Bonfante Giuliano, Bonfante Larissa. The Etruscan Language: An Introduction

2nd ed. — Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2002. — 254 p. — ISBN 0-7190-5539-3.This revised edition preserves the format of the original 1983 version. Changes have been introduced in the text and the sources; the section on mythological figures has been rewritten, and new sections have been added, including the glosses. Bibliography and footnotes have been updated to include major works of the succeeding two decades, and to reflect changes that have occurred in the field.
The book is, as the title indicates, an introduction. The reviews and the comments of colleagues have indicated that such a basic text was welcome, and that we had in general succeeded in our intention to present as clear and concise an account of the Etruscan language as the evidence allows. In revising the text we have taken into account reviewers’ remarks and criticisms, as well as changes and additions introduced into the two translations that have appeared, in Italian (1985) and Romanian (1995). We have also taken into account the ongoing discussion of particular problems and monuments that has taken place in the 1980s and 1990s, though it has not always been possible to do justice to the important studies that have appeared, by Agostiniani and others. Most important for recent research is Helmut Rix’s collection of Etruscan inscriptions. We have added several sources, a feature of the book our readers particularly appreciated: these indicate the inscriptions’ archaeological contexts, and make it possible to read some of them in the original script as well as in transcription. We have given translations of many of the most significant epigraphic texts, as well as shorter ones with interesting features. Though scholars are still divided about the interpretation of the Cortona Tablet, and of specific passages in the boundary stone of Perugia and the funeral inscription of Laris Pulenas, for example, we believe readers will be glad to have at least partial, tentative translations of the Etruscan texts even if many details are still doubtful.
New focuses have surfaced since the appearance of the first edition. A turning point in Etruscan studies was the Second International Congress in Florence in 1985, organized by Massimo Pallottino as President of the Istituto di Studi Etruschi ed Italici — as a young man he had attended the First, in 1927-8. The proceedings, published in 1989, remain an important base for further study. 1985, the Year of the Etruscans, was the first year of the Progetto Etrusco, with its many exhibits and catalogues. Since then, Etruscan language and epigraphic studies have registered new trends and participated in areas of current scholarly interest.