A1) – acale (a Summer month, “June”). [Drav.: ak-*ale, ak-ala].

Latin gloss: aclius, aclus [“excitement”, “stimulus”].

This month, midsummer, is indeed connected with joy and gaiety, but we do not believe this was the etymology of acale, as presumed by the glosser. The month’s Latin name, “June”, derives from a word connected with “junior” (youth), as in Skt. yuva, Lat. juvenis (“thriving”), OSlav. juno, OGerm. jugund, etc..

The present Tamil name of the month is Adi or Addi (“Sun”, “Summer” “fire”, “sunshine”). However, cf. the following Hindu names for June: RVSkt. Ashalha, Skt. Ashadha, Pali Asalha, Sing. Asala, Beng. Asharho. The Skt. A-shada means “invincible” (a name of the sun < shash- (to shine”). The month’s Etruscan name in fact derives from the Sanskrit rather than from the present Dravidian name of the month, which is in turn related to #869 adi, addi, endi (sun). However, both the Sanskrit and the Etruscan names are ultimately derived from the earlier Dravidian name of the month, which came from the below roots:

#15 ak- (flourish, sprout, thrive). This corresponds to #335 ak- (young rice (about to be transplanted)). Cf. #248 / #215 ak- (“rice”). And see below A5) acal (youth, sapling).

The suffix -ale is derived from another base related to:

#869 ad’i [with cerebral d] > *ali, which is in turn equal to #829 ella or #276 aral- or #396 ala. Cf. Pkt. alla (day), from which we are allowed to reconstruct *ale (Sun, June (midsummer). Cf. also: # 247 ala- (sunshine, splendour). The d’ is cerebral, and sounds very close to l. So, the Etruscan -ale apparently corresponds to the Dravidian ad’i [cerebral d] which designates precisely the sunny month of June in the northern hemisphere. Hence, the word acale seems to allude to the month (June) when the young rice plants (ak-) were transplanted to a sunnier location (-ala), as is usually done even today in the Indies.

Likewise, the month’s name, acale closely relates to the RVSkt. Ashalha and the Pal. Asalha, both of which also ultimately derived from the Dravida. In other words, the Sanskrit etymology (“invincible”) is probably contrived, as is so often the case with that tongue, in its relationship to Dravida. Apparently, there is also no connection of the word with the idea of “acme”, as proposed by some Etruscological authorities, nor with the idea of “excitement”, glossed by the Latin authors.

A2) – avil (year, age, season, annual). [Drav.: a-vil, *av-il]. Cf. Goth. aiws (“eternity”), Lat. aevus (time, eternity) Gk. aion (lifetime, eternity, age, time), OIr. aes (life, age), IE *aiwon (lifetime), Nostr. *haju (to live).

The Etruscan entry came from:

#5153 ya-, a- *av- (year). This base probably derived from #2433 c’a, ja (to stretch, span), itself connected with #2430 c’ay (to become old, to age, to complete a span of time). These in turn are related to #333 a, ak-, ay- (to become, happen, be) and #339 agi- (to mature).

#5437 vil- (to mature, ripen, grow ripe, grow big, person to grow up).

Hence, the idea seems to be “to grow older by XXX years”, “to become XXX years older”. However, an alternative derivation is with *av- above, plus:

#513 il, ila (to sprout, flourish, thrive, bloom). In this case the etymon would be: “flourished [or bloomed] XXX years”. The two etymologies are essentially identical, and cannot presently be discriminated on either phonetical or etymological grounds. The -v- or -vv- is the usual Dravida connective. It probably also plays the same role in Etruscan, as my evidence seems to indicate.

A2b) – avil-xva- (anniversary, yearly). [Drav.: avil-*c’iva].

?Perhaps the true etymology of the word is: “anniversary party.” For avil-, cf. entry A2) above, plus the following ones:

#2598 *c’iva (to give a party or presents to inferior on the occasion of anniversaries [as formerly/today used in India]. Cf. also the ancient custom of distributing presents to all, at Christ’s birthday, etc., a custom inherited from former Pagan [Indian?] traditions. The final -l is probably an Etruscan suffix (genit.? plur.?).

