Rhaetic

Raetic or Rhaetic ( , ), also known as Rhaetian, was a Tyrsenian language spoken in the ancient region of Rhaetia in the eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times. It is documented by around 280 texts dated from the 6th through the 1st century BC, which were found through northern Italy, southern Germany, eastern Switzerland, Slovenia and western Austria, in two variants of the Old Italic scripts. Rhaetic is largely accepted as a non-Indo-European language closely related to Etruscan. The ancient Rhaetic language is not to be confused with the modern Romance languages of the same Alpine region, known as Rhaeto-Romance.

Raetic or Rhaetic ( , ), also known as Rhaetian, was a Tyrsenian language spoken in the ancient region of Rhaetia in the eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times. It is documented by around 280 texts dated from the 6th through the 1st century BC, which were found through northern Italy, southern Germany, eastern Switzerland, Slovenia and western Austria, in two variants of the Old Italic scripts. Rhaetic is largely accepted as a non-Indo-European language closely related to Etruscan. The ancient Rhaetic language is not to be confused with the modern Romance languages of the same Alpine region, known as Rhaeto-Romance. ==Classification== The German linguist Helmut Rix proposed in 1998 that Rhaetic, along with Etruscan, was a member of a language family he called Tyrrhenian, and which was possibly influenced by neighboring Indo-European languages. Robert S. P. Beekes likewise does not consider it Indo-European. Howard Hayes Scullard (1967), on the contrary, suggested it to be an Indo-European language, with links to Illyrian and Celtic. Nevertheless, most scholars now think that Rhaetic was a non-Indo-European language closely related to Etruscan within the Tyrrhenian grouping. Rix's Tyrrhenian family is supported by a number of linguists such as Stefan Schumacher, Carlo De Simone, Norbert Oettinger, Simona Marchesini, and Rex E. Wallace. Common features between Etruscan, Rhaetic, and Lemnian have been observed in morphology, phonology, and syntax. On the other hand, few lexical correspondences are documented, at least partly due to the scanty number of Rhaetic and Lemnian texts and possibly to the early date at which the languages split. The Tyrsenian family (or Common Tyrrhenic) is often considered to be Paleo-European and to predate the arrival of Indo-European languages in southern Europe. ==History== The language is documented in the Central and Eastern Alps between the 6th and the 1st centuries BC by about 280 texts, a geographic distribution that largely corresponds to the Iron Age Fritzens-Sanzeno and Magrè cultures. The Rhaetic inscriptions are written in a specific group of North Etruscan alphabets (primarily the Sanzeno and Magrè scripts). Rather than a direct transmission from the Etruscans, modern epigraphic research demonstrates that the Rhaetians adopted literacy through Venetic mediation, adapting the script to their own language. This linguistic connection was interpreted by classical historiographers as evidence of a common origin with the Etruscans. In his Natural History (1st century AD), Pliny wrote: While modern historical-linguistic research has confirmed a genetic relationship between the Etruscan and Rhaetic languages within the Tyrsenian family, modern archaeological consensus rejects the classical narrative of an Etruscan migration or flight into the Alps due to the arrival of the Gauls. Archaeological evidence demonstrates local, alpine cultural continuity dating back at least to the Bronze Age, showing that the Rhaetians were an indigenous Alpine population rather than ethnic Etruscan refugees; the ancient account of their descent is instead considered an erudite reconstruction triggered by the recognition of their linguistic similarities. In 2004, L. Bouke van der Meer proposed that Rhaetic could have split from Etruscan around 900 BC or even earlier, and no later than 700 BC, since structural divergences are already present in the oldest Etruscan and Rhaetic inscriptions, such as in the past-tense grammatical voices or in the endings of male gentilicia. Around 600 BC, the Rhaetians became isolated from the Etruscan area, probably due to Celtic expansion, which limited further contact between the two languages. However, such a recent dating has not achieved consensus because the split would still be too shallow to account for the linguistic differences; furthermore, it conflicts with archaeological data, as the Rhaeti of the second Iron Age are characterized by the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture, which displays direct continuity with the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age Laugen-Melaun culture. Consequently, archaeological evidence does not support a recent common ethnic descent between the two populations. Helmut Rix dated the end of the Proto-Tyrsenian period to the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. Carlo De Simone and Simona Marchesini have proposed a much earlier date, placing the Tyrsenian language split before the Bronze Age. This would provide an explanation for the low number of lexical correspondences between the two languages. In 2002, during excavations at the sanctuary site of Demlfeld in the Austrian Tyrol, archaeologists from the University of Innsbruck discovered a bronze plaque known as the "Demlfeld plaque", named after the locality near Ampass in the Innsbruck-Land District. The Demlfeld sanctuary was an alpine open-air sacrificial site (Brandopferplatz) and is believed to have been active during the Second Iron Age, from the 6th to the 1st century BC. ==Notes== ==References== ==Sources== Prosdocimi, Aldo L. (2003-4). "Sulla formazione dell'alfabeto runico. Promessa di novità documentali forse decisive". Archivio per l'Alto Adige 97–98.427–440 ==Further reading== ==External links==

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