Another attractive aspect of this region is the language. Romansh, the 4th national language of Switzerland is spoken by 35 000 people. Hearing its sound intrigued me to discover more about the history behind it.
Romansh is one of the Rhaeto-Romance languages believed to have descended from Vulgar Latin spoken by the occupiers of the area during the Roman era. Rhaeto refers to the province of Rhaetia once belonging to the Roman Empire. It is closely related to French, Occitan (spoken in southern France, Monaco, Italy and Spain) and Lombard (spoken in northern Italy).
Not much is known about the origin of the Rhaetians. They were apparently one of the most powerful and warlike of the Alpine tribes. They are believed to be of Etruscan origin (that was know as Tuscany in ancient Italy).
Today the language has only survived in the upper valleys of the Rhine and the Inn. Romansh speakers are almost always multilingual and speak German, Italian as well as the local dialect of Swiss German.
We spent our last 2 days visiting Scuol and its beautiful historical houses, passing by the castle of Tarasp (1st photo), enjoying the thermal baths and stopping in St. Moritz before taking the Rhätische Bahn back home.
http://www.scuol.ch/en/welcome.cfm
