Editing Etruscan civilization (section)

===Ethnonym and etymology===
[[File:Tular Rasnal 1.jpg|thumb|Boundary stone from Cortona
<br>Etruscan: Tular Rasnal<br>English: Boundary of the People]]

According to [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysius]] the Etruscans called themselves '''Rasenna''' (Greek Ῥασέννα), a stem from the Etruscan Rasna (𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀), the people. Evidence of inscriptions as Tular Rasnal (𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌛 𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀𐌋), "boundary of the people", or Mechlum Rasnal (𐌌𐌄𐌙𐌋 𐌛𐌀𐌔𐌍𐌀𐌋). "community of the people", attest to its autonym usage. The [[Tyrsenian languages|Tyrsenian]] etymology, however, remains unknown.<ref>Rasenna comes from {{cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |title=Roman Antiquities |at=I.30.3}} The syncopated form, Rasna, is inscriptional and is inflected.</ref><ref>The topic is covered in Pallottino, p.&nbsp;133.</ref><ref>Some inscriptions, such as the cippus of Cortona, feature the Raśna (pronounced Rashna) alternative, as is described at {{cite web |first=Gabor Z. |last=Bodroghy |url=http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/etrusk/po/origins.html |series=Etruscan |title=Origins |website=The Palaeolinguistic Connection |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416143745/http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/etrusk/po/origins.html |archive-date=2008-04-16 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In [[Attic Greek]] the Etruscans were known as [[Tyrrhenians]] ({{lang|grc|Τυρρηνοί}}, ''Tyrrhēnoi'', earlier {{lang|grc|Τυρσηνοί}} ''Tyrsēnoi''),<ref>{{LSJ|*turrhno/s|Τυρρηνός}}, {{LSJ|*turshno/s|Τυρσηνός|ref}}.</ref> from which the Romans derived the names ''Tyrrhēnī'', ''Tyrrhēnia'' (Etruria),<ref>{{L&S|Tyrrheni|ref}}</ref> and ''Mare Tyrrhēnum'' ([[Tyrrhenian Sea]]).<ref name=Grummond>{{cite book |last1=Thomson de Grummond |first1=Nancy |date=2006 |title=Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend |pages=201–208 |language=English |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Penn Museum of Archaeology |isbn=9781931707862}}</ref>

The ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the ''Tuscī'' or ''Etruscī'' (singular ''Tuscus'').<ref>According to Félix Gaffiot's ''Dictionnaire Illustré Latin Français'', the major authors of the [[Roman Republic]] ([[Livy]], [[Cicero]], [[Horace]], and others) used the term ''Tusci''. Cognate words developed, including ''Tuscia'' and ''Tusculanensis''. ''Tuscī'' was clearly the principal term used to designate things Etruscan; ''Etruscī'' and ''Etrusia''/''Etrūria'' were used less often, mainly by Cicero and Horace, and they lack cognates.</ref><ref>According to the {{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=etruscan&searchmode=none |title=Online Etymological Dictionary}} the English use of ''Etruscan'' dates from 1706.</ref><ref>{{L&S|Tusci|ref}}</ref> Their Roman name is the origin of the terms [[Tuscany|Toscana]], which refers to their heartland, and [[Etruria]], which can refer to their wider region. The term ''Tusci'' is thought by linguists to have been the Umbrian word for Etruscan, based on an inscription on an [[Iguvine Tables|ancient bronze tablet]] from a nearby region.<ref>{{cite web |title='Cui bono?' The beneficiary phrases of the third Iguvine table |first=Michael |last=Weiss |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University |url=http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/Cuibono.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ling.cornell.edu/people/Weiss/Cuibono.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> The inscription contains the phrase ''turskum ... nomen'', literally ‘the Tuscan name’. Based on a knowledge of Umbrian grammar, linguists can infer that the base form of the word turskum is *Tursci,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Carl Darling Buck |author=Carl Darling Buck |year=1904 |title=Introduction: A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian |location=Boston |publisher=Gibb & Company }}</ref> which would, through [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] and a word-initial [[epenthesis]], be likely to lead to the form, ''E-trus-ci''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Eric |last=Partridge |year=1983 |title=Origins |url=https://archive.org/details/originsshortetym0000part |url-access=registration |publisher=Greenwich House |location=New York |isbn=9780517414255 |entry=tower |page=730}}</ref>

As for the original meaning of the root, *Turs-, a widely cited hypothesis is that it, like the Latin ''turris'', means ‘tower’ and comes from the ancient Greek word for tower: {{lang|grc|τύρσις}},<ref name=B51>The Bonfantes (2003), p. 51.</ref><ref>{{LSJ|tu/rsis|τύρσις|shortref}}.</ref> likely a loan into Greek. On this hypothesis, the Tusci were called the ‘people who build towers"<ref name=B51 /> or "the tower builders".<ref>Partridge (1983)</ref> This proposed etymology is made the more plausible because the Etruscans preferred to build their towns on high precipices reinforced by walls. Alternatively, [[Giuliano Bonfante|Giuliano]] and [[Larissa Bonfante]] have speculated that Etruscan houses may have seemed like towers to the simple Latins.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Revised Edition|last1=Bonfante|first1=Giuliano|last2=Bonfante|first2=Larissa|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0719055409|page=51}}</ref> The proposed etymology has a long history, [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] having observed in the first century BC, "[T]here is no reason that the Greeks should not have called [the Etruscans] by this name, both from their living in towers and from the name of one of their rulers."<ref name=DHI30>Book I, Section 30.</ref> In his recent ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Robert Beekes claims the Greek word is a "loanword from a Mediterranean language", a hypothesis that goes back to an article by [[Paul Kretschmer]] in ''Glotta'' from 1934.<ref>Beekes, R. ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' Brill (2010) pp.1520-1521</ref><ref>Kretschmer, Paul. "Nordische Lehnwörter im Altgriechischen" in ''Glotta'' 22 (1934) pp. 110 ff.</ref>