How did Phoenician writing influence the development of the Etruscan alphabet?

The Etruscan alphabet was not derived directly from Phoenician writing; rather, it was adapted from a Greek alphabet, which had itself been learned from the Phoenicians as early as the 8th century BCE.1

The influence of Phoenician writing on the development of the Etruscan alphabet is therefore indirect, mediated through the Greek script. This lineage is reflected in several shared characteristics between these writing systems:

• Direction of Writing: Like the early forms of the Greek alphabet and the scripts of the Middle East, the Etruscan script was typically written from right to left.1
• Structural Foundation: Because the Etruscan alphabet is related to both Greek and Semitic (Phoenician-derived) systems, scholars have been able to assign sound values to its symbols with a high degree of precision.2

While the Etruscan alphabet evolved significantly over time—eventually reducing from 26 letters in the 8th century BCE to a "classical" form of 20 letters by 400 BCE—it served as the essential link that transmitted the alphabet to the Latin language.13