17viii49

3

	Any ideas what the apparent suffix -_-_-_ /- _-_ means? Hrozny 
doesn't seem to divide it off at all, (as perhaps sometimes it can't be), 
regarding it as an ending -ra-i. Myres I think had a thought that it 
might be a verb. The only other thing I can think of is either that it 
represents some adjective (diminutive??) added on (connected with _-_ 
or _-_-_ ??); or that it has a parallel with the enclitic articles 
c-, t- used in Etruscan, quite often (according to Pallottino, Elementi 
pp 46-47) with names of divinities, less often with names of persons.
eg:	calu_-tla	"of the god Calu"
	a_umi-cs	"of the Athumi"
	vipinal-tra	"of the gene Vipina"
	vel_i-tai	"to the god Veltha"
	lautne_-cle	"in the family"	etc
	tesn_-tei_	"of the law (?)"
and possibly	arai-tiz	on the Lemnos inscription.

	If _ is indeed based on the consonant c- , then _-_ might be 
connected with E: ceru apparently meaning, a "pottery vessel" (indi-
cating a distinction, on the tablets, from a metal form) - derived from 
the verb car- cer- "to make" (and connected also with _-_-_-_-_-_-_ ??). 
But this sort of speculation is so wild it's perhaps better not to 
bring it out in the open!

	As part of the job of clearing away the red herrings which still 
clutter up the list of neighbouring languages, I had the idea the other 
day that some of the features of the Eteocyprian inscriptions from Amathus 
might have a flavour of Lycian about them. Noticeably the first part
of the bilingual .

a-na-me?(ma?wa?)-to-ri-u-mi-e (tu?)-sa-i-mu-ku-la-i-la-sa-na 
a-ri-si-to-no-se-a-ra-to-wa-na-ka-so-ko-o-se
ka-ra-ke-re-tu-lo-se-ta-ka?-na-ku?-mu?-so-ti-a-lo-ka-i-li-po-ti

= (Greek handwriten) _  _-_-_-_-_  _-_-_  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_   _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
		     _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

which might correspond to the known Lycian words

ene wedri U......zai mluhidazai  A. A.

in which wedri is the word for "town", -zai, -ze is an ending of the 
genitive plural of ethnica, and mluhidaza is the title of some privileged 
cast or office (d- having the likelihood of a spirant pronunciation, cf.
the transliteration Dapara / _-_-_-_-_-_-_). I asked Pedersen's advice on 
it: he was kind but quite unhelpful, saying he was "not competent in the 
question". So if he won't say whether the idea makes nonsense or not from 
the Lycian angle, I suppose we shall have to let the matter rest there 
for the moment.
	I wish someone would have another crack at Eteocretan, and clear 
the decks of that one.
	I was very interested to hear from Miss Kober of the setting up of 
the Centre for Minoan Linguistic Research, and I hope it will act as a 
great stimulus to the work. Let our motto be: on the way to a decipherment 
by 1950 !

Yours

Michael Ventris