Writing Systems & Decipherment

Work notes on the Tavola Eugubine, Script Q278-Q453

by Mel Copeland

The Tavola Eugubine is a series of bronze tablets found near the city of Gubbio. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. The texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of an oration. This text is of a funeral oration delivered by a knight who calls himself Soverus, of Fescennia. Greek Hera, as presiding over childbirth and being a protector goddess. As in the case of the Pyrgi Gold Tablets, a goddess named Aph appears to play a significant role. Aph may be another aspect of the goddess Aphrodite. The Etruscan name of Aphrodite is Turan (TVRAN). It may be that both Aph and Turan served the Venus role, of love and childbirth, just as we can see the virgin huntress role of Artemis shared with a goddess named Mean (MEAN- See the Divine Mirror, Script DM). Edward Tripp (The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology) says that the Greeks have always known that Aphrodite was an Asiatic goddess, and that there is little doubt that Aphrodite, like Artemis, was originally a mother-goddess, of a type almost universally worshiped in the Near East and perhaps best known under the name of Ishtar or Astarte. Astarte is also known as a warlike goddess and is mentioned in the Assyrian Chronicles as leading the armies that continuously sacked the cities of eastern Anatolia. Aphrodite and the Greek god of War, Ares, produced Deimus and Phobus (Fear and Panic) who were Ares' constant companions in battle.

This is an update of our work on the Tavola Eugubine, (III) - http://www.maravot.com/Translation_EugubineQ.html. Changes produced on this page will be added to our Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. All of the words in the glossary follow a grammar similar to Latin. One can easily discover that the several hundred texts on Etruscan Phrases all share a common language and grammar. This controverts the prevailing theory that the Etruscan language is not an Indo-European language. It also warrants further examination of the prevailing conclusion that the Tavola Eugubine is written in the Umbrian language.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls /pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language;" that the theory is absolutely false.

Work notes on the Pyrgi Gold Tablets

by Mel Copeland

The Pyrgi Gold Tablets consist of three sheets of gold, two of which are written with Etruscan letters and the third is in Punic. Scholars have speculated that the tablets are a bilingual text. It is not exactly bilingual, but the texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of a dedication. While translators of the Punic text claim that that text addresses the goddess Astarte, there is no reference to Astarte in the Etruscan text. Three goddesses are mentioned in  the Etruscan text: RIA (possibly Rea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus, MIA (possibly May, month, or Maia, mother of Mercury (L. Maia-ae; adj. Maius-a-um; Maius, May) and Uni, consort of Tini. Uni and Tini correspond to Greek Hera and Zeus, Roman Juno and Jupiter. Janus the god of doorways, new beginnings, is mentioned. There may be a reference to Remus (REMIA), which would validate the name RIA, and the text concludes with what appears to be the phrase, "I renewed Aph." Aph, who appears to be a fertility goddess, is mentioned in many texts (see the Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf).  The goddess Astarte / Ishtar have been likened to Juno (Etr. Uni), Greek Hera,  as presiding over childbirth and being a protector goddess. They are also equated to the the Egyptian goddess Isis who was the consort to the god of the underworld and judge of the dead, Osiris. Isis was depicted with the horns of a heifer on her head which represented the crescent moon. She was identified with Aphrodite (Roman Venus). Isis had a temple of her own in Rome, and their are many votive figures of Isis-Aphrodite, including one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Etruscan name of Aphrodite is Turan (TVRAN). It may be that both Aph and Turan served the Venus role, of love and childbirth, just as we can see the virgin huntress role of Artemis shared with a goddess named Mean (MEAN- See the Divine Mirror, Script DM).

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls /pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

Work notes on the Novilara Stele

by Mel Copeland

The Novilara Stele is written with modified Etruscan characters, where the omega "o" appears and the "v" is used as a "v." The "E" has barely discernible bars and can be confused with the "i." The text is not easy to read, but it is an interesting document shedding light on the usage of words in other texts, such as the Perugia Cippus, Magliano Disk, etc. The vocabulary coincides with that recorded in the Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. (Etruscan GlossaryA.xls)

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,300 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

Work Notes on the Magliano Disk

by Mel Copeland

The Magliano Disk is perhaps the oldest Etruscan text.and many of the words contained in this disk are replicated in other texts, shown in Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls.

The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" documents on Etruscan texts have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. (One cannot audit guesswork.) Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays,  such as the mysterious Magliano lead disk.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,300 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

The Magliano Disk appears to reflect  an expression of love. It occurred to me since the message is an expression of love,  the shape and context of the tablet is as a sublime valentine of sorts. 

Two Pre-Roman Alphabets of Northern Italy: Venetic and Raetic

by Dorjana Širola

Doctoral dissertation, University of Oxford, 2005.

Crónica de onomástica paleo-hispânica (13)

by António Marques de Faria

published in 'Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia', 10:2, 2007.

