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The Raeti (spelling variants: ''Rhaeti'', ''Rheti'' or ''Rhaetii''; Ancient Greek: ''Ραιτοί'': transcription ''Retí'') were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture may have derived, at least in part, from the Etruscans. From not later than ca. 500 BC, they inhabited the central parts of present-day Switzerland, the Tyrol in Austria, and the Alpine regions of northeastern Italy. The etymology of the name ''Raeti'' is uncertain. The Roman province of Raetia was named after this people. Ancient sources characterise the Raeti as Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po valley by the Gauls and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is likely that they were predominantly indigenous Alpine people. Their language, the so-called Raetian language, was probably related to Etruscan, but may not have derived from it.〔Cornell (1995) 44〕 At least some of the Raeti tribes (those in northeastern Italy) probably continued to speak the Raetian language as late as the 3rd century AD. Others (those in Switzerland) were probably Celtic-speaking by the era of the Roman emperor Augustus (ruled 30 BC - AD 14). The Raeti were divided into numerous tribes, but only some of these are clearly identified in the ancient sources. The Raeti tribes, together with those of their Celtic-speaking neighbours to the north, the Vindelici, were subjugated by the Imperial Roman army in 15 BC and their territories annexed to the Roman empire. The Roman province of Raetia et Vindelicia was named after these two peoples. The Raeti tribes quickly became loyal subjects of the empire and contributed disproportionate numbers of recruits to the imperial Roman army's auxiliary corps. == Name etymology == The origin of the name "Raeti" is uncertain. It is not even clear if it derives from an "endonym", a name that the Raeti used to describe themselves or from an "exonym", a name used by outsiders to describe the Raeti. (cf. the name "Greeks". This derives from ''Graeci'', a Roman exonym for this people, whose own name for themselves was "Hellenes"). It was suggested in the 19th Century that "Raeti" is an exonym given to these tribes by the Gauls, derived from a supposed Celtic root ''rait'' ("highland"), so that ''Raeti'' meant "mountain people".〔Britannica ''Raetia''〕 The Roman geographer Pliny the Elder, writing in AD 70, suggests that the people were named after "Raetus", their leader at the time of their supposed "expulsion" from the Po Valley.〔Pliny N.H. III.20〕 But this kind of "eponym-fabrication" was commonplace in the Greco-Roman world and may be discounted. The most famous example is the legend that the City of Rome derives its name from Romulus, its supposed founder: if Romulus ever existed at all (which most scholars doubt), then it is far more likely that he derived his own name from an existing place name ''Roma'', rather than vice versa. The same applies to "Raetus". It has also been suggested that the name Raeti may be connected with Reitia, a major goddess who was revered in northeast Italy and is attested in a number of inscriptions on votive tablets of the Veneti people. One Raetic votive tablet, from the same region, contains the word ''reithus'', which may refer to this deity.〔Zavaroni I.R. ''San Zeno'' 1〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhaetian people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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