A3) – ac (make, offer, give presents). [Drav.: ak]

#333 ak- (to make, create, cause to be, be fit or agreeable). Expresses the idea of doing a worthy act dictated by custom, such as sacrificing or offering to the gods, or of creating or offering something to somebody.

A3b) – acil (to do, make work, fashion). [Drav.: *ac’-il]

#333 akc’- > *ac’- (to do, make, create, work, fashion)

#513 il- (to sprout, cause to arise, originate, create). Hence, “to cause to sprout”, “create”, “originate”.

A3c) – acil-th-ame (make, complete, conficere). [Drav.: ac’il-tt-*ame]. The Lat. conficere means “to fashion, do, create, execute, carry out, complete”.

The th is perhaps a copulative corresponding to the -tt- in Dravida. The Etruscan suffix -ame is derived from:

#162 am- >*ame (expresses the idea of completion, saturation, fullness).

Cf. also: #164 am- and #2342 c’am- > *ham > *am, etc.

A4) – acalia (refinement, sharpness). [Drav.: *ak-ala]

Cf. Latin acumen (point, sting), aculeus (thorn), acuo (I sharpen); Gk. akme (tip), ak-ros (pointed); IE *ak- (to pierce, to be sharp); Lat. acus (needle); AS ecg- (edge), etc... Of obscure origin, the radix ak- may have entered Sanskrit from the Dravida, as suggested by BE. But the path to IE could hardly have been IE itself, and the suffix was far more probably intermediated by the Etruscans themselves.

#341 ac’- (finesses, acuteness). Cf. # 2277 c’ak- (to sharpen); 2278 c’ak- (to prick) > *hak- > ak-. Cf. also # 2748 c’ek- > ek-, etc.

#293 al-, ala- (sharpness). Cf. Skt. s’akala (piece, fragment, splinter; of doubtful derivation, perhaps Dravida). In Dravida, the roots are often reduplicated or restated by different bases as here (ak-ala), in order to express quality, modification, persistency, or the superlative. Or perhaps with #291 al (strength, ability, possession of power), in order to specify the type of sharpness, for instance, a scorpion’s sting, thorn, etc..

A5) – acale-, acaletur (boy, youth, sapling). [Drav.: ak-al, ak-ale-tur]

Cf. A1) acale above.

The word derived from <#335 ak- (young sprout, sapling) + #399 al (man, person). Hence ak-al (young man, boy). In English, as in many tongues, the word “sapling” means both a youth and a young plant; cf. Gk. neophytos, etc.. So, also in Dravida as well, e. g.: # 2149 kor- (sapling, boy, infant).

The suffix -tur probably from: #3308 tun’- > *tur- = #3563 tor (brother, friend, companion). Its agglutination would demand an euphonic e. And since o does not exist in Etruscan, Drav. tor- > Etr. tur- is a necessary evolution. The n’ is cerebral, and easily yields cerebral r’ which in turn evolves to > normal r in passing to Etruscan.

A6) – acerra (incense box). [Drav.: a-*c’erra]

There are three viable options, which are hard to discriminate as all three are good enough, and were probably interchangeably used. The first one is:

# 2787 c’ella (metallic box for keeping betel leaves and arecca nut). By rhotacism? The a- could perhaps be the determinative [“this incense box” ?]. Or maybe from < ac’ (obligation), incense being frequently used in sacrifices (See A3) above). The second alternative is:

# 9 *ac’, ak-, ag- a- (small earthen pot, hollow earthen lamp, bucket, pot, vessel, container)

#811 era-, eri, *erra (to burn, blaze, anything that burns or is consumed by fire [inclusive substances burned as incense]).

In both Latin (incensus < incendere = “to inflame”) and in Greek (thus), the word “incense” means both “fiery sacrifice” and “burning”. So, the etymology from “burning” has solid precedents. In Dravida, “incense” (or frankincense or olibane) has two basic etymologies: “gum” (c’eru) and “fiery”, “combustible” (udu). The third option, which we deem preferential, derives from the Dravidian etymology of “gum”, “resin”, which has bases such as:

#2418 sari, c’ari, *c’erra (gum, resin). BE does not list the etymology of “incense” nor the reconstructed form we added. But other Dravidian lexicons do. In fact, they also list forms such as c’eru, jer, jiddu, etc., which are closer to the Etruscan one. All these in turn derive from #1979/1980 ker, c’er, c’era (to join together, unite, attach) which suggest the reconstructed one and connect with the idea of “gum”, “glue” from which the one of “resin” derives.

