Raetian was a language spoken in ancient times by the tribes of the Raetians in the areas around the Alps (in Switzerland, Austria, North-Eastern Italy and Southern Germany). The most common theory is that it was related to the Etruscan language. Raetia as province of the Roman Empire, ca. ... The Alps is the collective name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria in the east, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany, through to France in the west. ... Etruscan was a language spoken and written in the ancient region of Etruria (current Tuscany) and in what is now Lombardy (where the Etruscans were displaced by Gauls), in Italy. ...

Raetian became extinct by the 3rd century, after the speakers were assimilated and adopted Latin (in south) and German (in north). Many inscriptions are known, but most of them are short votive texts, written with the Etruscan alphabet. (2nd century - 3rd century - 4th century - other centuries) Events The Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Old Italic refers to a number of related historical alphabets used on the Italian peninsula which were used for some non-Indo-European languages (Etruscan and probably North Picene), various Indo-European languages belonging to the Italic branch (Faliscan and members of the Sabellian group, including Oscan, Umbrian, and South...

An early theory said that Raetian was an intermediary language between Celtic languages (in East) and Illyrian language (in the west), however evidence showed some linguistic afinities with Etruscan, a Pre-Indo-European language which used to be spoken to the south, in Italy. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ... The Illyrian languages are a group of Indo-European languages that were spoken in the western part of the Balkans in pre-Roman times. ... Etruscan was a language spoken and written in the ancient region of Etruria (current Tuscany) and in what is now Lombardy (where the Etruscans were displaced by Gauls), in Italy. ... The Pre-Indo-European population of Europe included an unknown number of ethnic groups that dwelt on the continent before the coming of the speakers of Indo-European languages (though some scholars dispute the Indo-European invasion theory: see Paleolithic Continuity Theory). ...

Raetian and Etruscan share some word endings and even some words were identified as being cognate with Etruscan (but they could be simply borrowings). This theory is supported by the Ancient Roman writers, who considered the Rhaetians a subgroup of the Etruscan.