Etruscans and Semites in Valcamonica

The Etruscan inscriptions in Valcamonica helped Don Franco resolve an old mystery. Based on evidence culled from their presence in central Italy, it was widely accepted that the Etruscans came from Lydia (south-eastern Anatolia) or from elsewhere in the Near East. The Roman historians Livio and Pliny, however, thought they came from the Alpine region. These references and other indications led some archaeologists to propose that the Etruscans and the area's pre-Roman technologies were indigenous to Italy.

Valcamonica's etymological evidence led Don Franco to determine that both the Etruscans and the Iron Age technologies did indeed come from the East, at the same time. Many medieval Cammuni terms derive from the Celtic, Greek, or Latin languages, as can be expected, but Etruscan linguistic roots are particularly discernable in relation to ferric technology.

For example, the ancient regional measure for iron ore, lanxum, is reflected in the name of an area near an ancient mine, Langolina. The measurer of the ore was called Terlengo, a word composed of two parts, ter\leng, and derives from the Etruscan ter\ces\lancum, literally, "the judge of iron measuring."

The Latin language is itself deeply indebted to Etruscan. The transcription process is visible in a reference in a deed near "the property of the Bontempi brothers," referring to "the district of Vitioli, or of the iron furnace,..." Hidden in the Latin terms vitiolum/vitiolo is the more ancient term, visi/ol, a modification of the Etruscan terms for water[power] and fire, the two essential elements for conducting the ferric industry. The exceptional availability of waterpower and of hardwoods for fuel, was the basis for conducting the ferric "waterpower/fire" industry near the iron mines.

"The most ancient linguistic expression for an iron-working shop is verseol, vitiolo: i.e., a furnace near a torrent."

The Etruscan term for "overseer of the forge" is e macstrua; the Latin equivalent is magister e. It reappears in the name Mastalini.

Likewise, the name Salamino is composed of sala/min; sala is Etruscan for "operator," min is Etruscan for "master," ergo: "Master artisan."

Don Franco goes on to analyze scores of other terms in the ancient documents and names of the region, tracing them to Greek, Celtic, Latin or Etruscan origins. Most significantly, he traces many Etruscan and other words of Semitic derivation back to Akkadian origins. Worthy of additional mention here is the designation "artisan" with the use of the Etruscan verb us, i.e.: "to craft." The district Luzzana was originally written as l'Ussana, which in turn was a contraction of the Latin phrase illi ussana ("the artisan district"), which in turn derives from the Etruscan us.

Don Franco also corrects derivations cited by scholars in the past. For example, the regional common name Berzo, also found in the form Berse, was previously assumed to have come from the German Berg ("hill"). Don Franco demonstrates that the name is derived instead from the Etruscan verse\berse: "the site of the furnaces."

The Semitic connection is likewise etymologically apparent. Don Franco notes that the Canaanite (Ugaritic) God-smith, Chuzen, is reflected in the Camunni word for the process of making wrought iron, cuder, literally : "beating iron." The town, Cuzen, and the family name de Cudera are of the same derivation.

Agriculture, albeit limited by the rugged terrain, was nonetheless practiced, and the ethnicity of its ancient immigrant eastern practitioners is likewise reflected in the local dialect. Grain-mills, Caramola in Valcamonica dialect, is composed of cara/mola. Cara derives from the Etruscan root Car, "to build"; mola is Italian for "millstone." The word thus translates to a building containing a millstone.