Tyrsenian languages

In 1998 the German linguist Helmut Rix proposed the Tyrrhenian linguistic family, which includes the Etruscan language spoken in Etruria, and the Rhaetian language spoken in the Alps, together with the Lemnian language attested by a small number of inscriptions on the Greek island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea, languages that Rix identifies in close relation. Rix assumes a date for Proto-Tyrsenian in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC.[4] Rix's Tyrsenian family has been confirmed by Stefan Schumacher,[5][6][7][8] Norbert Oettinger,[9] Carlo De Simone,[10] Simona Marchesini,[11] and Rex E. Wallace.[12] Common features among Etruscan, Rhaetian, Lemnian have been found in morphology, phonology, and syntax.[13] On the other hand, few lexical correspondences are documented, at least partly due to the scanty number of Rhaetian and Lemnian texts. Carlo De Simone and Simona Marchesini have proposed a very ancient date at which these languages split, before the Bronze Age, much earlier than was suggested by Rix.[14][15][16] This would provide an additional explanation for the low number of lexical correspondences.[17] The Tyrsenian family, or Common Tyrrhenic, in this case is often considered to be Paleo-European and to predate the arrival of Indo-European languages in southern Europe.[18]

Strabo's (Geography V, 2) citation from Anticlides attributes a share in the foundation of Etruria to the Pelasgians of Lemnos and Imbros.[19][20] The Pelasgians are also referred to by Herodotus as settlers in Lemnos, after they were expelled from Attica by the Athenians.[21] Apollonius of Rhodes mentioned an ancient settlement of Tyrrhenians on Lemnos in his Argonautica (IV.1760), written in the third century BC, in an elaborate invented aition of Kalliste or Thera (modern Santorini): in passing, he attributes the flight of "Sintian" Lemnians to the island Kalliste to "Tyrrhenian warriors" from the island of Lemnos.

Alternatively, the Lemnian language could have arrived in the Aegean Sea during the Late Bronze Age, when Mycenaean rulers recruited groups of mercenaries from Sicily, Sardinia and various parts of the Italian peninsula.[22]

• Etruscan: 13,000 inscriptions, the overwhelming majority of which have been found in Italy; the oldest Etruscan inscription dates back to the 8th century BC, and the most recent one is dated to the 1st century AD.[23]
• Rhaetic: 300 inscriptions, the overwhelming majority of which have found in the Central Alps; the oldest Rhaetic inscription dates back to the 6th century BC.[3][23]
• Lemnian: 2 inscriptions plus a small number of extremely fragmentary inscriptions; the oldest Lemnian inscription dates back to the late 6th century BC.[23]
• Camunic: maybe related to Rhaetic, about 170 inscriptions found in the Central Alps; the oldest Camunic inscriptions dates back to the 5th century BC.[23]

Tyrrhenian language family tree as proposed by de Simone and Marchesini (2013)[14]

Cognates common to Rhaetic and Etruscan are:

Cognates common to Etruscan and Lemnian are:

• shared dative-case suffixes *-si, and *-ale
  • attested as aule-si Etruscan "to Aule" on the Cippus Perusinus inscriptions
  • attested as Hulaie-ši Lemnian "for Hulaie", Φukiasi-ale "for the Phocaean" on the Lemnos Stele
• a past tense suffix *-a-i
  • -⟨e⟩ as in ame "was" ( ← *amai) in Etruscan
  • -⟨ai⟩ as in šivai "lived" in Lemnian
• two cognate words describing ages
  • avils maχs śealχisc Etruscan "and aged sixty-five"
  • aviš sialχviš Lemnian "aged sixty"

The language group seems to have died out around the 3rd century BC in the Aegean (by assimilation of the speakers to Greek), and as regards Etruscan around the 1st century AD in Italy (by assimilation to Latin). The latest Rhaetic inscriptions are dated to the 1st century BC.[31]

• Camunic language (possibly related to Raetic)
• North Picene language
• Elymian language (probably Indo-European or related to it)
• Sicanian language
• Paleo-Sardinian language (also called Paleosardinian, Protosardic, Nuraghic language)
• Old European hydronymy