Wherever possible we employ the Leiden system of conventions adopted for editing epigraphic texts. The conventions employed in this project are discussed below.

• The division of lines corresponds to those on the object itself. Inscriptions that are longer than five lines are accompanied by line numbers placed at five line intervals. The text is printed in boldfaced type.
• Single square brackets [ a ] enclose letters that are restored by modern editors, but which are no longer legible or have been lost.
• Angled brackets < x > enclose characters omitted by scribal error, but added to the text by the editor. Letters incorrectly incised or painted, which are corrected by the editor, are also placed within angled brackets. The reading on the stone or ceramic is then discussed in the apparatus criticus accompanying the text.
• Curly brackets { a } indicate extra characters or words introduced by scribal error.
• Characters that have been 'erased,' by whatever means, but can still be read or restored by the editor, are indicated by double square brackets [[ x ]].
• In cases where it is impossible to restore portions of the text, dots within square brackets [ . . . ] are used to indicate the number of missing characters. Where the amount of text that has been lost cannot be determined, three dashes are placed within square brackets [ - - - ].
• Significant spaces and gaps between letters and/or word-forms are indicated by means of the Latin word vacat.

We employ the letter x, which is not part of the regular system of transcription, to represent letterforms that are illegible and cannot be restored based on the syntactic context of the inscription. So, for example, in ETP 10 from Saena, [ - - - ]χnix[ - - - ], the final letter is illegible and cannot be restored based on the letters that can be read. The viewer should take special care to distinguish this letterform from Greek khi χ, the letter representing /kʰ/, the voiceless velar aspirate.

We have departed from standard epigraphic practice in the presentation of texts in several respects. First of all, we do not indicate combinations of letters written by means of ligatures. Contrary to the customary practice, we do not fill in abbreviations in the text, which would be enclosed in round brackets ( a ) . Abbreviations, apart from very common ones, are discussed in the notes. Finally, we do not (yet) indicate characters whose reading is uncertain, a feature that would be indicated according to standard epigraphical practice by use of the underdot. Instead, these characters are treated as being legible. Problematic cases are discussed in the apparatus criticus.

Many of the inscriptions in the Etruscan corpus are written scriptio continua, without word-breaks, e.g. einθuiaraenan. We print these inscriptions with the appropriate divisions into words, e.g. ein θui ara enan, if this is possible. Word dividers are indicated by a raised period ( · ) or by a colon ( : ). When other forms of punctuation are used, these are indicated by diacritics that correspond in reasonably close fashion to the form of punctuation, e.g. — for a dash.

Syllabic puncts are indicated by periods ( . ) that are placed on line before and after a letter that has punctuation, e.g. leθaie.s..

Etruscan inscriptions are typically written from right-to-left. This is our default case unless there is a note to the contrary. Etruscan inscriptions are rarely written in spiraliform or in serpentine form. When this is the case, it is mentioned in the apparatus.