Note 778 — MENSIS QUINCTILIS.

Müller-Deecke, Etrusker, ii. 54, with Deecke’s note 51 b. The Etruscan forms are Nethunus and Nethuns. The form of the word is adjectival like Portunus, &c.; but what is the etymology of the first syllable? We are reminded of course of Nepe or Nepete, an inland town near Falerii; and to this district the cult seems specially to have belonged. Messapus, ‘Neptunia proles,’ leads the Falisci and others to war in Virg. Aen. 7. 691, and Halesus, Neptuni filius, was eponymous hero of Falerii (Deecke, Falisker, 103). There is no known connexion of Neptunus with any coast town.