The Dissemination of Etruscan Discoveries in Early 19th-century British Press

Abstract

The press had a crucial role in the dissemination of news and accounts on archaeological discoveries related to Antiquity. The first Etruscan vases were bought by the British Museum in the mid-18th century and the first exhibition of Etruscan artefacts in London (1837) generated widespread interest in Etruscan antiquity and history. A specialised corpus composed of articles published in the early 19th-century British press is examined so as to understand the linguistic strategies through which Etruscan antiquities were disseminated in the news discourse of the time, combining quantitative and qualitative linguistic analysis and following a corpus-assisted discourse approach. The results of the study will show recurrent linguistic patterns used to refer to the Etruscan antiquities.