Tyrsenian languages
| Tyrsenian | |
|---|---|
| Tyrrhenian | |
| Geographic distribution | Southern Europe |
| Linguistic classification | Tyrrhenian |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
 Approximate area of Tyrsenian languages | |
Tyrsenian (Tyrsenisch, also Tyrrhenian), named after the Tyrrhenians (Ancient Greek: Tursānioi, Tursēnioi, Turrhēnioi), is a closely related ancient language family proposed by Helmut Rix (1998), that consists of the extinct Etruscan language of central Italy, the extinct Raetic language of the Alps, and the extinct Lemnian language of the Aegean Sea.
The evidence
Rix assumes a date for Proto-Tyrsenian of roughly 1000 BC.
Cognates common to Raetic and Etruscan are:
- Etr. zal, Raet. zal, "two";
- Etr. -(a)cvil, Raet. akvil, "gift";
- Etr. zinace, Raet. t'inaχe, "he made".
- a genitive suffix -s in all three languages;
- a second genitive suffix -a in Raetic, -(i)a in Etruscan;
- the past active participle -ce in Etruscan, -ku in Raetic.
Cognates common to Lemnian and Etruscan are:
- dative-case suffixes *-si, and *-ale, attested on the Lemnos Stele (Hulaie-ši "for Hulaie", Φukiasi-ale "for the Phocaean") and in Etruscan inscriptions (e.g. aule-si "To Aule" on the Cippus Perusinus).
- a past tense suffix *-a-i (Etruscan <-e> as in ame "was" (< *amai); Lemnian <-ai> as in šivai "lived").
Strabo's (Geography V, 2), citation from Anticlides attributes to Pelasgians of Lemnos and Imbros a share in the foundation of Etruria.[1]
Suggested relationships to other families
Aegean language family
A larger Aegean family including Eteocretan (Minoan language) and Eteocypriot has been proposed by G.M. Facchetti, referring to some possible similarities between the Etruscan language and ancient Lemnian (an Aegean language widely thought to be related to Etruscan), and some Ancient Aegean languages: such as Minoan, Eteocretan and Philistine languages. If these languages could be shown to be related to Etruscan and Rhaetic, they would constitute a pre-Indo-European phylum stretching from the Aegean islands and Crete across mainland Greece and the Italian peninsula to the Alps. Facchetti proposes a hypothetical language family derived from Minoan in two branches. From Minoan he proposes a Proto-Tyrrhenian from which would have come the Etruscan, Lemnian and Rhaetic languages. James Mellaart has proposed that this language family is related to the pre-Indo-European Anatolian languages, based upon place name analysis.[2] From another Minoan branch would have come the Eteocretan and Philistean languages.[3] However, this is by no means a common view; there are just as serious attempts to link Eteocretan and Eteocypriot with Semitic, and mainstream scholarship takes no position. Facchetti himself claims that it is only a hypothesis.
Anatolian languages
A relation with the Anatolian languages within Indo-European has been proposed (Steinbauer 1999;[4] Palmer 1965), but is not generally accepted (although Leonard R. Palmer did show that some Linear A inscriptions were sensible as a variant of Luwian). If these languages are an early Indo-European stratum rather than pre-Indo-European, they would be associated with Krahe's Old European hydronymy and would date back to a Kurganization during the early Bronze Age.
Northeast Caucasian languages
Robertson has suggested a link between the Tyrrhenian languages and the Northeast Caucasian languages, by comparing the latter principally with Etruscan.[5]
Extinction
The language group would 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). Finally, Raetic died out in the 3rd century AD, by assimilation to Vulgar Latin in the south and to Germanic in the north.
Notes
- ^ Myres JL. A history of the Pelasgian theory. Journal of Hellenic Studies 1907 169-225 s. 16 (Pelasgians and Tyrrhenians) Strabo: " And again, Anticleides says that they (the Pelasgians) were the first to settle the regions round about Lemnos and Imbros, and indeed that some of these sailed away to Italy with Tyrrhenus the son of Atys" (public domain translation by H.L. Jones at Lacus Curtius).
- ^ Mellaart, James (1976), "Neolithic of the Near East" (Thames and Hudson)
- ^ Facchetti 2001 and 2002, especially p. 136.
- ^ Steinbauer tries to relate both Etruscan and Rhaetic to Anatolian
- ^ Etruscan’s genealogical linguistic relationship with Nakh–Daghestanian: a preliminary evaluation. by Ed Robertson. [1]
References
- Giulio . Facchetti, "Qualche osservazione sulla lingua minoica", Kadmos 40, pp. 1–38.
- Giulio M. Facchetti, "Appendice sulla questione delle affinità genetiche dell'Etrusco", in 'Appunti di morfologia etrusca pp. 111– 150, Leo S. Olschki Editore, 2002. ISBN 8822251385.
- L R Palmer, Mycenaeans and Minoans, Second ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1965.
- Helmut Rix, Rätisch und Etruskisch, Innsbruck 1998.
- Dieter H. Steinbauer, Neues Handbuch des Etruskischen, St. Katharinen 1999.
- Stefan Schumacher, 'Sprachliche Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Rätisch und Etruskisch', Der Schlern 72 (1998), 90–114.
- Stefan Schumacher, Die rätischen Inschriften. Geschichte und heutiger Stand der Forschung. 2. erweiterte Auflage [= Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft 121 = Archaeolingua 2], Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck 2004.
