[Mamzelle]

Maybe it was really the samisen that fathered the guitar? (g) They look alike, too. Dulcimers, harps, and lutes were the earliest wooden string instruments used by Western musicians--they became mandolins, guitars, and fiddles.

If a culture inhabits a land for hundreds of years, with no music, art, myths (poetry) or even a good meal...I'd say it's more likely that there's nothing there rather than some treasure remains tantalizingly hidden.

But a lot of academics have made fools of themselves searching.

[Cronos]

I know the idea about hte words sounding alike is not real evidence, but it is a similar sound in Hungarian and other eastern european countries