Incense is a resin or gum quite similar to gum arabic and other such resinous substances, all of which burn well when dry, and are very sticky when wet, affording a glue or gum. So, the true etymology of the Etruscanword seems indeed to be derived from this base, with the addition of the base for “container” given above.

A7) – acila (handmaiden, housemaid). [Drav.: *ac’-ila]. Cf. L. ancilla (maidservant, housemaid)

#7 ak-, ag- > *ac- (house, home) + #513 illa (servant, maid) Connected with #494 illa- (house, wife, family) (Cf. #7 akatton (house servant) < ak- (house) + *atton < atiyon (servant)).

A8) – acline (sharp, pointed). [Drav.: *ak-al-ine]

Cf. A4) acalia = (sharpness) (see above). The radix acl < *acal- (the loss of vowels is frequent in late Etruscan). Plus # 457 in’e (join, unite, likeness). Expresses the quality: “embodying sharpness”. Or with #456 in’a-, *in’e (cluster, bunch), if meaning “bramble”. We note that it is a rule we observed that Drav. ai > Etr. e, one which should be expected, as this tongue used no diphthongs, but exceptionally.

A9) – *ak-, *ag, ac- (to conduct, lead, drive, bear (children)). [Drav.: *ak-, *ag-, ac’-]

#347 ac’- > *ak- *ag-, (to drive, drive away, bear children) (Implies the idea of “to move”, “stir”, “cause to move”, “activate”).

#37 ac’-, ayak- >*ak- (to move, shake, stir, drive, impel, carry)

A10) – acnasvers (funeral?, cremation). [Drav.: akk-nasi-verc’]. Cf. entry on Etruscan verse (fire), further below.

#63 *akk- (bury, hide, cause to disappear, dispose, suppress). Cf. #2426 c’ak-, hak, *ak- (dead, death, corpse) and #2276 c’akk- (refuse, chaff, residue)

#3575 nac’i, nasi, nas- (to be dead, decayed, wasted away, withered).

#5517 *verc’- (ve-, vet-, vecc’-, ven’, veh-, vest- etc. are attested forms, mostly with cerebrals which closely resemble Italian r). See also #5496 ven’k-, werc’- ved’c’-, vehc’ (to be bright, shiny, pure, lighted, kindled, enkindled, to burn, flame, blaze). Both forms are closely related.

Hence: akk-nasi-verch (to dispose of the dead by means of fire, to cremate).

A11) – acnina (possession, hostility, threat). [Drav.: akk-nina]. Cf. acns (terror, veneration?).

Cf. #25 ak- = # 12 agi (fear, dread, terror, awe, terrible apparition, mental confusion, anguish) + # 3668 nina (bond, tie, fasten, link). Cf. BE entries #457 in’an (to join, unite, connect) and #531 in’am (associated with, connected to, partner, pal)
 
 

Hence, akk-nina or hak-nina (possessed, united to a ghost or apparition (and hence inspiring fear)). The word probably alludes to the sacred terror inspired by sacred events such as theophanies and objects or persons possessed by gods or spirits or imbued with mana (the mysterium tremendum et fascinans of the ancients).

A12) – acri, acsi, ahsi, ac- ax-, *ak- (acrid sharp, pungent). [Drav.: ac’ir, *ac’i]. (Cf. entry number A4) above)

# 341 ac’- (sharp, acute). The base has forms such as: asi, ac’ai, ai, ayir which suggest *ac’ir, *ac’i.

A13) – acun- (greetings, health). [Drav.: *ak-un, ac’-un]. (Cf. axu, axunie, acesia (healer, physician)

#404 aj-, as-, arc’- > *ac’-, *ak- (to heal, calm, cool, appease, comfort, allay, pacify, alleviate, to be well in health, cured of wounds)

#600 un (to prepare a food, potion, infusion, drink). Hence, *ac’-un or *ak-un (preparer of simples, healer, physician). Hence, “preparer of simples”, that is, a physician or shaman or healer. Cf. German arz- (medicine, physician).

