstition, which affected to despise the restraints of prudence and decency.”

The second part of the word is clearly from Latin "specere", "to look at", but the first part is more mysterious; it may be related to Sanskrit "hir", an "artery". The technique is called "haruspicy". Another word for it is "extispicy", a word whose the first element we do know the origin of — it’s from Latin "exta", "entrails".

the worthless word for the day is: "haruspicy"

from L. "Haruspex", the title of a lower order of priests who performed the act

divination from the entrails of sacrificial animals (see "extispicy")

"I wonder how one haruspex can keep from laughing when he sees another." - Cato (the Roman Censor)

• haruspex
• haruspication
• haruspice
• haruspices
• haruspicies
• haruspicy

historyofenglishpodcast
Etruscans, Romans and a Modified Alphabet

Episode 15: Etruscans, Romans and a Modified Alphabet

The first Indo-Europeans settle into Italy, but they encounter an existing civilization known as the Etruscans. The Etruscans borrow the alphabet from the Greeks, and soon pass it on to the Romans. Our modern alphabet finally begins to emerge.

Audio Player 00:00 - 37:35

Posted in alphabet, English, Etruscan, history, Latin, Roman, Uncategorized

krysstal.com
Borrowed Words From Etruscan

Etruscan is the extinct language of pre-Roman Italy. Very little is known about the language's origins.

These are some of the oldest borrowed words in English. Many of them came via Latin.

There are a number of calendar words, one planet and the name of Rome itself.

• April
• arena
• attrium
• baron
• ceremony
• cistern
• Ides
• January
• mantissa
• market
• military
• persona
• Rome
• Saturn

omniglot.com
Etruscan

Etruscan (mekh Rasnal)

The Etruscan language was spoken by the Etruscans in Etruria (Tuscany and Umbria) until about the 1st century AD. After which it continued to be studied by priests and scholars, and it was used in religious ceremonies until the early 5th century AD. The emperor Claudius (10 BC - 54 AD) wrote a history of the Etruscans in 20 volumes, however none of these volumes survive.

Etruscan was related to Raetic, a language once spoken in the Alps, and also to Lemnian, once spoken on the island of Lemnos. It was also possibly related to Camunic, a language once spoken in the northwest of Italy.

Etruscan alphabet

The Etruscan alphabet developed from a Western variety of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Euboean Greeks. The earliest known inscription dates from the middle of the 6th century BC. Most Etruscan inscriptions are written in horizontal lines from right to left, but some are boustrophedon (running alternately left to right then right to left).

More than 10,000 Etruscan inscriptions have been found on tombstones, vases, statues, mirrors and jewellery. Fragments of an Etruscan book made of linen have also been found. Etruscan texts can be read: i.e. the pronunciation of the letters is known, though scholars are not sure what all the words mean.

No major literary works in Etruscan have survived, however there is evidence for the existence of religious and historical literature and drama. It is also possible that the Etruscans had a notation system for music.
...

portentous (W3)

"Prophetic", "Predictive", "Presageful", and "Portentous"

By Maeve Maddox

In a very general sense, the words are synonymous. All four are adjectives indicative of the future. Their connotations, however, differ.
...
Here are a few synonyms for "portentous":

• foreboding
• ill omened
• inauspicious
• menacing
• ominous
• premonitory
• threatening
• unfavorable

"portentous": foreboding; ominous.

...
Did You Know?

At the heart of "portentous" is "portent", a word for an omen or sign, which comes to us from the Latin noun "portentum" of the same meaning. And indeed, the first uses of "portentous" did refer to "omens". The second sense of "portentous", describing that which is extremely impressive, developed in the 16th century. A third definition — "grave", "solemn", "significant" — was then added to the second edition of Webster's New International Dictionary in 1934. The word's connotations, however, have since moved into less estimable territory. It now frequently describes both the "pompous" and the "excessive".
...