El plomo escrito del Tos Pelat (Moncada, Valencia)

by Joan Ferrer i Jané

En col·laboració amb J. Mª Burriel, C. Mata, A.L. Ruiz, J. Velaza, Mª A. Peiró, C. Roldán, S. Murcia, A. Doménech (2011): "El plomo escrito del Tos Pelat (Moncada, Valencia)", Palaeohispanica 11, 191-224.

This work analyzes an Iberian inscription over a lead plaque that was found in 2003 bent and twisted in an... more This work analyzes an Iberian inscription over a lead plaque that was found in 2003 bent and twisted in an archaeological context of the fourth century BCE in the Iberian site of Tos Pelat (Moncada, Valencia). The lead plaque consists in fact of two fragments that probably belong to two different plaques originally with the same irregular shape, but now one of them has lost half of its original size. The fragments contain Iberian inscriptions on both sides, some of them overlapping, which are mainly distributed along the edges of the fragments. The inscription consists mainly of pairs of variants of the same sign, so the more plausible interpretation, despite the difficulties of reading, is that they are fragments of at least two Iberian dual signaries. Until now, there was only one Iberian signary known, the signary from Castellet de Bernabé (Llíria, Valencia), also dual and incomplete, but shorter with only five pairs of signs conserved in front to the at least fourteen pairs documented now. The new pairs of signs, some of them unexpected for the standard concept of a dual signary, like the vowels or one of the trills, will provide key information to the advance of the study of dual Iberian writing.

Etruscan Phrases, Translation of Etruscan Devotional Plates

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file of our website, 'Translation of Etruscan Devotional Plates," with images compiled from documents supplied to Academia.edu. While these plates and the document sources supply very little light (Etr. LVS) on the Etruscan language, because of their short phrases, many of the words used on the Devotional Plates are contained in the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls and therefore clarify specific declensions. Sources of the images used on this site are identified and the source documents posted on Academia.edu should be reviewed to compare their non-Indo-European translations to the Etruscan Phrases work.

In contrast to offerings from the British Museum and University of Bologna, where their analyses, following Pallottino, are generally speculation based on guesswork relating to short funerary inscriptions, the Etruscan Phrases work is supported by a strong grammar and vocabulary. Thus, to clear the mystery of the Etruscan language alleged by such esteemed institutions, it is imperative that the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls be audited. We mention this since the only prospect of clearing up the Etruscan Mystery is through a verifiable audit of the Etruscan Grammar recorded in Etruscan Phrases. The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" works have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. (One cannot audit guesswork.) Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,300 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek)

The Devotional Plates may be an easy entry into an audit, for those who are hesitant to examine the larger texts, such as the Zagreb Mummy (Script Z).

Gli alfabeti semitici del II millennio

by Vermondo Brugnatelli

published in: M. Negri (a cura di) Alfabeti. Preistoria e storia del linguaggio scritto, Colognola ai Colli, ed. Demetra, 2000, pp. 105-120 [ISBN 88-440-1804-7].

[paper in Italian]
A short survey of the origin of the Semitic alphabet and the passage from syllabic writing to... more [paper in Italian]
A short survey of the origin of the Semitic alphabet and the passage from syllabic writing to "consonantal" writing.

Дискретната смрт на методологијата

by Vojislav Sarakinski

Саракински, В. (2006): „Дискретната смрт на методологијата“, Историја 42.1-2, стр. 165-177.

[Sarakinski, V. (2006): "The Discreet Death of Methodology", Istorija 42.1-2, pp. 165-177] (in Macedonian).

Tra sillabe e alfabeti. I «meccanismi» della scrittura

by Vermondo Brugnatelli

in: F. Cordano - G. Bagnasco (a cura di), "Scritture mediterranee tra il IX e il VII secolo a.C." -Atti del seminario (Milano 23-24 febbraio 1998), Milano, ed. Et, 1999, pp. 17-26.

[Paper in Italian]
Linguistic considerations about the origin of writing systems. Despite the apparent simplicity... more [Paper in Italian]
Linguistic considerations about the origin of writing systems. Despite the apparent simplicity of alphabets, where each sign corresponds to a phoneme, syllabic systems seem more "natural". As a matter of fact, even the most ancient "alphabets" were probably conceived as "syllabic systems".

Indo-European Table 1, Part 4, "fac" to "itis"

by Mel Copeland

Comparison of Etruscan words "fac" through "itis" with other Indo-European words, such as... more Comparison of Etruscan words "fac" through "itis" with other Indo-European words, such as Sanskrit, Avestan, Persian, Polish, Belarus / Slavic languages, Greek, Armenian, Romanian, Latin, Celtic, French, Italian et.al. Table 1 demonstrates how about 2,300 Etruscan words are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin.