A14) – afle, afr, apher, afu, hapu, hafu, *ap, *aph, *hap, *haph (luck, fortune, propitious, chancy). [Drav.: *aph-*er]. The idea is apparently “fortunate event”, “lucky find”, “auspicious omen”.

#232 arb, abb- (extreme happiness at a lucky find)

#333 a- ap-, app- > *aph (to come into existence, be fit, pleasurable, be agreeable, increase, prosper, cause contentment). Note that pp > ph is a frequent happening in Etruscan, though rare in Dravida. The transition seems to be regular. The -pp- is a connective in Dravida (along with others). It may be so in some Etruscan derivatives of this entry: a-jp-ire, a-p-irthe, a-p-ane. But this is just a hypothesis to be validated by further research. If so, the suffixes may correspond to: # 120 an’e- > *are (come near, unite, join, mix, impregnate);# 507 irai > ire > *ir (idem); #474 iratti > *irathe > irthe (idem).

In other words, the suffixes form the abstract substantive, expressing the idea of “impregnated with or full of the quality expressed by the base, that is, “luck” in the present case.

A15) – afu (striker, collector, hitter).[Drav.: aphu, appu]

#157 appu > *apphu, (to strike, stroke, slap, hit)

? “collect” < #158 appu (grab, seize eagerly, clasp, embrace)? Apparently pp> ph or f is the rule when passing from Dravida into Etruscan, as innumerous instances demonstrate.

A16) – ain, ein (property). [Drav.: *yan-, *ain-]

# 5157 *yal’, an >*yan- *ain (have, possess, rule, keep, master, own, dominate).

Metathesis? More likely, the phonetic evolution followed a far easier route within India itself. According to BE the primordial base (more fully *yanti) is connected with # 356 anti, a class of Shivaite holy men highly revered in India. This base is in turn related to:

# 196 ayn, aiyan (master, king, lord, brahman, superior, supreme) and # 469 iyan- (to rule, leadership, god, drive cattle) and # 920 ayyan (alms, beggar’s bowl). To own property is “to master”, “lord”, “rule”. To observe how much words can change even within the same family, cf. Lat. rex, Skt. raja; OIr. ri; Fr. roi; Ita. re; Spa. rey; Port. rei; Ger. reich; etc.. These changes are far larger than that between ain and yan- or even than that be among the Dravidian tongues themselves: al, alv-, ant-, yal, ali, aln, alu- at-, etc.. Nasalizations, rhotacism and lambdacism are also frequent, witness Engl. “year” and Lat. annus, etc..

A17) – ais, eis (god, divinity). [Drav.: *ays-].

Plural: aisar, aesar eisar, eiser, ais-er, ais-ar. Variants: aisuna (Rex Sacrorum), eisnev (priestly title), aineri (“to be worshipped”), aisna (“divine”). Cf. N. Picene aiten; Umbrian esono- Marrucian aisos, etc. all meaning ‘god” or related activities such as “worship” or “sacrifice.

Benveniste proposed a connection with Celt. and Goth.*isarn (iron) as the “Celestial metal”. Cf. A16) above and A20) below. If he is right, the word is also related to Skt. ayas (iron, metal), which is even closer to the Etruscan form, and also has the same meaning. But then we also have a connection with Lat. aes, Teut. ais, Them. aisa, Germ. eisen, etc., which Monier and other authorities connect with the Skt. name of the dark metal.

Though the two bases may be related, this only shows a connection with the idea of “Celestial”, rather than indeed a derivation. A far more direct connection is afforded by the Skt. ais or ai (Shiva). Shiva is the Supreme God for most Indians [Shivaites], and his cult has been traced to the Indus Valley Civilization. This name in turn evokes the one of the aesir or ases, the creator gods of the ancient Germans.

In our opinion, the idea of “Lofty One” or “Celestial” is the true etymology, or at least an essential part of it. This is the same meaning as that of #110 an, the ancient name of Shiva in Dravida. Hence, it is for that etymology that we must seek. This etymology is likewise attested by # 5396, which means both “god” and “heaven”, “sky”, “lofty”. Another possibly connected base is given by # 5157 an, al, yal (God, Supreme Ruler, lord, possessor, master, gods in general, to rule, govern, master, manage).

