The Ancient Veneti, by my theory, managed a long distance trade network, of which the Adriatic, Brittany and Vistula Venedi were three major nodes in the system. As long as the long distance shippers/traders were in contact with one another, the language remained relatively unchanged throughout the system. With the rise of the Roman Empire, Romans established control over all economic activities, and that included Romanizing the original trade systems. The original trade systems were compromised. The major Venetic regions – Brittany, southeast Baltic, and north Adriatic – were cut off from one another, so that the regions became more localized. The north Italic Veneti assimilated early into Latin when the Roman province of Venetia was created. Later the Brittany Veneti assimilated into Celtic. Finally the Venedi of the trade routes connecting the Baltic to both Black Sea and Adriatic Sea assimilated into the Slavic peoples who were their major customers. Before the original Veneti were completely melted into their surroundings, there was a 1000 year period during which historical texts could imply the Veneti in the three regions were Latin, Celtic, or Slavic. There is some validity therefore in speaking of Latin Veneti, Celtic Veneti, and Slavic Veneti for the 1000 years of the post-Roman era, before the name itself disintegrated. But it is incorrect to project post-Roman information to before the Roman Empire as if the Roman Empire was an insignificant historical event, instead of a complete transformation of Europe.

In the post Roman period, obviously the north Italic Veneti became Romanized and today’s Veneto dialect arose from Veneti assimilating into Latin. At the same time, obviously the Venetic traders travelling from the Baltic, via the Oder or Vistula to the Black or Adriatic Seas were now selling their wares to Slavs expanding in every direction around the east side of the Black Sea and they assimilated into Slavic. (It is interesting to note that the Roman historian Tacitus, in Chapter 46 of his Germania, wrote that the Vistula Venedi,  by 98AD, were acquiring “Sarmatian” wives and customs, and losing their original characterisitcs of the geographic region of Germania. Since the Roman view of “Sarmatia” covered the Slavic territories, he was in effect saying that the Venedi were becoming Slavicized in his time (98 AD)  It means the Venedi was NOT Slavic before the Roman era.