Distributions of Languages in Northern Italy pre- the Gaulish Invasion.

[Tricky Dicky]

It would be interesting to establish ( but probably impossible ) the languages of Northern Italy ( the origin of both the Latin and Runic alphabets. )
We certainly know that the Italic people occupied the centre and the South of the Italian peninsula and the Celts, Western Europe north of the Alps. We have four languages as clues:

(1) Umbrian, an Italic Language which may have been a recent movement up the Adriatic coast from the the main Italic concetration.
(2) Etruscan, unrelated to other European Languages. They too might have been immigrants to the area or alternately an indigenous people, perhaps a remnent of a people which occupied the whole of Northern Italy.
(3) Ligurian, which some have argued is intermediate between Celtic and Italic. In which case where did they come from?
(4) Venetic, which is considered by a majority of the experts to be of Latin origin, but this would imply that the Etruscans forced their way into a pan Northern Italian settlement of Latins. Others argue a language intermediate between Italic and Illyrian, which if true would be of interest to those who argue a Dalmatian coast origin for the Italic peoples themselves at an earlier date.

[The Sage of Main Street]

I'm not impressed with etymologists. I don't see how they can deny that dog means "pointer" when we have digitus "finger" in Latin and deiknumi "show" in Greek. Also, they don't go back far enough. Anthropologists have shown that tribes who don't have numbers yet (the mother language of Indo-European itself, which did have numbers) touch their chests with the tip of the finger for "one." It is striking that one in Spanish is "uno" and fingernail is un(y)a (tilde), uncia in Latin, and onyx "claw" in Greek. Two was indicated by pointing, t being a form of d and the g sound in dog, etc. apparently disappearing or actually added to the pre-historic t standing alone, which also appears in to, that, and the. Numbers greater than two were indicated by the pre-numerics by waving the hand: manus in Latin and many in English. Over the centuries, "a handful" reversed its meaning to "not many," but the logic is pretty strong that many came from the word meaning "hand."

Also not academically acceptable is that moon is related to minus, but it a perfect primitive description of it because its chief characteristic is that it seems to get smaller until it disappears and starts over again as a full moon.

As is well know today, politics distorts academic theory. Early entomologists, the famous Brothers Grimm, were also Aryan supremacists. That drove them to claim that German was all there was in the North and changed over the centuries, when it is more likely that German is "Aryan As a Second Language" and that most Germans are descended from the aboriginal Europeans who were conquered by Aryans (Indo-Europeans). Its consonant changes happened at the beginning of that conquest.

[Newpublius]

Having taken Latin and being enamored with Roman history I take an independent interest in the Etruscan language to the extent that the Etruscan kings ruled Rome. Of course, Rome would prevail and Latin would be the root language of the Romance languages. I've heard of Etruscan sticking around until the 1st century AD, but rarely do you hear of Etruscan speaking Roman citizens.......or Etruscan speakers at all really.....

[Tricky Dicky]

Having taken Latin and being enamored with Roman history I take an independent interest in the Etruscan language to the extent that the Etruscan kings ruled Rome. Of course, Rome would prevail and Latin would be the root language of the Romance languages. I've heard of Etruscan sticking around until the 1st century AD, but rarely do you hear of Etruscan speaking Roman citizens.......or Etruscan speakers at all really.....
Yes there is one hell of a problem with Etruscians
To be masters of the Latins implies a superior or at least similar military technology - but from where?
Presumably not from the Latins - were they part of the Hamito- Semitic farming culture whaich spread from the Middle East over the Mediterranean area ( apparently )?
Look at their physical depiction in temple paintings and artifacts - most peculiar!

[Tricky Dicky]

I'm not impressed with etymologists. I don't see how they can deny that dog means "pointer" when we have digitus "finger" in Latin and deiknumi "show" in Greek. Also, they don't go back far enough. Anthropologists have shown that tribes who don't have numbers yet (the mother language of Indo-European itself, which did have numbers) touch their chests with the tip of the finger for "one." It is striking that one in Spanish is "uno" and fingernail is un(y)a (tilde), uncia in Latin, and onyx "claw" in Greek. Two was indicated by pointing, t being a form of d and the g sound in dog, etc. apparently disappearing or actually added to the pre-historic t standing alone, which also appears in to, that, and the. Numbers greater than two were indicated by the pre-numerics by waving the hand: manus in Latin and many in English. Over the centuries, "a handful" reversed its meaning to "not many," but the logic is pretty strong that many came from the word meaning "hand."

Also not academically acceptable is that moon is related to minus, but it a perfect primitive description of it because its chief characteristic is that it seems to get smaller until it disappears and starts over again as a full moon.

As is well know today, politics distorts academic theory. Early entomologists, the famous Brothers Grimm, were also Aryan supremacists. That drove them to claim that German was all there was in the North and changed over the centuries, when it is more likely that German is "Aryan As a Second Language" and that most Germans are descended from the aboriginal Europeans who were conquered by Aryans (Indo-Europeans). Its consonant changes happened at the beginning of that conquest.
Take a deka at this canine.
Were the the Grimms racial supremacists? How about the Nordic being a mixture of Lapp and incoming Aryans?