Pre-Basque phonology

[Kevin Tuite]

This is in response to Larry Trask's observations of yesterday pertaining
to the Basque deity "Mari", a divine figure many of whose attributes are
almost certainly of pre-Christian origin, but who nonetheless bears the
name of the Virgin Mary. Without making any claims about historical links
between the peoples of the Pyrenees and those inhabiting mountain regions
further to the east, I will point out simply that the traditional religious
systems of the Caucasus are full of examples of this sort. Most appear to
be pre- (or at least non-) Christian supernaturals with names like (Saint)
George, Barbara, Maria, even "Trinity" (a single deity in the highland
valleys of northeastern Georgia!) What particularly convinced me of the
relative ease with which indigenous deities can take on foreign names --
without undergoing a radical shift in their attributes or functions -- is
the case of Dali (Dæl), divine patroness of ibex and other horned game
animals of the mountains, among the Svans of northwestern Georgia. Her name
is almost certainly a loan from early Weinax (i.e. Chechen-Ingush) *da:le
"god". Furthermore, detailed analysis of her role in Svan religion, her
complex associations with exterior spaces and her employment, one might
say, as a tool for conceptualizing the interdependence between outside and
inside in indigenous social thought, makes the adoption of a foreign
designation seem less unmotivated than it might appear at first glance.

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Kevin Tuite                         514-343-6514      (bureau)
Département d'anthropologie         514-343-2494 (télécopieur)
Université de Montréal
C.P. 6128, succursale centre-ville
Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7      tuitekj at mistral.ere.umontreal.ca
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