Nearest to this is that of Tables III. and IV., which form a single document; then that of I. (a) and (b); earliest would seem that of II. (a) and II. (b). In II. a, 18 and 24, we have the archaic letter san (M = s) of the abecedaria (E. S. Roberts, Int. Gr. Epig. pp. 17 ff.), which appears in no other Italic nor in any Chalcidian inscription, though it survived longer in Etruscan and Venetic use. Against this may be set the use of
for t in I. b 1, but this appears also in IV. 20 and should be called rather Etruscan than archaic. These characteristics of II. a and b would be in themselves too slight to prove an earlier date, but they have perhaps some weight as confirming the evidence of the language.
(b) Changes in Language.—The evidence of date derived from changes in the language is more difficult to formulate, and the inquiry calls for the most diligent use of scientific method and critical judgment. Its intricacy lies in the character of the documents before us—religious formularies consisting partly of matter established in usage long before they were written down in their present shape, partly of additions made at the time of writing. The best example of this is furnished by the expansion and modernisation of the subject-matter of Table I. into Tables VI. and VII.a. Hence we frequently meet with forms which had passed out of the language that was spoken at the time they were engraved, side by side with their equivalents in that language. We may distinguish four periods, as follows:
1. The first period is represented, not by any complete table, but by the old unmodernised forms of Tables III. and IV., which show the original guttural plosives unpalatalized, e.g. kebu = Lat. cibum.
2. In the second period the gutturals have been palatalized, but there yet is no change of final s to r. This is represented by the rest of III. and IV. and by II. (a and b).
3. In the third period final s has everywhere become r. This appears in V. (i. and ii. and also iii.). Table I. is a copy or redraft made from older documents during this period. This is shown by the occasional appearance of r instead of final s.
4. Soon after the dialect had reached its latest form, the Latin alphabet was adopted. Tables VI. and VII.a contain an expanded form of the same liturgical direction as Table I.
It is probable that further research will amend this classification in detail, but its main lines are generally accepted.
(II.) Actual Date of the Tables.—Only the leading points can be mentioned here.