Etruscan Language and Writing

Gapped text. Put the verbs in brackets into the Passive Voice (3X passive infinitive, 6X passive past simple, 2X passive simple present, 1X passive present continuous)

Etruscan, the third great language of culture in Italy after Greek and Latin, does not survive in any literary works. An Etruscan religious literature did exist, and evidence suggests that there may have been a body of historical literature and drama as well. Etruscan had ceased 1)…………..….. (to speak) in the time of Imperial Rome, though it continued 2) …………..….. (to study) by priests and scholars. The emperor Claudius (d. AD 54) wrote a history of the Etruscans in 20 books, now lost, which 3)…………..….. (to base) on sources still preserved in his day. The language continued 4) …………..….. (to use) in a religious context until late antiquity; the final record of such use relates to the invasion of Rome by Alaric, chief of the Visigoths, in AD 410, when Etruscan priests 5) …………..….. (to summon) to conjure lightning against the barbarians.

There are more than 10,000 known Etruscan inscriptions, with new ones that 6) …………..….. (to discover) each year. These are, mainly short funerary or dedicatory inscriptions, found on ash urns and in tombs or on objects dedicated in sanctuaries. Others 7) …………..….. (to find) on engraved bronze Etruscan mirrors, where they label mythological figures or give the name of the owner, and on coins, dice, and pottery. Finally there are graffiti scratched on pottery; though their function 8) …………..….. (to understand) little, they seem to include owners' names as well as numbers, abbreviations, and nonalphabetic signs.

Of the longer inscriptions, the most important is the "Zagreb mummy wrapping", which 9) …………..….. (to find) in Egypt in the 19th century and 10)…………..…... (to carry) back to Yugoslavia by a traveler. It had originally been a book of linen clothes, which at some date 11) …………..….. (to cut up) into strips and 12) …………..….. (to wrap) around a mummy. With about 1,300 words, written in black ink on the linen, it is the longest existing Etruscan text; it contains a calendar and instructions for sacrifice, sufficient to give idea of Etruscan religious literature.

From Encyclopedia Britannica

Reading comprehension

1. What does the evidence suggest about the existence of Etruscan religious literature, and historical literature and drama?
2. What is the last record of the use of Etruscan in a religious context?
3. What objects carry most of the Etruscan inscriptions?
4. What is the history and historical significance of the `Zagreb mummy wrapping`?

Vocabulary and language in use

I Supply the missing noun, verb and adjective forms (if they exist) and use the appropriate form in the sentences below.

NOUN	VERB	ADJECTIVE
Sign signal signifier	Signify	significant
sacrifice	Sacrifice	sacrificial
evidence		evident
Survival survivor	Survive	surviving
Preservation/preserves	Preserve	preservative
Continuation/ continuity	Continue	Continuous/continual
funeral		funerary
dedication	dedicate	dedicatory
sufficiency	Suffice/ Suffice it to say	In/sufficient

II Supply the missing noun and verb forms.

NOUN	VERB	ADJECTIVE
length	lengthen	long
shortness	shorten	short
Depth deepness	deepen	deep
Height	heighten	high
Width wideness	widen	wide
Breadth broadness	Broaden	broad

III Fill in the blanks with the right form (passive or active) of the following: to summon (9), to conjure (9), to label (13), to scratch (14), to wrap (17).

1. He ……………………. back to his office.

2. Each present ……………… in paper.

3. The table ………. badly…………………….. .

4. The samples …….. all ………….. with a date and place of origin.

5. In the movie he …………………. up storms, fires, and earthquakes.

IV Easily confusable words. Write sentences to illustrate the difference between the meaning.

literally/literary

1. ________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________

to cease/to seize

1. ________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________________

V Abbreviations. Complete the table below with the corresponding abbreviation form the box and use them in the sentences below.

AD BC BCE CE BP c./ca. e.g. i.e. NB fig. ibid. vs etc. no. et al. pp. ed. cf.

AD	Anno Domini	Ed.	Edited by
bce	Before Common Era	vs	Versus
bc	Before Christ	no	Number
bp	Before Present	NB	Nota Bene (take special note)
ce	Common Era	Ie.	Id Est (that is)
pp.	Pages	Fig.	Figure
Etc.	Et Cetera (and other similar things)	c./ca.	Circa
Ibid.	In the same place/source	e.g.	For example
Et al.	And others	Cf.	(confer) - see a given citation for comparison

1. The article is on …………. 22–27.
2. The book by Carson …………. is regarded as the authoritative text on the topic.
3. …………., e.g., Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions.
4. 2017 CE corresponds to …………. 2017 and 400 ………….. corresponds to 400 ………… .
5. …………. means before 1950. It is the most commonly used convention in radiocarbon dating.
6. The cough may last for a short period of time -…………., three to five days.
7. Submit a sample of academic writing -…………., a dissertation chapter.
8. Julius Caesar visited this area …………. 50 BC.
9. …………: Do not write below this line.
10. The stone knives, arrowheads, hammers, nails, awls, …………., associated with this pottery date from the transition period to the age of metal.
11. Draw the basic outlines in black felt-tip pen (see …………. 4).
12. …………. 24 Squadron (Hawks) IAF, is an Air Defence squadron of the Indian Air Force.
13. …………., p. 9.
14. This implies a group was debating bowling …………. playing video games (direct opposition and either/or).
15. Kinsella, V. (………….). (1978). Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.