I ran across an exotic theory of a variety that will already be familiar to subscribers here, in
RAETIC An extinct Semitic language in Central Europe. (Pdf download at mek.oszk.hu/05100/05110/05110.pdf)
Some of the folkloric stuff was interesting to me, while the "translations" from "Semitic" made me laugh out loud. The best of these came out as: “Don’t dry out my bath; we need your help; I give berries (fruits?).” [80] And, “I, Ben Jonah (?), have founded for Samuel (?), the Breuner, the stirring-spoon.”
However! the book reproduces numerous images of artifacts with inscriptions. I'm especially interested in the Ritia Ritie Ritan Reiti Riti forms, as possibly linked to Venetic Rhetia, and phrases like Ritam Nehelanu (can't help but think of the Nehalenniae). Any comments about these forms?
Also, I'm working from the idea that Rhaetic was related to Etruscan and Lemnian, and that Germanic runes were derived from Etruscan models. Is the script in these images pure Etruscan or a runic derivative?
Max Dashu