Kainua Misena e il popolo misto degli Etruschi

In this study an interpretation is proposed for the name of the Etruscan city of Kainua, whose remains have been brought to light in Marzabotto, in the province of Bologna. To this aim, the origins of Etruscans have been recalled together with their characteristic of being actually a confederation of peoples belonging to two distinct lineages descending from *Thyrgwaunas, speaking a Protoaltaic language, and *Gwaulgwaunas, speaking a Proto-Indo-European one. Such a confederation was known in the Aegean area as “the mixed people”, i.e. *Mykgwaunas (Mygdones and Mycenaeans). The descendants of the two lineages are thus recognized in Italy and distingushed as Tyrsini and Volsini, according to the terminology of Greek and Roman historians. Then tyrsinian, volsinian and mixed origins are analyzed for the main Etruscan cities, including Kainua. For this latter, even on the basis of archaeological finds, a Sabatia/Sabine and Umbrian origin is assumed, followed by a volsinian re-foundation and a subsequent tyrsinian-volsinian one. The name of Kainua is then brought back to the one shared by the ancestors of Umbrian (*Gwaunas *Hubaras), Sabines (*Swagwaunas), Volsini and Tyrsini, i.e. *Gwaunas, transformed through to the phonetic changes of the Umbrian language into *Kainas, and derived into Kainua with the addition of the characteristic tyrsinian patronymic desinence -ua: “the city of Kainas”. Lastly, Kainua is supposed to have been also known as “city of the mixed people”, namely *Mysena (< *Mykgwaunas), whence the current name of the place.