...
"Portentous" is a 16th century word from the Latin "portentosus" ("monstrous", "marvellous", "threatening"), which in turn stems from "portentem". The root of "portentem" - "portent" - is from "portend", meaning to "foretell", "reveal", "point out" or "indicate" (originally "to stretch forward"). "Portentous" thus refers to something that has major significance or importance, especially for the future.
...
The adjective "portentous" is used with three meanings:

• 1. "portentous": “relating to a portent.” A "portent" is a sign thought to predict the future. Etruscans studied the flight of birds to foretell the future. Even the number of birds was regarded as "portentous".
• 2. "portentous": “eliciting amazement.” A travel article contains this example: “In the Grand Forks Valley at the foot of the mountain the "portentous" wall cuts off entirely the view of the summit.”
• 3. "portentous": “exhibiting gravity or ponderousness.” A New York Times reviewer uses the word in the sense of inflated or pompous writing: “To be sure, there were plenty of passages like this in Cold Mountain —prose that somehow managed to be simultaneously "portentous", folksy and cloying, like banjo music on the soundtrack of a Ken Burns documentary.”

...

The Difference Between "Portentous" and "Pretentious"

Commonly Confused Words

by Richard Nordquist

Updated April 08, 2017

The adjective "portentous" means "ominous" or "momentous", referring to a sign or prediction that something important is about to happen. "Portentous" can also mean "pompous" or "self-important". (This second meaning overlaps with that of "pretentious".)

The adjective "pretentious" means "full of pretense", "making excessive or unwarranted claims to be important or sophisticated".

Notice how these two words are spelled: "portentous" ends in "-tous"; "pretentious" ends in "-tious".
...

"portentous": of momentous or ominous significance

"portentously": in a portentous manner

portentous

portentously

portentousness

portents

satellite (W3)

• "antisatellite": of or relating to a system to destroy satellites in orbit
• "artificial satellite": man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon
• "ASAT": of or relating to a system to destroy satellites in orbit
• "astronomy satellite": a satellite equipped with a telescope to observe infrared radiation
• "Callisto": the second largest of Jupiter's satellites
• "centripetal acceleration": the acceleration toward the center that holds a satellite in elliptical orbit
• "communications satellite": an artificial satellite that relays signals back to earth
• "Deimos": the outer of two small satellites of Mars
• "Europa": the 4th largest of Jupiter's satellites
• "FCC": an independent government agency that regulates interstate and international communications by radio and television and wire and cable and satellite
• "Federal Communications Commission": an independent government agency that regulates interstate and international communications by radio and television and wire and cable and satellite
• "Galilean satellite": one of the four satellites of Jupiter that were discovered by Galileo
• "Global Positioning System": a navigational system involving satellites and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by computing the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver
• "GPS": a navigational system involving satellites and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by computing the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver
• "Jabat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniyyah": a terrorist group formed in 1977 as the result of a split with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; became a satellite of al-Fatah; made terrorist attacks on Israel across the Lebanese border
• "libration": a real or apparent slow oscillation of a moon or satellite
• "mean distance": the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum distances of a celestial body (satellite or secondary star) from its primary
• "meteorological satellite": a satellite that transmits frequent picture of the earth below
• "Moon": the natural satellite of the Earth
• "Palestine Liberation Front": a terrorist group formed in 1977 as the result of a split with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; became a satellite of al-Fatah; made terrorist attacks on Israel across the Lebanese border
• "Phobos": the larger of the two satellites of Mars
• "PLF": a terrorist group formed in 1977 as the result of a split with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; became a satellite of al-Fatah; made terrorist attacks on Israel across the Lebanese border
• "satellite": any celestial body orbiting around a planet or star
• "satellite receiver": a receiver on a communications satellite
• "satellite television": a television system in which the signal is transmitted to an orbiting satellite that receives the signal and amplifies it and transmits it back to earth
• "satellite transmitter": a transmitter on a communications satellite
• "satellite TV": a television system in which the signal is transmitted to an orbiting satellite that receives the signal and amplifies it and transmits it back to earth
• "sky wave": a radio wave that is reflected back to earth by the ionosphere or a communications satellite; permits transmission around the curve of the earth's surface
• "space laboratory": a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research
• "space platform": a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research
• "space station": a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research
• "sputnik": a Russian artificial satellite
• "spy satellite": a satellite with sensors to detect nuclear explosions
• "weather satellite": a satellite that transmits frequent picture of the earth below

"SATELLITE" (from the Lat. "satelles", an "attendant"), in astronomy, a small opaque body revolving around a planet, as the moon around the earth (see Planet). In the theory of cubic curves, Arthur Cayley defined the satellite of a given line to be the line joining the three points in which tangents at the intersections of the given (primary) line and curve again meet the curve.

"satellite". A person or, more recently, a nation in thrall to another person or nation.

"Cuba is not a satellite of the USSR in the same sense that other Latin American states are satellites of the USA" (M. B. Brown, The Economics of Imperialism, 1974).

