Re: Etruscana (was: some Proto-Quendic grammar)

Ray Brown wrote:
Andreas Johansson wrote:
>
> [snip]
> > Etruscan's relatives? Are there any languages known be related to
> > Etruscan?
>
> The language on the stele found on Lemnos bears strong structural
> resemblances
> to Etruscans and is considered by many to be related.
> (Must add a page on this to my website.)
>
> In 1925 Paul Kretschmer put forward a theory linking Etruscan to IE or, as
> he called then, 'Indogermanisch'.  According to him, the IE were descended
> from 'Urindogermanisch' (i.e. what we now call PIE), which had a sister
> language, 'Urrätotyrrhenisch' (Proto-Raet-Tyrrhenic) from which were
> derived
> Raetian, Etruscan, and Pelasgic (the pre-Greek language of Greece) inter
> alia.
> Both Urindogermanisch & Urrätotyrrhenisch were, he said, descended from a
> common
> ancestor 'Protindogermanisch' - _not_ our PIE, but one generation back,
> i.e. the Nostratic that some now theorize about.
>
> I don't think anyone now adheres to Kretschmer's actual theory - but I'm
> fairly certain there are still similar ideas about that link Etruscan with
> with the IE of Anatolia (Hittite, Luwian etc) and/or with Nostratic.
>
Indeed. Perhaps not intelluctual heirs of Kretschmer, but a few
contributors-- professional as well as amateur linguists-- to Cybalist
espouse the idea (if I read them correctly) that Etruscan-- or
Rhaeto/Lemno/Estruscan if you will-- and PIE were sister or at least
"cousin" languages.  Some quite interesting evidence/theories have been put
forward, though personally I remain skeptical.

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