“Etruscan: Ancient language in an area of Italy to the north of Rome, attested by inscriptions from around 700 BC, until extinguished by Latin. Not genetically related to any language any better documented; hence only partly and insecurely understood. Written in an alphabet derived from that of Greek and itself one source of the Roman.”
Excerpted from: Matthews, P.H., ed. The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Mark's Text Terminal 