Cypro-Minoan Tablet RASH Atab 004 as Akkadian Text and its Role in the Decipherment of the Script

by Miguel Valério

Proceedings of "MediterráneoS. Jornadas internacionales de jóvenes investigadores en lenguas y culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo", CCSH - CSIC, Madrid, December 13th-15th 2010 (Forthcoming).

Linear A and Multidimensional Scaling

by Dimitri Nakassis

In K.P. Foster and R. Laffineur eds., Metron: Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age, Aegaeum 24 (Liège and Austin 2003) 335-342, co-authored with Kevin Pluta.

Zipf’s law and the Distribution of written signs

by Alfredo Rizza

Co-authored with Federico Giusfredi, in P. Cotticelli Kurras (ed.), Linguistica e filologia digitale: aspetti e progetti, Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso, 2011, pp. 87-100.

N.B.: ERRATA CORRIGE
table at p. 94 wrong headings of the columns: Head - Tail - Middle - Tail
CORRIGE:  Head - Middle - Middle -Tail

The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172

by Ilya Yakubovich

Co-authored with Elizabeth Rieken. Ipamati kistamati para tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite Studies presented to J. David Hawkins on the occasion of his 70th Birthday. I. Singer (ed.). Tel Aviv University: Institute of Archaeology, 2010. Pp. 199-219.

The Luwian hieroglyphic signs L 319 and L 172 are traditonally read as <ta4> and <ta5> . The combinatory... more The Luwian hieroglyphic signs L 319 and L 172 are traditonally read as <ta4> and <ta5> . The combinatory and etymological analysis of the lexemes where these signs frequently occur leads us to suggest their new transliteration values <la/i> and <lá/í> for the Iron Age. Our conclusion is compatible with the implicit suggestion of J. David Hawkins that the antecedents of these signs had the readings <ali> and <ala> in the Bronze Age.

This reading opened the possibility for interpreting the country in Early Iron Age northern Syria, previously read as Wadasatina, as *Falastina- and thus corroborated the comparison between this Syrian toponym and the Biblical ethnonym Philistines.

Novedades en epigrafía ibérica: el sistema dual suroriental

by Joan Ferrer i Jané

(e.p. 2012), Estudios de Lenguas y Epigrafía Antiguas - E.L.E.A. 12. XXVI Seminari de LLengües i d'Epigrafia Antigues (Gandia del 13 al 15 de juliol del 2010). Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana.

En este trabajo se plantea la existencia de un sistema dual en la escritura ibérica suroriental similar al existente... more En este trabajo se plantea la existencia de un sistema dual en la escritura ibérica suroriental similar al existente en la escritura ibérica nororiental, pero más extenso puesto que además de los silabogramas oclusivos velares y dentales también afecta a un signo nasal, uno sibilante y uno vibrante. En el caso de los silabogramas oclusivos la función de la marca es compatible con la diferenciación entre sordas y sonoras, de forma similar a lo que ocurre con el sistema dual de la escritura ibérica nororiental, pero con la particularidad de que en la escritura suroriental el signo marcado, corresponde a la sonora, en lugar de lo que sucede en la escritura nororiental, donde el signo marcado corresponde a la sorda. En el caso de la vibrante la distribución de las marcas queda muy clara en los textos que presentan variantes marcadas, puesto que casi siempre se marcan las vibrantes intervocálicas, donde probablemente la marca distingue la vibrante múltiple de la simple. La identificación del sistema dual de la escritura ibérica suroriental es un argumento probablemente ya decisivo, contra la hipótesis que defiende la derivación directa de la escritura ibérica nororiental de la escritura ibérica suroriental. La hipótesis más económica que explicaría la presencia de dos sistemas duales diferenciados en las dos escrituras ibéricas y la ausencia en las fases antiguas de estas dos escrituras de inscripciones no duales, sería pensar que ambas escrituras ya eran duales desde su creación y que el mecanismo de la dualidad estaba ya presente en su primer antecesor común.

Writing and Writing Materials

by Christopher Rollston

The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 5, 937-938.

Linear A du and Cypriot su: a Case of Diachronic Acrophony?

by Miguel Valério

Kadmos 47 (2008), 57-66

‘Diktaian Master’: A Minoan Predecessor of Diktaian Zeus in Linear A?

by Miguel Valério

Kadmos 46 (2007), 3-14

The article concerns the Linear A form j/a-di-ki-te-te-du-pu2-re which occurs in four stone libation tables from... more The article concerns the Linear A form j/a-di-ki-te-te-du-pu2-re which occurs in four stone libation tables from Palaikastro, in eastern Crete. The starting point of the present analysis is the element (-)du-pu2-re, which appears as a Wanderwort pertaining to the sphere of power and kingship, and is ultimately connected to the Hittite royal title tabarna-/labarna-. Hence, the whole form above should be rendered as ‘Diktaian Master (dat.)’ (vel. sim.), with clear reference to a Minoan deity predecessor of the later Diktaian Zeus.