This base in turn is directly related with: #196 ai, aiy-, ayya, aya, ayyak-, *aycc’ > ayis > *ais, which, besides the etyma given in A16) above, embodies the main etymology of “father”, “lofty one”. Hence, it is hard to doubt that this Dravidian base was truly the origin of the identical Skt. one given above, ai or ais, which is unexplained in that language. In other words, an or *ais (“Father”, “Celestial Father”, “Lofty One”, “Lofty Father”), are both epithets of Shiva, which passed one form into Sanskrit, the other into Etruscan. The word also embodies the etyma of brahman (“priest”), “noble”, “saint”, “king”, etc..

BE also suggests a possible connection of the above base with #364 aî, ay, acc’i, *aycc’i (“mother”, “Great Mother”, Lakshmi). This connection is most reasonable. Laksmhi, called “Mother” in Dravida (Acc’i), is the Great Mother the Goddess. The Celts too worshipped a Great Mother (Danu), and so did the Etruscans (Minerva). The Great Mother was often, by several peoples, called “Queen” (Basilea), Medusa (for Medona = “Queen”), etc..

In fact, these two bases seem to be the masculine and feminine forms of a single root, *ayc’a (god, king, father) or *ayc’i (goddess, queen, mother). No matter what, the root *ayc’- (or *aic’- or *ais-) seems a natural archetype of the extant bases. And this radix sounds almost exactly the same as does the Etruscan ais-.

But we tend, despite these compelling derivations, to believe that the original radix was indeed just ai or ayi, the forms which are best attested in Dravida. The -cc’- may just be the usual Dravidian connective, which later got permanently attached to the root, as is often the case in that tongue.

It thus passed into Etruscan, and has so far been poorly separated by the researchers, who probably did not yet realize its nature as a possible inner connective of uniting roots. Hence, also, derive the forms ain, ein, aineri, aiten, without the sibilant, which are attested by the examples given above. But this is just a hypothesis, which must be validated by further research. The forms with the connective are also attested in Dravida, as we showed in the instances we just adduced.

A18) – aius, aiuzie (response, respond?). [Drav.: *ai-us, a-us]

Cf. entry H20) hav-, *hauZ, further below.

In Dravida, the word would be formed as “talk-listen”, precisely the etymology of “respond” (“talk after listening”). Accordingly, we have the following options, all highly adequate, in Dravida:

#344 as, ah, *ay, *ai (to reply, answer, respond, to speak up)

#1032 ox, og, *us (to listen silently, to hear)

#821 a-, e-, ed (“the story is finished”)

#937 us-, usir, osay, oc’ (speech, speak, tell)

#631 us-, usu (talk, chat, speak, conversation).

The word probably evolved as the junction of two of the above roots: ai + us, meaning something as “to reply to talk, during conversation”. The closely similar entry, H20) hav-, *hauZ (to hear, perceive) commented further below is just a slightly different spelling and etymology of this same base, and is one of the two basic forms which passed into Latin, aus- and aud-, as in auscultare and audire.

A19) – aixe (agitated, waving). [Drav.: *aic’i]

#347 ac’-, arc’- *oric’i (to agitate, wave)

Unable to adequately pronounce the cerebral r’, the Etruscans would naturally tend to lose it. So, the probable evolution: Drav. ar’ic’i > *aic’i > Etruscan aixe.

A20) – aiza (to worship). [Drav.: ayc’-a] Cf. A17 aisar (god, divine, worship?)

This word, meaning ‘to render cult to the gods” is connected, both in Etruscan and in Dravida, with the idea of “sacred”, “god” and, hence, with their cult (“worship”). The suffix -a probably means a verbification of the Etruscan root ais- (“god”). Quite probably this suffix ultimately derives from:

#333 a (to be, be fit, be agreeable). If so: < ayc’- a (“to be agreeable to the gods”, that is “to worship”)

A21) – aka (voice, speaker). [Drav.: aka]

#10 aka (to utter a sound, sing, roar, bellow)

A22) – al-, ala, ale (to give, donate, offer [obligation]). [Drav.: halla, hal-, *ala, *al- *ale]

#2781 c’ala, halla, hal-, *ala,*al- *ale (to pay a debt, pay a tribute (or tithe), to give, pay (debt or vow), bestow, donate, fulfill). This is a very important Dravidian base, with many phonetic and etymological variants, just as is the also case in Etruscan.

