Tabula Cortonensis

The Tabula Cortonensis (sometimes also Cortona Tablet) is a 2200-year-old, bronze artifact of Etruscan origin, discovered in Cortona, Italy. It may record for posterity the details of an ancient real estate transaction which took place in the ancient Tuscan city of Cortona, known to the Etruscans as Curtun. Its 40-line, two-sided inscription is the third longest inscription found in the Etruscan language, and the longest discovered in the 20th century.^{[citation needed]} While the discovery was made in October 1992, its contents weren't published until seven years later in 1999. This was because the tabula has been brought to the police by one who, allegedly, found it in a construction site; it was broken in eight fragments, one of which, the right bottom one, was missing. The investigators thought that, if the existence of the table were not disclosed, it would have been easier to ascertain where the tablet had been really dug (the construction site didn't hold any other Etruscan remains) and what happened to the missing fragment.

Interpretation

The tablet is thought by some scholars like Larissa Bonfante and Nancy De Grummond to be a notarized record of the division of an inheritance or sale of real estate consisting of a vineyard (cf. lines 1 and 2: vinac), cultivated land (line 2: restm-c), and an estate located in the territory of Lake Trasimeno (cf. lines 35 and 36: celti nɜitisś tarsminaśś). The lake lies east of Cortona in modern day Western Umbria. The word spantu,a variation of spante, is an Umbrian word used by the Etruscans and means plate. 'pav' is also a word found inscribed on a kylix or drinking cup,also laris,larisal,cloil,zilci,atina,larza,celt,tiu are all found inscribed on plates, drinking cups or wine jugs or jars. ^[1] In the Liber Linteus we have the words"pe va'ch'. vinum . trau". Vinum is shared with the Latins and means wine.In the Tabulae Cortonensis we have " vinac" for Latin vinaceus which means-pertaing to wine and "trau lac" appears in line six.

The tablet seems more to be an inventory for vessels. Besides the wine, on the front and the back, the words relate to salt and the salt cellar. The word salini in latin means salt cellar. The word sal and salis mean salt in latin so salini, larisal, lari salis-a, sal-t are derived from that.

Physical description

The tablet measures 50 centimetres (20 in) by 30 centimetres (12 in), and is about between 2 millimetres (0.079 in) and 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick.^{[citation needed]}

When discovered, the tablet had been broken into eight pieces, of which only seven have been found (Larissa & Giuliano Bonfante. The Etruscan Language, p. 179. 2002). The missing piece is believed by Etruscanists to contain only names and not details of the estate. The word vinac is found in the inscription above the men carrying the wine jars in the 'Tomb of the Inscriptions' at Tarquinnia and reads "ara'th' vinac na"

Text

The text contains thirty-four known Etruscan words and an equal number of previously unattested Etruscan words. Moreover, a new alphabetic sign Ǝ (a reversed epsilon) is present on the tablet. This implies that, at least in the Etruscan dialect spoken in Cortona where this letter exclusively appears, the letter Ǝ marks a different sound from that of the letter E (Larissa & Giuliano Bonfante. The Etruscan Language, pp. 178–9. 2002).

^[2]

Contents

The following transcribes the special reversed epsilon as ɜ:

On the front

01: et . pɜtruiś . scɜvɜś . ɜliuntś .

02: vinac(Latin.vinaceus.pertaining to wine) . restmc . cenu . tɜnθur . śar .

03: cusuθuraś . larisalisvla . pesc . spante . tɜnθur .

04: sa . śran . ś arc . clθii . tɜrsna . θui . spanθi . ml

05: ɜśieθic . raśnas IIIIC inni . pes . pɜtruś . pav

06: ac . trau lac . tiur . tɜn[θ]urs . tɜnθa[ś] . za cina tpr

07: iniserac . zal[six] \\ cś . ɜsiś vere cusuθurśum .

08: pes . pɜtruśta . scɜv[aś] \\ nu θana tur . lart pɜtr

09: uni(Juno) . arnt . pini . lart . [v]ipi . lusce(Latin.lusca.one eyed) . laris (inscribed on a plate). salini(Latin.salini.salt cellar) .

10: vɜtnal . lart . vɜlara . larθal'isa . lart vɜlara.

11: aulesa . vɜl . pumpu[pomponius] . pruciu . aule cɜl atina . sɜ

12: tmnal . arnza . fɜlśni . vɜlθinal . vɜl . luisna

13: lusce(Latin.lusca.one eyed) . vɜl uslna . nufresa . laru . slanzu . larz

14: a lartle vɜlaveś arnt . pɜtru . ra ufe(Latin.rufus)) \\ ɜpru

15: ś . ame . vɜlχe.[Latin.Pomus.fruit].cusu larisal . cleniarc . laris

16: cusu . larisalisa larizac clan . larisal . pɜtr

17: uni[Juno] . scɜ[va]ś arntlei . pɜtruś . puia

18: cen . zic[to write.latin.scrib] . ziχuχe[has written] . spa-rzɜ-śtiś śazleiś in

19: θuχti . cusuθuraś . suθiu . ame . tal suθive

20: naś . rat-m . θuχt . ceśu . tlt eltɜi . sianś .

