I dimostrativi nell’incipit del testo etrusco del Cippo di Perugia: considerazioni linguistiche ed ermeneutiche

My paper aims to offer some linguistic and interpretative considerations on the text of the Cippus Perusinus and, more in detail, on its incipit, starting from an examination of the forms which can be analysed as (nominal) demonstratives (tanna, eśtla, slel). In particular, it seems possible to argue that the text is not a pact between the Velθina family and the Afuna family – or an Afuna family member –, as commonly assumed. Rather, the text would be an act in which the two parties play an asymmetrical role. Such a hypothesis, based on linguistic data, agrees with historical considerations on the processes which regulated the acquisition of property by foreigners in the Etruscan cities.