The stone-age Basque language remains mystery to scientists

Deutsche Presse-Agentur ^ | 01 June 2006 | Sinikka Tarvainen

[Eastbound]

LOL! Free Republic ought to have a book exchange . Think of the money we could save. I won't be able to buy anymore for a looooong time and there is at least a couple of dozen out there I'd like to read. I don't care about owning them, just reading them.

Take a break from your reading and read Shibumi. :>

[David Allen]

Thanks for posting. Fascinating topic.

[Tenniel]

Seriously: ''ices-kiosk''??

[RightWhale]

Seems highly likely.

[Jack Hammer]

"Shibumi" is a fun read, and you might also want to check out "The Loo Sanction" and "The Eiger Sanction," the latter of which was made into a film directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred.

Not to nit-pick, but if you're going to the bookstore to pick up a copy of any of them, it might be helpful in locating the correct shelf to know that the author's pseudonym is Trevanian, with an "e."

His real name was Dr. Rodney Whitaker, who was a professor of film at the University of Texas Austin, Bucknell, Penn State, and Emerson College in Boston. He also wrote "The Summer of Katya," "The Main," and "The Crazyladies of Pearl Street," among other titles.

Whitaker served in the navy during the Korean War era, and, once his literary reputation was established, lived a very reclusive and private life in the Basque country of France for many years.

Trevanian/Whitaker passed away last December.

[after dark]

What really distinguishes the Basques in terms of blood is the rhesus negative factor. To date , Rh negative blood has never been found in any native Indian population(Auracanians living in Chile may be the exception). Which is not to say they are not related to the Basques. DNA tests have linked the Mayans with a Basque forefather.

[Eastbound]

Thanks for that info, Jack. Sorry to hear he's gone. Yes, I'll be looking for more of his works. Brilliant writer -- and humorist as well.

[taxesareforever]

I am surprised that the scientists are "puzzled". They normally have an answer for everything. Not always correct but it is an answer. Young earth creationist or 'intelligent design'?

I'm shocked that you even need to ask.

[Ptarmigan]

Basque is a very interesting language. Some people think it is language of Cro-Magnon Man. I have also read it could be related to Navajo, Apache, Inuit, Georgian, and Ket.

[after dark]

Basque has also been linked to Ancient Egyptian.

[afraidfortherepublic]

As one of my employees is fond of reminding me, Lithuanian has its roots in Sanscrit, and I think Latvian bears some similarities. At least, my Latvian employee and my Lithuanian employee can understand each other. It is a puzzlement how that language got from India to there!

[afraidfortherepublic]

I grew up in Fresno, California where there was an establishment called the Basque Hotel. The Basque sheepherders would stay there when they came to town on occasion. Of course they had other guests as well.

They specialized in serving Basque food. That was the nearest location we could reserve as a venue for our annual French Club Banquet when I was in high school. There was no French restaurant in Fresno, CA in the 1950s! I always loved going there to eat. LOL.

I also had Basque friends who lived in town. Their fathers owned the herds, but hired the shepherds to take care of them. My friends' families lived in the city. Later, in Texas, I worked for a Justice of the Peace who was Basque.

All of the Basques I knew were sturdy blondes with freckles. Is that a typical look?

[Virginia-American]

Basque is a very interesting language. Some people think it is language of Cro-Magnon Man. I have also read it could be related to Navajo, Apache, Inuit, Georgian, and Ket.

There is the so-called Dene-Caucasian hypothesis which groups Basque with other languages.

Here's one version from the Wiki article:

1. Dene-Caucasian languages [8,700BCE]

1.1. Na-Dené languages/Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit
1.1.1. Athabaskan-Eyak
1.1.1.1. Athabaskan
1.1.1.2. Eyak
1.1.2. Tlingit

1.2. Sino-Vasconic languages [7,900BCE]
1.2.1. Vasconic (Basque)
1.2.2. Sino-Caucasian languages [6,200BCE]
1.2.2.1. Burushaski
1.2.2.2. Caucaso-Sino-Yenisseian [5,900BCE]
1.2.2.2.1. North Caucasian languages
1.2.2.2.1.1. Northeast Caucasian languages
1.2.2.2.2.2. Northwest Caucasian languages
1.2.2.2.2. Sino-Yeniseian [5,100BCE]
1.2.2.2.2.1. Yeniseian languages
1.2.2.2.2.2. Sino-Tibetan languages

Navaho and Apache are in the Athabascan family. Ket and Kott are the memebers of the Yeniseian family.

According to the Russian Nostratcists and also the late Jopseph Greenberg, the Eskimo-Aleut family (of which Inuit is a part) is part of a larger grouping that also contains Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, Japanese-Korean-Ainu, Gilyak, and Chukchee. All of these languages, with the exception, IIRC of Ainu, use an "m" sound for the first person and a "t" sound for the second person.

Some Nostraticists extend this group to include Afro-Asiatic, Dravidian, and Kartvelian (Georgian and related).

[Ptarmigan]

They try to link Basque with everything, including Sumerian and Etruscan.

[Virginia-American]

As one of my employees is fond of reminding me, Lithuanian has its roots in Sanscrit, and I think Latvian bears some similarities

Your employee is incorrect. Sanskrit and Lithuanian are both part of Indo-European. Sanskrit is in the Aryan (aka Indo-Iranian) branch, and Lithuanian and Latvian are in the Baltic branch.

What is true, is that Lithuanian conjugations and inflections are very close to those deduced for ancient Indo-European, as are those of Sanskrit. But there is no evidence at all that says Baltic is closer to Aryan than it is to other branches of Indo-European; in fact, it's often considered part of a Balto-Slavic family.

[Ptarmigan]

I read of that too. Mayans, Mapuches (Aracaunians), and Incas have the same rate of Rh negative blood as Basques and Celts. I have read that Spaniards encountered red haired and light skinned Indians.

[Ptarmigan]

I heard of that superfamily. Good possibility. If you compare two different languages, you will find the same words.

[after dark]

>They try to link Basque with everything, including Sumerian and Etruscan.


Ah! The Sumerians another group of people believed to be O-. Of course ,I was already stepping on thin ice by link-inking Mayans to Basques and Basques to Egyptians. A more direct route would have been the Canary islanders. They are believed to have been primarily O- before Spain colonized them. The Canary islanders built step pyramids and embalmed their dead. The Canary islanders were described as stout with dark blond hair.

[Tax Government]

I've spent the last several months (or is it 3 years?) listening to Chechen language and music, and reading their history. It's possible a connection exists between Caucasians (i.e., natives of the Caucusus) and other lost/isolated peoples around Eurasia. It's also possible these are the last unassimilated survivors of an ancient, but lost civilization (maybe Sumerians, someone suggested), and that the rest of the population mostly disappeared by blending in with neighbors.

Anyway, it's interesting to hear and think about. Check out www.chechnyafree.ru, and visit their music pages. May I suggest Aza and Marina Aidaeva.

[Ptarmigan]

Those people are called Guanche and they are likely Cro-Magnon man like Basques.