| Tyrsenian | |
|---|---|
| Tyrrhenian | |
| Geographic distribution | Italy, Switzerland, France (Corsica), Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Greece (island of Lemnos) |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
 Approximate area of Tyrsenian languages | |
Tyrsenian (also Tyrrhenian or Common Tyrrhenic),[1] named after the Tyrrhenians (Ancient Greek, Ionic: Τυρσηνοί Tyrsenoi) is an extinct family of closely related ancient languages put forward by linguist Helmut Rix in 1998, which consists of the Etruscan language of northern, central and south-western Italy, and eastern Corsica (France); the Raetic language of the Alps, named after the Rhaetian people; and the Lemnian language of the Aegean Sea. Camunic in northern Lombardy, between Etruscan and Raetic, may belong to the family as well, but evidence of such is limited. The Tyrsenian languages are generally considered Pre-Indo-European[2] and Paleo-European.[3][1][4][5]
- ^ a b Marchesini, Simona. "Raetic". Mnamon.
- ^ Bellelli & Benelli 2018.
- ^ Mellaart 1975.
- ^ Haarmann 2014.
- ^ Harding 2014, p. 1912: Italy was home to a number of languages in the Iron Age, some of them clearly Indo-European (Latin being the most obvious, although this was merely the language spoken in the Roman heartland, that is, Latium, and other languages such as Italic, Venetic or Ligurian were also present), while the centre-west and northwest were occupied by the people we call Etruscans, who spoke a language which was non-Indo-European and presumed to represent an ethnic and linguistic stratum which goes far back in time, perhaps even to the occupants of Italy prior to the spread of farming.