The term is essentially demeaning, implying that the satellite has no will of his, her, or its own. The connotation nowadays is that of a satellite kept in its orbit by the gravitational force of a larger astronomical body. The personal sense of the word is the older, however. It derives from the Latin "satelles", an "attendant" or "bodyguard", which may in turn have come from the Etruscan "satnal".

It appears first in English in the sixteenth century referring to a yeoman of the guard. The astronomical sense has been dated to the seventeenth century and the political sense to the eighteenth. The transition seems to have been made by Thomas Paine in Common Sense. "In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America . . . reverse the common order of nature, it is evident that they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America to itself" (2/14/1776).

See also "IMPERIALIST", "LACKEY", and "PUPPET".

"satelles", itis, m. : "garde", "garde du corps", "compagnon", "serviteur", "complice"

"satelles", f. sing : "compagne"

"satellites", m. plur : "la garde", "l'escorte"

Satellite

A satellite which orbits the earth, and is generally used for communications, weather, and GPS.

"Satellite" was approved as part of Unicode 7.0 in 2014 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015.

Satellite Antenna

"satellite" (n.)

1540s, "follower or attendant of a superior person", from Middle French "satellite" (14c.), from Latin "satellitem" (nominative "satelles") "attendant", "companion", "courtier", "accomplice", "assistant", perhaps from Etruscan "satnal" (Klein), or a compound of roots "*satro-" "full", "enough" + "*leit-" "to go" (Tucker); compare English "follow", which is constructed of similar roots.

Meaning "planet that revolves about a larger one" first attested 1660s, in reference to the moons of Jupiter, from Latin "satellites", which was used in this sense 1610s by German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). Galileo, who had discovered them, called them "Sidera Medicæa" in honor of the Medici family. Meaning "man-made machinery orbiting the Earth" first recorded 1936 as theory, 1957 as fact. Meaning "country dependent and subservient to another" is recorded from 1800.

Satellites

Definition of Term "microsatellite"

(english) A very short unit sequence of DNA (2 to 4 base pairs) that is repeated multiple times in tandem. "Microsatellites" are highly polymorphic and make ideal markers for analysis of relationships. (See also: "polymorphic")

Definition of Term "satellite"

(english) A small male fish which mimics a female and attempts to sneak a spawning opportunity by darting in on an adult spawning pair, e.g. in Lepomis gibbosus (Centrarchidae).

Definition of Term "satellite species"

(english) The condition found in Petromyzontidae where a non-parasitic species is believed to have evolved from most parasitic species, forming a series of species pairs.

Definition of Term "satellites"

(english) In genetics, secondary constrictions often associated with regions where the nucleolus is formed or attached (nucleolar organizer). (See also: "chromosome", "nuclear organizing region", "nucleus")

(french) En génétique : resserrements secondaires souvent associés avec les régions où le nucléole est formé ou est attaché (organisateur nucléonique). (See also: "chromosome", "nuclear organizing region", "nucleus")

(portuguese) Em genética, constrições secundárias frequentemente associadas a regiões onde o nucléolo é formado ou está aderente (organizador nucleolar). (See also: "chromosome", "nuclear organizing region", "nucleus")

communications satellite

Relay station in space for sending telephone, television, telex, and other messages around the world.

Messages are sent to and from the satellites via ground stations. Most communications satellites are in geostationary orbit, appearing to hang fixed over one point on the earth's surface.

Galilean satellites

The four satellites of Jupiter first observed by Galileo Galilei; namely, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

satellite

A moon or a man-made body in orbit around a planet.

For clarity, natural satellites are commonly described as "moons" to distinguish them from man-made or artificial satellites.

satellite power system; SPS

Concept for providing large amounts of electricity for use on the earth from one or more satellites in geosynchronous earth orbit.

A very large array of solar cells on each satellite would provide electricity, which would be converted to microwave energy and beamed to a receiving antenna on the ground. There, it would be reconverted into electricity and distributed the same as any other centrally generated power, through a grid.

