Five Texts in Etruscan (American University Studies Series XIX, General Literature) [Hardcover]

Ilse Nesbitt (ed. Jones (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 146 pages
• Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820440256
• ISBN-13: 978-0820440255
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,926,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Linguistic Fantasy, January 26, 2009

By 

Ian M. Ragsdale "archaeologist / historical l... (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Texts in Etruscan (American University Studies Series XIX, General Literature) (Hardcover)

This book is a prime example of why mass comparison is so alluring, yet has the potential to be devastatingly incorrect. Jones' introdution proposes that Etruscan is the lost Germanic language of the Jutes and throughout the book she throws any Germanic word or root - and any Proto-Indo-European root, for that matter - that fits the Etruscan words in her texts. However, given the persistence of Germanic vocabulary over time - any English speaker can look at Gothic and translate a decent number of words - it is odd that this "Germanic" language would be so perplexingly different from other languages in the family. Alas, this is unexplained.

The source texts themselves are treated with a similarly light hand. The "Five Texts" in question are given no provenience in time or place, and the author takes only a single paragraph to describe all five of these texts. No name designations, no remarks about the library whence they came, no photographs of the torn pages or iron tablets or etched fairy wings. Perhaps were I a full-time Etruscan scholar, I would know their origins, but it is possible that they are no more than an Ossianic fantasy, however without the acclaim. Academics and all careful readers will see through the veneer before finished reading the back cover.