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Tyrsenian (Tyrsenisch, also Tyrrhenian), named after the Tyrrhenoi, 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.

[edit] The evidence

Rix assumes a date for Proto-Tyrsenian of roughly 1000 BC.

Cognates common to Rhaetic and Etruscan are:

Etr. zal, Rhaet. zal, "two";

Etr. -(a)cvil, Rhaet. akvil, "gift";

Etr. zinace, Rhaet. t'inaχe, "he made".

a masculine genitive suffix -s in all three languages;

a second genitive suffix -a in Rhaetic, -(i)a in Etruscan;

the past passive participle -cu in Etruscan, -ku in Rhaetic.

Cognates common to Lemnian and Etruscan are:

a word for "steel";^{[clarification needed]}

a masculine dative-case suffix *-si, feminine-collective *-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").

[edit] Suggested relationships to other families

[edit] Aegean language family

A larger Aegean family including Eteocretan (Minoan language) and Eteocypriot has been proposed.^{[citation needed]} 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. In this sense G.M. Facchetti has proposed some possible similarities between the Etruscan language and ancient Lemnian (an Aegean language clearly related with Etruscan), and some Ancient Aegean languages: such as Minoan, Eteocretan and Philistine languages. Facchetti proposes an hypothetical linguistic family derived from Minoan in two branches. From Minoan he proposes a Proto-Tyrrhenian from which would have come Etruscan, Lemnian and Rhaetic languages. From another Minoan branch would have come, the Eteocretan and Philistean languages ^[1]. However, that this is by no means a common view; there are just as serious attempts of linking Eteocretan and Eteocypriot with Semitic, and mainstream scholarship takes no position. Facchetti himself claims that it is only an hypothesis.

[edit] Anatolian languages

A relation with the Anatolian languages within Indo-European has been proposed (Steinbauer 1999^[2]; 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.

[edit] Northeast Caucasian languages

Robertson has suggested a link between the Tyrrhenian languages and the Northeast Caucasian languages, by comparing the latter principally with Etruscan.^[3]

[edit] Extinction

The language group would have died out around the 3rd century BC in the Aegean (by assimilation of the speakers to Greek), and around the 1st century AD in Italy (by assimilation to Latin).

[edit] Notes

^ 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]

[edit] References

Giulio . Facchetti, "Qualche osservazione sulla lingua minoica", Kadmos 40, pp. 1–38.
Giulio M. Facchetti, "Appendice sulla questione della 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.

[edit] See also

[0] Facchetti 2001 and 2002,especially p. 136.

[1] Steinbauer tries to relate both Etruscan and Rhaetic to Anatolian

[2] Etruscan’s genealogical linguistic relationship with Nakh-Daghestanian: a preliminary evaluation. by Ed Robertson. [1]

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