All sorts of dialects have been examined
with a view to discover affinity with the Etruscan, sometimes by simple
interrogation, sometimes by torture, but all without exception in
vain. The geographical position of the Basque nation would naturally
suggest it for comparison; but even in the Basque language no
analogies of a decisive character have been brought forward. As
little do the scanty remains of the Ligurian language which have
reached our time, consisting of local and personal names, indicate
any connection with the Tuscans. Even the extinct nation which has
constructed those enigmatical sepulchral towers, called -Nuraghe-,
by thousands in the islands of the Tuscan Sea, especially in
Sardinia, cannot well be connected with the Etruscans, for not a
single structure of the same character is to be met with in Etruscan
territory. The utmost we can say is that several traces, that seem
tolerably trustworthy, point to the conclusion that the Etruscans
may be on the whole numbered with the Indo-Germans. Thus -mi- in the
beginning of many of the older inscriptions is certainly --emi--,
--eimi--, and the genitive form of consonantal stems veneruf -rafuvuf-is
exactly reproduced in old Latin, corresponding to the old Sanscrit
termination -as. In like manner the name of the Etruscan Zeus,
-Tina-or -Tinia-, is probably connected with the Sanscrit -dina-,
meaning day, as --Zan-- is connected with the synonymous -diwan-.
But, even granting this, the Etruscan people appears withal scarcely
less isolated "The Etruscans," Dionysius said long ago, "are like
no other nation in language and manners;" and we have nothing to
add to his statement.

Home of the Etruscans

It is equally difficult to determine from what quarter the Etruscans
migrated into Italy; nor is much lost through our inability to
answer the question, for this migration belonged at any rate to
the infancy of the people, and their historical development began
and ended in Italy. No question, however, has been handled with
greater zeal than this, in accordance with the principle which induces
antiquaries especially to inquire into what is neither capable of
being known nor worth the knowing--to inquire "who was Hecuba's
mother," as the emperor Tiberius professed to do. As the oldest
and most important Etruscan towns lay far inland--in fact we find
not a single Etruscan town of any note immediately on the coast
except Populonia, which we know for certai