Raetica

Introduction

The term Raetic refers to some 300 inscriptions found in the Trentino and the Veneto, as well as in North and South Tyrol. These inscriptions are roughly dated between the 6^th and the 1^st centuries BC and are the only testimonies of a non-Indo-European language of the Alpine region.

The name Greek Rhaitoí / Latin Raeti goes back to ancient historiography, being attested in Pliny and Strabon, among others, as a designation for certain Alpine tribes. According to Livius, the language spoken by these Raeti was similar to Etruscan. (For details, see Historiography and testimonia about the Raeti.) In the early 19^th century, Conte Benedetto Giovanelli, historian and mayor of Trento, applied the term Raetic to two inscription finds made in the Val di Cembra and Matrei am Brenner, whose language he judged to be similar to Etruscan. The corpus of relevant inscriptions has since increased considerably, and could be delimited in relation to the other script provinces of Transpadania. Archaeological research has shown that the distribution area and archaeological context of the inscriptions correlate with the realm of the archaeologically defined Fritzens-Sanzeno culture. Furthermore, a genetic relationship between the language of the inscriptions and Etruscan could be determined. (For details, see Modern research on the Raeti and Raetic.)

Definitions

According to what was said above, the term Raetic can today have a number of denotations, depending on what aspect of culture one is concerned with. In the early phases of the research on Raetic and Transpadanian writing in general, inscriptions tended to be assigned to different corpora based on a mixture of epigraphic and linguistic arguments. In 1971, Prosdocimi proposed that the term Raetic should by defined exclusively epigraphically, i.e. in regard to the alphabet an inscription is written in. Raetic would then denominate inscriptions that are neither written in the alphabets of Este (Venetic), nor Lugano (Lepontic), or Sondrio or that of the Val Camonica (Camunic). At the same time he left open the question whether the inscriptions thus subsumed under the term Raetic were linguistically homogeneous, and made it clear that a number of script variants were used in these inscriptions. Indeed, a purely epigraphical definition is made difficult by the similarity of the Transpadanian alphabets, especially in the contact areas in the South of the Raetic realm. (For details, see Script.)

After the work of Rix and Schumacher has shown that the language encoded in the inscriptions is related to Etruscan, and considerable progress has been made in the analysis of this language, it may be more useful to put linguistical parameters at the basis of the definition. While the Transpadanian alphabets or alphabet variants are often indistinguishable in absence of certain shibboleth letters, the Raetic language as a member of the Tyrsenic language family is isolated beyond the Po, being surrounded by Italic Venetic in the Southeast and Celtic Lepontic in the West. (The linguistic affiliation of Camunic remains obscure.) (For details, see Language.)

Finally, the undisputable correlation between both epigraphically and linguistically Raetic inscriptions and the Fritzens-Sanzeno cultural horizon allow for an extension of the term Raetic to the field of archaeology. It is admissible to talk about a typically Raetic context, find type, etc. (For details, see Archaeology and cultural aspects.) To recap, Raetic indicates primarily an ancient language of the Alpine region, documented in a small corpus of inscriptions; secondarily, it also refers to the alphabets in which these inscriptions are written, and to their archaeological/cultural context.

Contents

• Historiography and testimonia about the Raeti
• Modern research on the Raeti and Raetic
• Archaeology and cultural aspects
• Script
• Non-script notational systems

Bibliography

IR	Alberto Mancini, "Iscrizioni retiche", Studi Etruschi 43 (1975), 249–306.
LIR	Alberto Mancini, Le Iscrizioni Retiche [= Quaderni del dipartimento di linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze Studi 8–9], Padova: Unipress 2009–10. (2 volumes)

Main Chapter Pages:
Ancient sources I Archaeology in the Raetic area I Bibliography I Concordance I Index I Modern research on Raetic I Non-script notational systems I Raetic epigraphy I Raetica I Script I The Raetic language