This fibula in the Louvre, dating from the 7th century B.C. from Chiusi, has clarified a few of the words in the Etruscan Indo-European Tables 1 & the Etruscan Glossary of Etruscan_Phrases_a.html. The Script, I identified as VF, reads as follows:
VF-1 MI ARA CHIAFE (IAFE) LAFES NASIA MACHIMAS (MAIMAS) [ to me (Lat. meus-a-um, my, mine) the gold (Lat. aurum-i) key (Lat. chiafe) of praise, fame (Lat. laus, laudis); of Nasia the great (Lat. maximus-a-um)]
Note: This gold fibula confirms the Etruscan word for gold, "ara,"which may be synonymous with the verb "to plow" or "altar" and suggests the name for a pin or clasp, "chiafe," that may be related to the word for "key." It also suggests the grammatical use of the "F" when used with a vowel. If the F in CHIAFE is an "f" then the F in LAFES is also an "f." The suffix, "ia" is a gen. case ending for names in Etruscan. The is rare and in the word, maximas, establishes a value which may be closed to "ch." The Greek value of this sign is "chi" pronounced "kh."
Return me to Etruscan_Phrases home.
Launched 7.01.04
Upadated: 9.25.04; 2.11.06; 9.14.06
Copyright © 1981-2006 Maravot. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1981-2006 Mel Copeland. All rights reserved.
Use of the information on this page for publication in any media is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the author.