DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0071
chap, xxxoi.] RELICS OF THE PELASGIC TONGUE. 55
teaches us the early Greek alphabet, and its authentic
arrangement.6 This singular relic has now past from the
hands of General Galassi, its original possessor, into the
Gregorian Museum of the Vatican.
Another small black pot, found by Gen. Galassi in the
same excavations, has an inscription similarly scratched
around it, and then filled in with red paint, which Pro-
fessor Lepsius also determines to be in the Pelasgic, not
the Etruscan, character and language. The letters are
not separated into words, but run in a continuous line round
the pot. Lepsius thus divides them—•
Mi ni kethu ma mi mathu.habam lisiai thipdresai
Ethe eeai sie epana metethu nastav helephu,
and remarks that " he who is so inclined may easily read
them as two hexameter lines, after the manner of the old
Greek dedicatory inscriptions." Though he pronounces,
that in this inscription we possess one of the very rare
relics of the Pelasgic tongue, he regards the date of it as
uncertain, as he conceives that the population of Caere
remained Pelasgic to a late period.7
6 The letters here are of the most doubtful. I have given that assigned to
archaic forms known, some of them them by Lepsius, who has eruditely dis-
strongly resembling the Phoenician; and cussed the palfeography of this inscrip-
the presence of the iiau and the Jcoppa, tion. Notwithstanding its Greek or Pe-
and the want of the eta and omega, lasgic character, there are circumstances
establish the high antiquity of the pot. which seem to betray that it was scratched
There are some singular features to be by an Etruscan hand. For evidences of
remarked. The arrangement of the this, I refer the curious reader to the
letters in the alphabet does not corre- said article by Professor Lepsius, merely
spond with that in the primer, and in both mentioning that this inscription bears a
it dhTers from that generally received. strong affinity to an alphabet and primer
The vowels in the primer are placed in inscribed on the walls of an Etruscan
an order entirely novel, ;and which is tomb at Colle, near Volterra. (See
at variance with that of the alphabet. Chapter XXXIX.)
There is a curious instance of pentimento < See the above-cited article by Lepsius.
or alteration in the fourth line. Some of Ann. Inst. 1836, pp. 186—203, where
the characters, moreover, have newr and the inscription is given in its proper
strange forms, and their force appears characters; and his more recent remarks
teaches us the early Greek alphabet, and its authentic
arrangement.6 This singular relic has now past from the
hands of General Galassi, its original possessor, into the
Gregorian Museum of the Vatican.
Another small black pot, found by Gen. Galassi in the
same excavations, has an inscription similarly scratched
around it, and then filled in with red paint, which Pro-
fessor Lepsius also determines to be in the Pelasgic, not
the Etruscan, character and language. The letters are
not separated into words, but run in a continuous line round
the pot. Lepsius thus divides them—•
Mi ni kethu ma mi mathu.habam lisiai thipdresai
Ethe eeai sie epana metethu nastav helephu,
and remarks that " he who is so inclined may easily read
them as two hexameter lines, after the manner of the old
Greek dedicatory inscriptions." Though he pronounces,
that in this inscription we possess one of the very rare
relics of the Pelasgic tongue, he regards the date of it as
uncertain, as he conceives that the population of Caere
remained Pelasgic to a late period.7
6 The letters here are of the most doubtful. I have given that assigned to
archaic forms known, some of them them by Lepsius, who has eruditely dis-
strongly resembling the Phoenician; and cussed the palfeography of this inscrip-
the presence of the iiau and the Jcoppa, tion. Notwithstanding its Greek or Pe-
and the want of the eta and omega, lasgic character, there are circumstances
establish the high antiquity of the pot. which seem to betray that it was scratched
There are some singular features to be by an Etruscan hand. For evidences of
remarked. The arrangement of the this, I refer the curious reader to the
letters in the alphabet does not corre- said article by Professor Lepsius, merely
spond with that in the primer, and in both mentioning that this inscription bears a
it dhTers from that generally received. strong affinity to an alphabet and primer
The vowels in the primer are placed in inscribed on the walls of an Etruscan
an order entirely novel, ;and which is tomb at Colle, near Volterra. (See
at variance with that of the alphabet. Chapter XXXIX.)
There is a curious instance of pentimento < See the above-cited article by Lepsius.
or alteration in the fourth line. Some of Ann. Inst. 1836, pp. 186—203, where
the characters, moreover, have newr and the inscription is given in its proper
strange forms, and their force appears characters; and his more recent remarks