Biosatellite 2
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, USA
Time: 1967 Sep 7 2204:26
Launch Vehicle: Thor Delta G
COSPAR ID: 1967-083A


Biosatellite 3
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, USA
Time: 1969 Jun 29 0315:59
Launch Vehicle: Thor Delta N
COSPAR ID: 1969-056A


KT-1 satellite?
Launch Site: Taiyuan Space Center, China
Time: 2005 Jun 9 0000:00
Launch Vehicle: KT-1
COSPAR ID: 2005-F04

ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite

Word of the Day | "satellite"

By The Learning Network January 22, 2013 12:02 am

January 22, 2013 12:02 am

"satellite", noun and adjective

• noun: any celestial body orbiting around a planet or star
• noun: man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon
• noun: a person who follows or serves another
• adjective: surrounding and dominated by a central authority or power

The word satellite has appeared in 1,951 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Dec. 24 in “Elite Boarding Schools Spreading Through Asia” by Kristiano Ang and Yenni Kwok:
...

1957: The USSR launches Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite

1965: The first communications satellite, Early Bird, is launched from Cape Canaveral

1973: Elvis Presley performs in Honolulu in the Aloha Concert, the first programme to be broadcast live round the world by satellite

1989: Rupert Murdoch launches Sky, a satellite television channel, in the UK

2007: China carries out a successful test of a ground-based missile that can destroy satellites in orbit

2009: Iran launches a satellite into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket

"satellite": A body that revolves around a larger body.

TERRAPATTERN

This is the alpha version of "Terrapattern", a visual search tool for satellite imagery. The project provides journalists, citizen scientists, and other researchers with the ability to quickly scan large geographical regions for specific visual features.

Pittsburgh | San Francisco | New York City | Detroit | Berlin | Miami | Austin | More Cities Coming Soon!

Satellite eye on Earth

Satellites

Sputnik

During 1957 to 1958, the Soviet Union and the United States held an International Geophysics Year to promote the study and understanding of the Earth. The Soviets responded by launching the "Sputnik 1" satellite on October 4, 1957. This was the first artificial satellite ever launched. The satellite, a steel sphere, weighed 184 pounds, was 23 inches in diameter. It sent out a "beep-beep" radio signal through its four antennas scientists and ham radio operators throughout the world could hear. The signal continued until the transmitter batteries ran out on October 26, 1957.
...
The Soviet Union went on to launch a series of Sputnik satellites. "Sputnik 2" carried a dog named Laika into space.
...

"satellite"

Today's noun is all space-agey and technical, so it's a bit ironic that its earliest job in English was to label an obsequious underling. The word is from a Latin word for "servant" or "attendant". Persons of great import had many of these, and the analogy was soon made to large heavenly bodies that had smaller ones orbiting them. From there, it was only a short step to the manufactured orbiters that we know today.

satellite

communications satellite

digital satellite system

direct broadcasting satellite

fixed service satellite

Abbreviated as "FSS", a "fixed service satellite" is a type of satellite used for services such as telephone calls, and television signals for broadcasting. Fixed service satellite generally have a low power output and larger dish-style antennas are required for reception. Fixed service satellites have less power than "direct broadcasting satellites" ("DBS").

(2) A general term often used to refer to any communications satellite.

geosynchronous satellite

Also called "geostationary", or simply "GEO", it refers to the movement of communications satellites where the satellite circles the globe over the equator, in a movement that is synchronized with the earth's rotation. Because of this synchronization, the satellite appears to be stationary, and they also offer continuous operation in the area of visibility.

Inmarsat-4 satellite

"IoS" is a term that can refer to either "Internet over Satellite" or Apple's iOS mobile operating system.

In the former case, "Internet over Satellite" ("IoS") technology allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth. A satellite is placed at a static point above the earth's surface. The satellite in a fixed position, also referred to as geostationary or geosynchronous, is able to maintain a reliable connection to the antennas on the earth because the satellite orbits the earth at the exact speed of the earth's rotation.

Because of the enormous distances signals must travel from the earth up to the satellite and back again, "IoS" is slightly slower than high-speed terrestrial connections over copper or fiber optic cables. In remote regions of the world, "Internet over Satellite" is the only viable option as installing the cable backbone necessary for Internet connection is not economically feasible or physically possible.

satellite broadband

Satellite Communications

satellite radio

Sirius Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio

Satellites

• get information about a satellite International Space Station
• compare satellites Echostar 1, Echostar 2

Satellites

Get information about a satellite:

• International Space Station
• Astra 2A

Compare satellites:

• Echostar 1, Echostar 2

Find out where a specific satellite is right now:

• location of Navstar 46
• orbital path of hubble telescope

Properties of Satellites

Get a property of a satellite:

• ACRIMSAT velocity
• EchoStar-7 orbit

Do computations with satellite properties:

• altitude Navstar 14 / Navstar 32
• Sputnik launch date to Sputnik decay date

Visible Satellites

Get data on satellites visible from your location:

• visible satellites

Get data on satellites visible from a specified location:

• satellites over Chicago

"Satellite", n., an object that revolves around another, larger one. From the Latin "satellitem", "attendant" or "guard". This sense coined by astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1611. English use is from 1665.