21: spa-rzɜ-te . θui . salt zic(to write,Latin.scrib) . fratuce . cusuθuraś .

22: larisalisvla . pɜtruśc . scɜvaś . pesś . tarχ ian

23: eś \\ cnl(of numbers) . nuθe . mal ec . lart . cucrina . lausisa .

24: zilaθ meχ l.raśnal .[la]ris . cɜl atina lau

25: sa clanc . arnt luscni [a]rnθal . clanc . larz

26: a . lart . turmna . salin[ial(Latin.salini.salt cellar) . larθ cɜl atina . a

27: pnal . cleniarc . vɜlχe[ś][...][papal]

28: śerc . vɜlχe . cusu . aule[sa][...]

29: aninalc . laris . fuln[folnius][clenia]

30: rc . lart . pɜtce . uslnal[...][cucrina]

31: inaθur . tɜcsinal . vɜl[...]

32: uś . larisc . cus . uslna[l][...]

On the back

33: aule.salini.(Latin.salini.salt cellar).cusual

34: zilci inscribed on an Attic oenochoe . larθal . cusuś . titinal

35: larisalc . salini'ś(Latin.salt cellar) . aulesla . celti nɜitis

36: ś . tar sminaśś . spa rz a in θuχt ceśa .

37: rat-m . suθiu . suθiusa . vɜlχeś inscribed on an urn. cusuśa

38: ulesla . vɜlθuruś . t[.]lniś . vɜlθurusla .

39: larθalc . cɜl atina ś . vetnal . larisalc .

40: cɜl atina ś . pitlnal

Sources

• Luciano Agostiniani, Francesco Nicosia, 'Tabula Cortonensis'. Studia Archaelogica 105. Roma: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 2000.
• Scarano Ussani & Torelli, La Tabula Cortonensis. Un documento giuridico, storico e sociale (Napoli, 2003).
• de Simone, Carlo (2007) 'Alcuni termini chiave della Tabula Cortonensis', Rasenna: Journal of the Center for Etruscan Studies, Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 1.
• Wylin, Koen (2006) 'Pyrgi B et la rédaction de la Tabula Cortonensis'. Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 84/1,pp. 35-44.

Bibliography

(Derived directly from Grenoble website.^[3])

Atti dell'Incontro di Studio, 22 giugno 2001, CNR (Roma, 2002):

• Benelli, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, pp. 93–100.
• Maggiani, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 11–15, 65-75.
• Nicosia, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 17–25.
• Bruschetti, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 27–38.
• Peruzzi, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 39–42.
• Roncalli, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 43–52.
• Pandolfini–Angeletti, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 53–64.
• Rix, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 77–86.
• Facchetti, in Atti dell'Incontro di studio, op. cit., pp. 87–99.

Others:

• De Simone, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 3, 1998, pp. 1–122.
• De Simone, Ocnus, 9-10, 2001–02, pp. 69–114.
• De Simone, Incontri Linguistici, 25, 2002, pp. 77–85.
• Eichner, in The Complete Linguist : A collection of papers in honor of Alexis Manaster Ramer (München, 2001), pp. 141–152.
• Facchetti, Frammenti di diritto privato etrusco, (Firenze, 2000).
• Facchetti, Appunti di morfologia etrusca. Con un’appendice sulla questione delle affinità genetiche dell’etrusco (Firenze, 2002).
• Facchetti, Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 88, 2003, pp. 203–219.
• Facchetti, Lingua Posnaniensis (Poznan, 2005), pp. 59–63.
• Maggiani, Rivista di Archeologia, 25, 2001, pp. 94–114.
• Rix, Incontri linguistici, 23, 2000, pp. 11–31.
• Scarano Ussani & Torelli, La Tabula Cortonensis. Un documento giuridico, storico e sociale (Napoli, 2003).
• Wylin, Studi Etruschi, 65-68, 2002, pp. 215–223.
• Wylin, Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 87, 2002, pp. 88–108.
• Wylin, Etruscan News, 3, 2003, pp. 11–12.
• Zamboni, Ath, 90, 2002, pp. 431–441.

Notes and references

1. ^ http://etp.classics.umass.edu/cgi-bin/query.pl
2. ^ William Whitakers-latin words.
3. ^ Source with transcription and Bibliography

See also

• Cortona - The modern city in which this artifact was found.
• Liber Linteus - An Etruscan inscription.
• Cippus perusinus - An Etruscan inscription.
• Pyrgi Tablets - An Etruscan inscription.
• Etruscan civilization
• Etruria

External links

• Curtun (Modern Cortona) Information about the ancient city of Curtun as well as details about this artifact found there
• Tavola di Cortona e Lamine di Pyrgi - traduzione (italiano)
• The Roman Law Library (Cf. Lingua Etrusca) by Professor Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev
• Images of the Tabula
• Images and textual analysis