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Examples

  • I think it's also a reasonable possibility that the verb is the source of the Etruscan goddess name Vanth which would then be a descriptive participle of the deity's function or qualities.

    Archive 2007-09-01 2007

  • Somewhere I read that some Etruscan deities, like Vanth, are genderless or switching gender?

    What are Etruscans doing with those eggs? 2008

  • So the seated female sitting in the tier of the underworld can only sensibly represent Vanth.

    Is the falcon or hawk a symbol of Vanth? 2008

  • So the seated female sitting in the tier of the underworld can only sensibly represent Vanth.

    Archive 2008-06-01 2008

  • Paleoglot: Is the falcon or hawk a symbol of Vanth?

    Is the falcon or hawk a symbol of Vanth? 2008

  • Ever since I've cracked the significance of the epithet of the goddess Vanth, Sal Aracuneta, I've been trying to do some research on the etymology of the underlying word *araχ.

    Archive 2008-06-01 2008

  • Ever since I've cracked the significance of the epithet of the goddess Vanth, Sal Aracuneta, I've been trying to do some research on the etymology of the underlying word *araχ.

    Etruscan araχ: a falcon, a hawk, both? 2008

  • The varying numbers of gods such as those on a relief of a sarcophagus for Laris Pulena showing "multiple" Vanths and Charuns pic here is nothing more than artistic license showing a reduplication of underlyingly one Vanth and one Charun together in a single frame for the sake of symmetry.

    Archive 2007-02-01 2007

  • If we should take it literally, we are at a loss to convincingly explain why both Charun and Vanth appear elsewhere in the singular or why Charun is sometimes represented in a number greater than two.

    Archive 2007-02-01 2007

  • He was the god pertaining to death whose job it was to take the recently deceased on a journey to the underworld to meet the goddess Vanth.

    Archive 2007-02-01 2007

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  • Vanth - Companion moon of Orcus ( the anti-Pluto celestial body) discovered in 2005.

    2008-06-18 :From Paleoglot

    Etruscan araχ: a falcon, a hawk, both?

    Ever since I've cracked the significance of the epithet of the goddess Vanth, Sal Aracuneta, I've been trying to do some research on the etymology of the underlying word *araχ. I noticed that both Larissa Bonfante and Massimo Pallottino were translating it liberally as either 'falcon' or 'hawk'. I figured out why.

    The Greek word hierax (ἱέραξ) was equated with an Etruscan gloss, which was Hellenized in the text as arakos, by Hesychius. Since the word hierax can refer to a 'hawk', a 'falcon' or pretty much any bird of prey according to some, it's difficult to ascertain the limit of usage of this word in Etruscan. The apparent etymology gives us no clue either since if this is a native word, it would divide into ar 'to lift up' and -aχ, a derivational suffix with a patientive meaning. Presumably, the word would literally mean '(that which) is lifted up (by the wind)', which naturally could be descriptive of pretty much any bird. However, I noticed too that if you compare the Greek root hierak- with the Etruscan word, they are vaguely similar. They are even more similar, it seems, in the Doric dialect where we find hiarax (ἱάραξ) although the Perseus database entry tells us that this word which is found in Epaenet. ap. Ath.7.329a was referring to a type of fish rather than to the bird in question. Hmm.

    Oh well. All in all, I think it's simpler to presume that the word is native and that the phonetic similarity between the Greek and Etruscan words is coincidental, but I still can't be sure whether it's a 'falcon' or a 'hawk'. Maybe it doesn't matter and I'm stressing out for nothing. It's a good stress though and that's the important thing. - Paleoglot Blogspot June 2008

    September 11, 2011