• anti-satellite
• antisatellite
• biosatellite
• biosatellites
• communications satellite
• core-satellite investment strategy (investment & finance)
• digital satellite radio
• direct-broadcast-satellite
• direct broadcast satellite
• direct-broadcast-satellites
• earth satellite thematic sensing
• femto-satellite
• fixed-satellite
• fixed satellite
• fixed satellite system
• fixed-satellites
• galilean-satellites
• Global Navigation Satellite System
• hypersatellite
• hypersatellites
• killer satellite
• low-orbit satellite
• micro-satellite
• microsatellite
• microsatellite
• microsatellites
• mini-satellite
• miniature satellite
• miniaturized satellite
• minisatellite
• minisatellite
• minisatellites
• mobile satellite
• mobile satellite system
• nano-satellite
• nanosatellite
• nanosatellite
• nanosatellites
• national-polar-orbiting-operational-environmental-satellite-system
• pico-satellite
• picosatellite
• picosatellite
• picosatellites
• satellite
• satellite
• satellite augmentation system
• satellite bands
• satellite-based augmentation system
• satellite box
• satellite-campus
• satellite cell
• satellite channel
• satellite communications
• satellite computer
• satellite dish
• satellite-dishes
• satellite DNA
• satellite link
• satellite modem
• satellite-navigation
• satellite-navigation-system
• satellite-phone
• satellite phone
• satellite-phones
• satellite-planet
• satellite radio
• satellite radio
• satellite receiver
• satellite speaker
• satellite TV
• satellites
• satellitious
• satellitium
• satellitosis
• shepherd satellite
• small satellites
• space-satellite
• space-satellites
• spy-satellite
• spy-satellites
• stationary satellite
• subsatellite
• subsatellites
• telesatellite
• telesatellites

scurrilous
skurril (W3)

Lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined scurrilous as "using such language as only the licence of a buffoon could warrant." Qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery—vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness—are qualities often invoked by the word scurrilous. Unlike the words of a jester, however, "scurrilous" language of the present day more often intends to seriously harm or slander than to produce a few laughs.

"scurrilous". "Vile", "low", "mean", "abusive".

Thus, President Ronald Reagan's first attorney general, William French Smith, hit the ceiling after it was reported that he had attended the birthday party of a man whose other friends happened to include mobsters. As reported in The Washington Post. "He labeled news reports questioning the propriety of his appearance at the party as 'nothing less than scurrilous,' repeating "scurrilous" three times, until he finally added, 'Am I making myself clear?' " (William Safire, What's the Good Word?, 1982).

The word's meaning seems to be in the process of changing. It formerly referred to — and some dictionaries still give as its primary meaning — the use of coarse, indecent, foul-mouthed language, i.e., the sort of talk that only a professional fool or buffoon could get away with. This is reflected in its etymology. It comes from the Latin "scurrilis", "buffoonlike", "scurra", "buffoon", and possibly an older Etruscan term.

See also "FOOL"

"scurrilous"

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning:

• 1. Vulgar or obscene, expressed in vulgar or obscene terms.
• 2. Containing vulgar, obscene, or slanderous accusations.

...
Word History: Today's Good Word is an extension of its ancestor, "scurrile", with the suffix "-ous". "Scurrile" has the same meaning as "scurrilous" and came to French from Latin "scurrilis" "jeering", "buffoonish", the adjective of the noun "scurra" "buffoon". "Scurra" was borrowed from Etruscan, a language spoken in Italy before the arrival of the Romans. We only have only a few short phrases from this language on pottery shards, lintels, and the like, so little is known about it.

SCURRILIZE - ASCII ART

"scurrilous"

adjective

• 1. grossly or obscenely abusive: a scurrilous attack on the mayor.
• 2. characterized by or using low buffoonery; coarsely jocular or derisive: a scurrilous jest.

First recorded in 1570-80; scurrile + -ous
...

"scurrilous" (adj.)

