Posted on 06/01/2006 11:51:18 PM PDT by Marius3188
Take a break from your reading and read Shibumi. :>
Thanks for posting. Fascinating topic.
Seems highly likely.
"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.
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.
I'm shocked that you even need to ask.
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.
Basque has also been linked to Ancient Egyptian.
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!
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?
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).
They try to link Basque with everything, including Sumerian and Etruscan.
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.
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.
I heard of that superfamily. Good possibility. If you compare two different languages, you will find the same words.
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.
Those people are called Guanche and they are likely Cro-Magnon man like Basques.
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