Editing Etruscan language (section)

===Alphabet===
{{Main|Etruscan alphabet}}
[[File:Dedication Dioskouroi Met L.2008.1.1.jpg|thumb|250px|Etruscan dedication to the "sons of Zeus" ([[Dioscuri]]) made by  Venel Apelinas (or Atelinas), and signed by the potter Euxitheos and the painter Oltos, on the bottom of an [[Attic red-figure]] [[kylix]] (c. 515–510 BC)]]
The [[Latin script]] owes its existence to the Etruscan alphabet, which was adapted for Latin in the form of the [[Old Italic script]]. The Etruscan alphabet<ref>The alphabet can also be found with alternative forms of the letters at [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/etruscan.htm Omniglot].</ref> employs a [[Euboea]]n variant{{sfn|Bonfante|1990|loc=chapter 2}} of the [[Greek alphabet]] using the letter [[digamma]] and was in all probability transmitted through [[Ischia|Pithecusae]] and [[Cumae]], two Euboean settlements in southern Italy. This system is ultimately derived from [[history of the alphabet|West Semitic scripts]].

The Etruscans recognized a 26-letter alphabet, which makes an early appearance incised for decoration on a small [[bucchero]] terracotta lidded vase in the shape of a cockerel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ca. 650–600 BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/etruscan/a/bucchero|title=Bucchero|website=Khan Academy|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref> The full complement of 26 has been termed the model alphabet.{{sfn|Bonfante|Bonfante|2002|p=55}} The Etruscans did not use four letters of it, mainly because Etruscan did not have the voiced stops ''b'', ''d'' and ''g''; the ''o'' was also not used. They innovated one letter for ''f'' ({{linktext|𐌚}}).{{sfn|Bonfante|1990|loc=chapter 2}}