The Etruscan alphabet was used by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization of central and northern Italy, to write their language, from about 700 BC to sometime around 100 AD.

The Etruscan alphabet developed from a Western variety of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Euboean Greeks. The earliest known inscription dates from the middle of the 6th century BC.

The Old Italic scripts are a family of ancient writing systems used in the Italian Peninsula between about 700 and 100 BC, for various languages spoken in that time and place. The most notable member is the Etruscan alphabet, which was the immediate ancestor of the Latin alphabet used by more than 100 languages today, including English.

Etruscan was written in an alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet; this alphabet was the source of the Latin alphabet, as well as other alphabets in Italy and probably beyond.

Etruscan alphabet, writing system of the Etruscans, derived from a Greek alphabet (originally learned from the Phoenicians) as early as the 8th century bc. It is known to modern scholars from more than 10,000 inscriptions.

Etruscan language, language isolate spoken by close neighbours of the ancient Romans. The Romans called the Etruscans Etrusci or Tusci; in Greek they were called Tyrsenoi or Tyrrhenoi; in Umbrian and Italic language their name can be found in the adjective turskum.

Nov 5, 2023 · The Etruscan alphabet is the earliest recorded script in the Western world after the Greek script. It was adopted from the Greek alphabet of the Euboean variant, used by Greek colonists in Italy, specifically in Ischia and Cumae.

Feb 13, 2022 · The Etruscan alphabet was the alphabet used by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization of central and northern Italy, to write their language from about 700 BC to sometime around 100 AD.

Mar 18, 2025 · As already mentioned, the original Etruscan alphabet consisted of 26 letters, of which the Romans adopted only 21. They did not retain the three Greek aspirate letters (theta, phi, and chi) in the alphabet because there were no corresponding Latin sounds but did employ them to represent the numbers 100, 1,000, and 50.

By 400 BC, it appears that all of Etruria was using the classical Etruscan alphabet of 20 letters, mostly written from left to right: An additional sign 8 in shape similar to the numeral 8, transcribed as F, was present in both Lydian and Etruscan (Jensen 513).