Editing Etruscan language (section)

==== Other theories ====
The interest in Etruscan antiquities and the Etruscan language found its modern origin in a book by a Renaissance Dominican friar, [[Annio da Viterbo]], a [[Christian Kabbalah|cabalist]] and [[oriental studies|orientalist]] now remembered mainly for literary forgeries. In 1498, Annio published his antiquarian miscellany titled {{Lang|la|Antiquitatum variarum}} (in 17 volumes) where he put together a theory in which both the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and Etruscan languages were said to originate from a single source, the "Aramaic" spoken by [[Noah]] and his descendants, founders of the Etruscan city [[Viterbo]].

The 19th century saw numerous attempts to reclassify Etruscan. Ideas of [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] origins found supporters until this time. In 1858, the last attempt was made by [[Johann Gustav Stickel]], [[Jena University]] in his {{Lang|de|Das Etruskische durch Erklärung von Inschriften und Namen als semitische Sprache erwiesen}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Das Etruskische durch Erklärung von Inschriften und Namen als semitische Sprache erwiesen|last=Stickel|first=Johann Gustav|publisher=Wilhelm Engelmann|place=Leipzig|year=1858}}</ref> A reviewer<ref>Gildemeister, Johannes. In: ''ZDMG'' '''13''' (1859), pp. 289–304.</ref> concluded that Stickel brought forward every possible argument which would speak for that hypothesis, but he proved the opposite of what he had attempted to do. In 1861, [[Robert Ellis (classicist)|Robert Ellis]] proposed that Etruscan was related to [[Armenian language|Armenian]].<ref>Ellis, Robert (1861). ''The Armenian origin of the Etruscans''. London: Parker, Son, & Bourn.</ref> Exactly 100 years later, a relationship with [[Albanian language|Albanian]] was to be advanced by [[Zecharia Mayani]],<ref>Mayani, Zacharie (1961). ''The Etruscans Begin to Speak''. Translation by Patrick Evans. London: Souvenir Press.</ref> a theory regarded today as disproven and discredited.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shipley |first=Lucy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q51NDwAAQBAJ |title=The Etruscans: Lost Civilizations |date=2023 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-862-3 |pages=183, 251|quote=Even into the 1960s, new language links were proposed and disproven: Albanian as Etruscan [...] This discredited idea was put forward in Z. Mayani, The Etruscans Begin to Speak (London, 1962).}}</ref>

Several theories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries connected Etruscan to [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] or even [[Altaic languages]]. In 1874, the British scholar [[Isaac Taylor (priest)|Isaac Taylor]] brought up the idea of a genetic relationship between Etruscan and [[Hungarian Language|Hungarian]], of which also [[Jules Martha]] would approve in his exhaustive study {{Lang|la|La langue étrusque}} (1913).<ref name="szabir.com" /> In 1911, the French orientalist Baron Carra de Vaux suggested a connection between Etruscan and the [[Altaic languages]].<ref name="szabir.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.szabir.com/blog/etruscans-huns-and-hungarians/ |title=Etruscans, Huns and Hungarians|last=Tóth |first=Alfréd |access-date=June 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302115355/http://www.szabir.com/blog/etruscans-huns-and-hungarians/ |archive-date=March 2, 2010 }}</ref> The Hungarian connection was revived by [[Mario Alinei]], emeritus professor of Italian languages at the [[University of Utrecht]].<ref>Alinei, Mario (2003). [http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Onderzoek/hoogleraren/Pages/emeritushoogleraren.aspx ''Etrusco: una forma arcaica di ungherese'']. Il Mulino: Bologna.</ref> Alinei's proposal has been rejected by Etruscan experts such as Giulio M. Facchetti,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uninsubria.eu/research/compscicomm/CV_CompSciComm/Facchetti.pdf |title=Giulio Mauro Facchetti |access-date=2010-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720173303/http://www.uninsubria.eu/research/compscicomm/CV_CompSciComm/Facchetti.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Facchetti, Giulio M. [http://didattica.iulm.it/scritture_dimenticate/JIES.pdf "The Interpretation of Etruscan Texts and its Limits" (PDF)]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. In: ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' '''33''', 3/4, 2005, 359–388. Quote from p.&nbsp;371: ‘[...] suffice it to say that Alinei clears away all the combinatory work done on Etruscan (for grammar specially) to try to make Uralic inflections fit without ripping the seams. He completely ignores the aforesaid recent findings in phonology (and phoneme/grapheme relationships), returning to the obsolete but convenient theory that the handwriting changed and orthography was not consolidated'.</ref> Finno-Ugric experts such as Angela Marcantonio,<ref>Marcantonio, Angela (2004). "Un caso di 'fantalinguistica'. A proposito di Mario Alinei: 'Etrusco: una forma arcaica di ungherese'." In: ''Studi e Saggi Linguistici'' '''XLII''', 173–200, where Marcantonio states that "La tesi dell’Alinei è da rigettare senza alcuna riserva" ("Alinei's thesis must be rejected without any reservation"), criticizes his methodology and the fact that he ignored the comparison with Latin and Greek words in pnomastic and institutional vocabulary. Large quotes can be read at Melinda Tamás-Tarr "[http://www.osservatorioletterario.net/enigmaetrusco3.pdf Sulla scrittura degli Etruschi: «Ma è veramente una scrittura etrusca»? Cosa sappiamo degli Etruschi III]". In: ''Osservatorio letterario. Ferrara e l’Altrove'' ''X/XI'', Nos. 53/54 (November–December/January–February 2006/2007), 67–73. Marcantonio is Associated Professor of Historical Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" ([http://sites.google.com/site/angelamarcantonio/ personal website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214075612/https://sites.google.com/site/angelamarcantonio/ |date=2015-02-14 }}).</ref> and by Hungarian historical linguists such as Bela Brogyanyi.<ref>Brogyanyi, Bela. "[http://redaktion.gesus-info.de/S&S-online/S&S_38-2008.pdf Die ungarische alternative Sprachforschung und ihr ideologischer Hintergrund – Versuch einer Diagnose] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123205704/http://redaktion.gesus-info.de/S%26S-online/S%26S_38-2008.pdf |date=2021-11-23 }}". In: ''Sprache & Sprachen'' '''38''' (2008), 3–15, who claims that Alinei shows a complete ignorance on Etruscan and Hungarian ["glänzt er aber durch völlige Unkenntnis des Ungarischen und Etruskischen (vgl. Alinei 2003)"] and that the thesis of a relation between Hungarian and Etruscan languages deserves no attention.</ref> Another proposal, pursued mainly by a few linguists from the former Soviet Union, suggested a relationship with [[Northeast Caucasian]] (or Nakh-Daghestanian) languages.<ref name="robertson">{{cite web |first=Ed |last=Robertson |title=Etruscan's genealogical linguistic relationship with Nakh–Daghestanian: a preliminary evaluation |year=2006 |url=http://www.nostratic.ru/books/(329)EGRWND.pdf |access-date=2009-07-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810021157/http://www.nostratic.ru/books/(329)EGRWND.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2011 }}</ref><ref name="starostin">{{Cite book |last1=Starostin | first1=Sergei | author1-link=Sergei Starostin | last2=Orel | first2=Vladimir | year=1989 | contribution=Etruscan and North Caucasian| title=Explorations in Language Macrofamilies | editor-last =Shevoroshkin | editor-first=Vitaliy | series=Bochum Publications in Evolutionary Cultural Semiotics | issue=23 | publisher=Bochum }}</ref> None of these theories has been accepted nor enjoys consensus.<ref name=Benelli2018/><ref name=Belfiore2020/>