"using such language as only the licence of a buffoon can warrant" [Johnson], 1570s, from "scurrile" "coarsely joking" (c. 1500, implied in "scurrility"), from Latin "scurrilis" "buffoonlike", from "scurra" "fashionable city idler", "man-about-town", later "buffoon". According to Klein's sources, "an Etruscan loan-word".

Related: "Scurrilously"; "scurrilousness".

Related Entries: "scurrility"

•"scald miserable" (scurrilous compound adjective), 1741 Joel S. Berson

•"scurrilous" = "wicked" Jonathan Lighter

32 matching dictionaries

• scurrilous: Merriam-Webster.com [home, info]
• scurrilous: Oxford Dictionaries [home, info]
• scurrilous: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language [home, info]
• scurrilous: Collins English Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Vocabulary.com [home, info]
• scurrilous: Macmillan Dictionary [home, info]
• Scurrilous, scurrilous: Wordnik [home, info]
• scurrilous: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Wiktionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed. [home, info]
• scurrilous: V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus [home, info]
• scurrilous: Infoplease Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Dictionary.com [home, info]
• scurrilous: Online Etymology Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: UltraLingua English Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Cambridge Dictionary of American English [home, info]
• Scurrilous (album), Scurrilous: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia [home, info]
• Scurrilous: Online Plain Text English Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition [home, info]
• scurrilous: Rhymezone [home, info]
• Scurrilous: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Webster's 1828 Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Hutchinson's Dictionary of Difficult Words [home, info]
• scurrilous: Free Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: Hutchinson Dictionaries [home, info]
• scurrilous: Mnemonic Dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: WordNet 1.7 Vocabulary Helper [home, info]
• scurrilous: LookWAYup Translating Dictionary/Thesaurus [home, info]
• scurrilous: Dictionary/thesaurus [home, info]
• scurrilous: Legal dictionary [home, info]
• scurrilous: A Word A Day [home, info]

Definition of scurrilous

• 1 a : using or given to coarse language
• 1 b : vulgar and evil - scurrilous imposters who used a religious exterior to rob poor people —Edwin Benson
• 2 : containing obscenities, abuse, or slander scurrilous accusations
• — "scurrilously" adverb
• — "scurrilousness" noun

scurrilous (1)

scurrilous

Friday, April 4th

"scurrilous"

Today's adjective doesn't have anything to do with scurrying, despite appearances; the words are separately derived. Scurrilous, ultimately from a Latin root meaning "buffoon," means obscenely abusive or slanderous. Favorite followers of the adjective are attack, rumor, allegation, and accusation. It's a word much beloved by soft journalists, such as those specializing in the comings and goings of celebrities.

"scurrilous"

• "scurrility" foul-mouthed or obscene abuse
• "scurrilous" expressing offensive reproach
• "scurrilously" in a scurrilously manner

scurrilous

Scallywag or Scalawag

The word — very variably spelled — appeared first in the US. It was applied to undersized or ill-formed cattle, or to some disreputable person. After the Civil War, it became a term of abuse specifically aimed at those white Southerners who were prepared to accept the measures imposed during Reconstruction, often because they would profit from them. It shifted a little later to mean any politician who was corrupt or an intriguer. It has softened since, being a term these days of only mild reproach for a scamp, rascal or minor rogue, often combined with the gentle admiration that doting mothers dispose on an amusingly mischievous child.

Where it comes from is a matter of some dispute, though the Scots tongue seems to be an intermediary. Some authorities point to the Scots' word "scoloc", the name given to the first-born son of a tenant of a monastery who was given to the church to receive an ecclesiastical education. Later, the word could refer to any monastic tenant, and got turned into "scallag" for a farm servant or rustic person, also latterly a way of addressing a boy. And there's also the word "scurryvaig" for a "vagabond", "lout" or "slattern", which might be an influence, if not the source. Either way, it looks as though Latin is involved, since "scoloc" is really the same word as "scholar" (from Latin "schola") and "scurryvaig" may have originated in Latin "scurra vagus", a "wandering fool" ("scurra" is also the source of our "scurrilous").

Its abbreviation, "scally", is widely known in the north-west of England, especially around Liverpool, for a roguish self-assured young person — typically male — who is boisterous, disruptive, or irresponsible.

...
4. Weird Words: "Scallywag" or "Scalawag"

A scamp, rascal, or rogue; an amusingly mischievous child.
...