A23) – al, ala, ale, althi (genit., dat., loc., dem., poss., etc. suffix). [Drav.: al, a-, aval, alu, ali, alt-, etc.; idem, idem]

#1 al, a-, aval, alu, ali, alt-, etc. (dem., loc. base).

A24) – ala, alath-, alk- ([to be] vital, lively, moving boldly) [Drav.: ala-, alath-, alac’-]. Derived from < *al- (motion). (Expresses the idea of “to impel” or “to be vigorous”). See Latin alacer (vigorous, vivacious, lively, moving with alacrity)

#240 al-, ala-, alad, *alat-, alakk-, alac’- (to cause to move, impel, shake, cause to wander, agitate)

#291 al, ala (strength, vigor, power, robustness, energy, stamina)

A25) – alapu (“to slap”) [Drav.: al-appu]

#290 al (handful, handout). Cf. # 310 ar (palm of hand), with cerebral r’ > normal l.

#157 appu (to beat or slap strongly with the hand)

References

The Etruscan Glossaries we used are those of Paolo Agostini, of Patrick C. Ryan, of Cyril Babaev and, above all, the superb compilation by Rick McCallister and Silvia McCallister-Castillo, all of which are referenced here, and are in the Internet, being hence easy to reach at ease. Most of the entries there are, we believe, due to Adolfo Zavaroni, to whom most Etruscan etyma are owed. We also used many other books and documents, practically all of which are listed in the references given in the works just mentioned. To them all go our deepest recognition and warmest thanks.

Unfortunately, we had to rearrange and regroup the individual entries, so that it became impossible, for the moment, to give credit for each individual entry to its respective author. Anyway, here is our specific recognition that all the etymologies both in Etruscan and in Dravida as well as all the entries are theirs, none but one or two being our own.

All we did was discover the connection between the two families of languages, and then collate the individual roots and their etymons, derive the respective radices and verify their exact correspondence in essentially all cases, a as shown below. Of course, this entails an enormous amount of work, which took us several years to complete. Besides, the work requires a great familiarity with the inner workings of polysemic languages such as Dravida and Sanskrit, a competence not usually wielded by Western scholars, particularly in their more esoteric contents such as the mythological and the religious ones.

Moreover, we also supplied or extended some of the correlations with other bases, above all of the IE languages, though most of them had already been pointed earlier by the Etruscologists or, in the Dravidian side, by BE and their team of Indian specialists. This work is published free of cost to the reader in the Internet, and hosted in the site of Mr. Cyril Babaev under similar conditions. It has, above all, a scientific and tutorial scope and is, to the best of our knowledge, original and non-commercial in purpose.

But we want to give credit where credit is due, and plan to do it more adequately in the final version of the present work. Hence, we ask all authors and specialists to help us out to proper accredit, cite or reference previous work either of themselves or of third parties. This is an ongoing project that has just started, so that this published version will be updated and pursued on a daily basis. We also ask of our readers, both specialists and otherwise, to send us suggestions, point out documents and, above all, errors of substance, improvements corrections and so on. Any help is most welcome.

Only this way can this task be completed or, more realistically carried out beyond the turning point. We will, when the work nears completion, publish a list of references with the respective credits, hopefully embodying the perfectments sent us by our readers and eventual collaborators, to whom full and individual credit will be given from the start. However, in order to secure our own priority in this matter, we are depositing this initial version in the official institutions of several countries, in the terms of the International Copyright Agreement, in order to insure our priority in the matter.

Beng.: Bengali
dat.: dative;
dem.: demonstrative;
Drav.: Dravida (Dravidian);
Etr.: Etruscan;
Fr.: French;
genit.: genitive;
Ger.: German;
Gk.: Greek;
Goth.: Gothic;
IE: Indo-European;
Ita.: Italian;
L or Lat.: Latin;
loc. or locat..: locative;
Nostr.: Nostratic;
OGerm.: Old High German;
OIr.: Old Irish;
OSlav.: Old Church Slavonic;
Pal.: Pali;
Port.: Portuguese;
poss. or posses.: possessive;
RVSkt.: Rig Vedic Sanskrit;
Sing. : Singalese;
Spa.: Spanish;
Skt.: Sanskrit;
Sing.: Singhalese;
Tam.: Tamil;