154 REPORT — 1851. 



members of the Gothic or Low-German race, with whom of course, on the 

 oscillating boundary-lines of the two families, they are intermixed in diflerent 

 degrees of fusion. Such an intermixture by tlie side of pure Sclavonism we 

 find in the Lithuanians of the north and in the Latins of the south. There 

 cannot be any doubt as to the Sclavonian origin of the Tyrrheno-Pelasgian 

 race. There cannot be any doubt that the other element in the old popu- 

 lation of Italy was, like the Lithuanian, a mixture of the Sclavonian and 

 Gothic. As then, in the north, our next transition is to the Scandinavian or 

 purely Gothic race, it is reasonable to conclude that the Rasena, who con- 

 quered Umbria and Tuscany, and who are expressly described as a neigh- 

 bouring tribe, must have been either pure Sclavonians or pure Goths ; for 

 there was no Celtic tribe in that district. But it is clear that if they had 

 been Sclavonians, their language would not have differed so strikingly from 

 that of the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians. It follows therefore that they must have 

 been pure Getse, Goths, or Low-Germans. This is ihe inevitable result of 

 the prima facie evidence. Let us see how it is borne out by the remains of 

 the Etruscan language and by the traditions respecting this nation. 



To begin witii tradition, there cannot be a more definite ethnological 

 statement than that in Livy (v. 33) which connects the Etruscans with the 

 original inhabitants of Lombardy and the Tyrol, on whom the Gauls after- 

 wards encroached. That the Rhasti in particular were of the same stock as 

 the Etrusci is stated also by Justin (xx. 5) and Pliny (H. N. iii. 25), and 

 relics of art, names of places, and peculiarities of language tend to confirm 

 the ethnical tradition. Niebuhr (ii. 525, i. IIS, 114) is favourable to the 

 conjecture, that the Etruscan race, which maintained its ground among the 

 Alps, with Gauls all round it, must at one time have spread along the 

 northern skirts of those mountains and into the plains of Germany. Be this 

 as it may, we find that all along the eastern boundary-line of the Sclavonic 

 population, wherever they abut on Teutonic tribes, they have received from 

 their neighbours the name of Wind or Wend. What this name signifies is 

 quite unknown, but it is certain that it is not the Sclavonian or native desig- 

 nation, for that, as we have seen, is Serb or Servian. And it is reasonable 

 to conclude that it is a Gothic or Low-German name, given to the Servians 

 by their Teutonic neighbours. Now we find that the Etruscans in Lombardy 

 called their neighbours to the east Veneti, and that the Etruscans in Rhsetia 

 called their eastern neighbours Vindelici, or " Winds on the Lech." The 

 fair inference would be, that the Rhaeto-Etruscans were a Teutonic tribe, 

 and, if Teutonic, they must have been of the Scandinavian, Gothic, or Low- 

 German branch. If we are compelled to recognise the same admixture, and 

 indeed the same name, in the Lithuanians of the north and the Latins or 

 Latuinians of the south, w^e must recognise also the same juxtaposition of 

 separate elements in the Scandinavians who stand opposite to the Sclavonians 

 on the Baltic, and in the Rhaetians who face the Wends in central Europe. 

 Consequently, if we accept the tradition which identifies the Rasena with the 

 RhEetians, — and I agree with Dr. Latham that it is entitled to the greatest 

 consideration, — we must also identify them with the Scandinavian race. 



On the philological confirmation of this tradition I hope to throw some 

 new light in the remarks which follow. It is unnecessary to repeat the 

 statements of Lepsius and others respecting the composite structure of the 

 old Etruscan language, and the different degrees in which the Pelasgian or 

 quasi-Greek element prevails in it. There can be no doubt that the civili- 

 zation of northern Italy is due to the Tyrseno-Pelasgians, and that they 

 belonged to the same branch of the Sclavonic race which constituted the 

 basis of the old Achsean population. Their name Tvpar)vos, as Lepsius has 