• scurrile
• scurrilities
• scurrility
• scurrilous
• scurrilously
• scurrilousness

tripod.com
Etruscan Glossary

Compilation and translations from French, Italian and Latin

by Rick Mc Callister and Silvia Mc Callister-Castillo ©1999

unesco.org
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia

These two large Etruscan cemeteries reflect different types of burial practices from the 9th to the 1st century BC, and bear witness to the achievements of Etruscan culture. Which over nine centuries developed the earliest urban civilization in the northern Mediterranean. Some of the tombs are monumental, cut in rock and topped by impressive tumuli (burial mounds). Many feature carvings on their walls, others have wall paintings of outstanding quality. The necropolis near Cerveteri, known as Banditaccia, contains thousands of tombs organized in a city-like plan, with streets, small squares and neighbourhoods. The site contains very different types of tombs: trenches cut in rock; tumuli; and some, also carved in rock, in the shape of huts or houses with a wealth of structural details. These provide the only surviving evidence of Etruscan residential architecture. The necropolis of Tarquinia, also known as Monterozzi, contains 6,000 graves cut in the rock. It is famous for its 200 painted tombs, the earliest of which date from the 7th century BC.
...

The Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia bear witness to the achievements of Etruscan culture.

The necropolises of Tarquinia have some 6,000 tombs, 60 of which include wall paintings.

The most famous attraction of Cerveteri is the Necropoli della Banditaccia, encompassing a total of 1,000 tombs often housed in characteristic mounds. It is the largest ancient necropolis in the Mediterranean area.
...

wikipedia.org
Etruscan civilization

Etruscan civilization

The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Lazio. As distinguished by its unique language, this civilization endured from before the time of the earliest Etruscan inscriptions (c. 700 BC) until its assimilation into the Roman Republic, beginning in the late 4th century BC with the Roman-Etruscan Wars.

Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by Ancient Greek culture. At its maximum extent, during the foundational period of Rome and the Roman Kingdom, Etruscan civilization flourished in three confederacies of cities: of Etruria, of the Po Valley with the eastern Alps and of Latium and Campania. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands.[4] The last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC.

Although the Etruscans developed a system of writing, the Etruscan language remains only partly understood, and only a handful of texts of any length survive, making modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman sources. Politics was based on the small city and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south and filled their large family tombs with imported luxuries. Archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them.
...
Origins - Etruscan origins

The ancient Romans referred to the "Etruscans" as the "Tusci" or "Etrusci". Their Roman name is the origin of the terms "Tuscany", which refers to their heartland, and "Etruria", which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the "Etruscans" were known as "Tyrrhenians" ("Turrhenoi", earlier "Tursenoi"), from which the Romans derived the names "Tyrrheni", "Tyrrhenia" ("Etruria"), and "Mare Tyrrhenum" ("Tyrrhenian Sea"), prompting some to associate them with the "Teresh" (Sea Peoples). The word may also be related to the Hittite "Taruisa". The "Etruscans" called themselves "Rasenna", which was syncopated to "Rasna".

The origins of the "Etruscans" are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC repeatedly associated the "Tyrrhenians" ("Turrhenoi", "Tursenoi") with "Pelasgians". Thucydides, Herodotus and Strabo all denote Lemnos as settled by "Pelasgians" whom Thucydides identifies as "belonging to the Tyrrhenians", and although both Strabo and Herodotus agree that "Tyrrhenus" / "Tyrsenos", son of Atys, king of Lydia, led the migration, Strabo specifies that it was the "Pelasgians" of Lemnos and Imbros who followed "Tyrrhenus" / "Tyrsenos" to the Italian Peninsula. The Lemnian-Pelasgian link was further manifested by the discovery of the Lemnos Stele, whose inscriptions were written in a language which shows strong structural resemblances to the language of the "Tyrrhenians" ("Etruscans"). Dionysius of Halicarnassus records a Pelasgian migration from Thessaly to the Italian peninsula, noting that "the Pelasgi made themselves masters of some of the lands belonging to the Umbri"; Herodotus describes how the Tyrrheni migrated from Lydia to the lands of the Umbri.

Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates. Pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History (AD 79):

Adjoining these the (Alpine) "Noricans" are the "Raeti" and "Vindelici". All are divided into a number of states. The "Raeti" are believed to be people of "Tuscan" race driven out by the "Gauls", their leader was named "Raetus".
...

wikipedia.org
Etruscan language

The Etruscan language was the spoken and written language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of "Etruria" (modern "Tuscany" plus western Umbria and northern Latium) and in parts of Corsica, Campania, Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. "Etruscan" influenced Latin, but was eventually completely superseded by it. The Etruscans left around 13,000 inscriptions which have been found so far, only a small minority of which are of significant length, some bilingual inscriptions with texts also in Latin, Greek or Phoenician, and a few dozen loanwords, such as the name "Roma" (from Etruscan "Ruma") but Etruscan's influence was significant. Attested from 700 BC to AD 50, the relation of Etruscan to other languages has been a source of long-running speculation and study, with it being referred to at times as an isolate, one of the Tyrsenian languages, and a number of other less well-known possibilities.
...

wikipedia.org
List of English words of Etruscan origin

This is a list of English words that may be of Etruscan origin, and were borrowed through Latin, often via French. The Etruscan origin of most of these words is disputed, and some may be of Indo-European or other origin. The question is made more complex by the fact that the Etruscans borrowed many Greek words in modified form. Typically if a Latin word has an unknown, uncertain or disputed origin, it is considered a possible candidate for deriving in whole or in part from an Etruscan word; however, native Etruscan must then be distinguished from Greek. If no Etruscan word is clearly identifiable sometimes an attempt is made to reconstruct one. Etruscan derivations therefore are highly variable in probability; that is, some are highly speculative and others more likely.

Contents

• 1 List
• 2 References
• 3 Bibliography
• 4 See also

List

• "ace": from Middle English "aas", from Old French "as", from Latin "as", "a whole", "a unit", "copper coin", possibly Etruscan. "As" was a Roman coin and was also a unit of weight equal to about one troy pound.
• "antenna": from "antenna", "antemna", "yard-arm", "sail". possibly etruscan "*antithemna" - "*ant(th)emna" from Greek "anatithemenos", "something set up".
• "arena": from "arena" "arena", "harena", "arena", "sand", archaic "hasena", sabine "fasena", unknown etruscan word as the basis for "fas-" with etruscan ending "-ena".
• "autumn": from "autumnus" "autumn". Just as Etruscan "veltha", an earth god, appears as Latin "Vola" or "Olta" and is in "Voltumna" and "Vertumnus", so the parallel construction "autumnus" ought to come from Etruscan "autu-", related to "avil", "year": "*av(i)-to-m(e)nos", with loss of the "l". There are some names with both "l" and "t": "avlethaium", "authnal", "avtle", and so on, which appear related to "autu" or "auta" in Venetic, the idea being that "autumn" signifies the passing of the year.
• "belt": from "balteus", "sword belt". The sole connection between this word and Etruscan is a statement by Marcus Terentius Varro that it was of Etruscan origin. All else is speculation.
• "catamite": Latin, from Etruscan "catmite", from the Ancient Greek "Ganymede", "cupbearer to Zeus".
• "defenestration", "fenestra"
• "element": from "elementum", "letter"
• "histrionic": from "histrionicus", from "histrio", "actor"
• "letter": from Old French "lettre", from Latin "littera", which may have derived, via Etruscan, from the Greek "d?f???a" (writing tablet)
• "mantissa"
• "market"
• "military": Etruscan or perhaps related to Greek "homilos", "assembled crowd" (compare "homily")
• "mundane": from "mundus", "earth", from "munth", "land"
• "mutule"
• "palace", "palate": One of the seven hills of Rome. Either from Latin "palus" "stake" or the Etruscan shepherd goddess "Pales"
• "people": From Latin "populus" by way of Old French "peuple", possibly of Etruscan origin.
• "person": from Middle English "persone", from Old French "persone", from Latin "persona", "mask", probably from Etruscan "phersu", "mask".
• "satellite": from Latin "satelles", meaning "bodyguard", "attendant", perhaps from Etruscan "satnal".
• "scurrilous"
• "Serge" (first name)
• "spurious"
• "triumph": From Old Latin "triumpus", probably a loan word via Etruscan from Greek "thriambos", a hymn to Dionysus.
• "vernacular": from "vernaculus", "domestic", from "verna", "a native slave"
• "viburnum"

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
...

Camporeale, Giovannangelo
The Etruscans Outside Etruria

Giovannangelo Camporeale (ed.): The Etruscans Outside Etruria

Translated by Thomas Michael Hartmann, Los Angeles: Getty Publications 2004

Rezensiert von Magdalene Söldner