Copyright © 1981-2006 Mel Copeland. All rights reserved.
Etruscan_Phrases
Translation of the Mirror from Tuscania
A Lesson on Divination
by Mel Copeland
(from a work published in 1981)
About the Translation
Update 5.08.06 Further scrutiny of the word ARCHVN (DL-5 below) indicates that it is actually TARCHVNVS. Just above the head of the Augur the name is repeated in the phrase: PAFA TARCHIE.
Translation:
DL1 the great thunder (Veltune), they divine/fortell to you prince Tarchonos of war
DL9 Fear Tarquins!
DL-1 FELTVNE ACERN FI AFLI TARKVNVS DAOLO [Translation: the god Veltone (possibly meaning Fel, great, an appelation preceeding names of kings and queens, you thunder (L. tono-are-ui-itum); they augur/divine/fortell (L. auguro-are) to you (It., vi) of the lord (L. aula-ae) for Tarquin (Tarchonos) of war (L. bellum -i ; old form, duellum, duellicus, duellator) ; Note: the last characters suggest RARLR, possibly, a name or rare (L. rarus-a-um) of the god (L. Lar, Laris). It is not likely that the characters are RAOLO, since "V" is consistently rendered as the omega "O." AFLI agrees in number with ARKVNVS, but AFL TARKVNVS seems to be indicated. AFLI is used in another text. See Table 1.
DL-9 He quakes at/ quakes in fear of (L. paveo, pavere, pavi, intransit) Tarkie the Tarquins (L. Tarquinii-orum) an Etruscan line which founded the city of Rome. Because "ie" is a common suffix for proper names, the Tarquins is probably indicated.]
Comment: Veltune is described by Massimo Pallottino, "The Etruscans," Indian University Press, 1975, p. 141 : "...Veltha or Veltune or Voltumna (Vertumnus in its Latin form) – a god with strange and contrasting attributes, represented at times as a maleficient monster, at others as a vegetation god of uncertain sex, or even as a mighty war god. By a typical process, this local earth spirit, worshipped in a small part of southern Etruria, is individualized and transformed into a superior divinity, the national god par excellence, the deus Etruriae princpets (Varro, De ling. lat., V, 46). In the same way, the protecting spirits of war, represented as armed heroes, tend to coalesce into a single deity, the Italic Etrusco-Roman Mars, on the model of the Greek god Ares."
That Veltune is shown with a spear indicates a mood of war. DL-7, RARLR could be DAOLO, duellum, war, but the patterns in the Etruscan Vocabulary provide a greater liklihood that RARLR is the proper rendering of the group, of unknown meaning.
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