Posted on 06/01/2006 11:51:18 PM PDT by Marius3188
San Sebastian, Spain - No frontier marks the entrance to Spain's Basque region, but the traveller passing by quaint villages on green hillsides has a clear sense of entering a distinct territory.
It is not just the Basque flags here and there. It is, above all, the signs in a strange language unlike any other in the world.
A travel bureau, for instance, is marked 'bidaiak.' An ice-cream shop has a sign saying 'izozkiak.' A police station is marked 'ertzainza', and an office of the Basque regional government is called 'eusko jaurlaritza.'
Scientists remain puzzled by the Basque people of northern Spain and southern France, believed to be the oldest Europeans, whose language appears to date from the palaeolithic age and whose origin is a mystery.
When Indo-European invaders began arriving in Europe from steppes beyond the Black Sea millennia before our era, they crushed the original European languages.
Only a few non-Indo-European languages survive in Europe, including Basque, Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. The latter three are related, but scientists have been unable to find a relative for the Basque language, known as Euskera.
'Some believe it originated with the Berbers in Northern Africa, others say it is Caucasian, while some think it developed in southern Europe,' explains Fito Rodriguez, president of an association of Basque authors.
One thing, however, seems certain: Euskera is very, very old. Several words meaning tools such as axes or hoes begin with the word 'aitz' (stone), indicating they could date from a time when they were made of stone.
Investigators have also found some physical peculiarities among the Basques, such as there being more of them with type O blood than in the general European population.
Why Euskera resisted the Indo-European and later Roman and other invasions and finally the onslaught of the Spanish language is also a mystery.
It is often attributed to the isolation of Basque mountain villages, but the Basque region was also an important international crossroads, as Rodriguez points out.
Researchers are also looking into traditional Basque culture to find clues into what Europe was like before the arrival of the war-like, patriarchal Indo-Europeans.
Certain traditions, such as the strong position of women and the worship of the goddess Mari, have led some scholars to conclude that old European societies were at least partly matriarchal and that life was remarkably peaceful.
Euskera was long regarded as a barbaric second-rate language, and a nationalist movement to defend it only took off in the 19th century.
At the same time, however, Euskera also lost ground because large numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants began arriving to work in the industrialized region.
During the 1939-75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, 'we were even punished for speaking Euskera at school,' peace activist Maixux Rekalde recalls.
A Basque Language Academy established in 1919 nevertheless managed to support the standardization and modernization of Euskera after 1968 in the only such process in 20th century Europe.
The vocabulary is still not completely finished. 'We continue inventing for instance technological words, borrowing elements from Spanish and English,' translator Joseba Ossa explained.
Modern literature in Euskera, free of nationalist or religious connotations, only began emerging in the 1960s.
Reclaiming Euskera is an important part of a nationalist movement best known for the violent campaign of the separatist group ETA, which has killed more than 800 people since 1968.
The movement is, however, much wider, ranging from radical politicians seeking rapid independence from Spain to moderates demanding more autonomy and cultural activists.
A third of the 2.1 million residents of the Basque region are estimated to speak Euskera, which is also spoken in neighbouring Navarre and three French Basque provinces, albeit to a lesser extent.
With more than half of Basque children now schooled mainly in Euskera, the language is expanding, explains Ramon Etxezarreta, Euskera specialist at the San Sebastian city council.
About 2,000 books are published annually in Euskera, some newspapers publish all or a part of their articles in it, and there is a Euskera-language television and radio station.
Some non-Basque Spaniards speak contemptuously of efforts to revive what they see as an obscure small language, but for the Basques, it is a question of identity.
'We neglected our language for a long time, but now we are proud of it,' Etxezarreta says. 'It is another symbol of our specificity.'
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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