LL-L "Anthropology" 2008.05.25 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 25 May 2008 - Volume 05
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Anthropology"

Beste Theo,

 >  the root-forms of Basque technical language reach
> back to a stone-age culture, with the word 'knife'
> for example going back to
> the name for 'flint' & 'ceiling' means literally
> 'the roof of the cave'
 [...]

I'm a bit sorry,  great Mark,

But is this really an argument?

I mean- example:  most words for cup / bowl and so on
in european languages go back to roots for 'skull'.


I guess it all depends on how the words came into being: litterally or
metaphorically.
In the case of cup/bowl I think the idea may have been that these objects
have the shape of a skull; whereas "flint" for "knife" sounds
operational/technical (just like "mes" (D) = the meat cutter).
On the other hand, Indo-European vocabulary probably also goes back a long
way: the act of making a clearance in the woods. I have the impression this
way of life is more tied to sedentary people though.

Which makes me think of the hunter-gatherer life proto-Basques were having.
Another reason (apart from "art") why they may have had a relatively easy
life is a geographical one. If not only humans, but animals as well were
heading south because of the last Ice Age, the Gulf of Gascony was a very
strategic place to be. Imagine all those herds trekking South, as soon as
they approached the Pyrenees, they were almost trapped: on their right was
the Atlantic Ocean, on their left the Basques hiding in the valleys; so all
the animals could do was either retreat or stay as close as possible to the
ocean (passes are high in the Pyrenees). Guess most will have tried their
luck, but for the Basques they must have been an easy prey, either they
drove them into the ocean or they slaughtered them in this narrow alleyway
between their hiding-place and the ocean. No wonder then that they started
depicting them in their caves, this extra meat was almost heaven-sent.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Anthropology" 2008.05.24 (06) [A/E]

from Heather Rendall heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk
Mark wrote in reply to Ron & Mike .
"I reckon the Basques are a homogenous survival of European strains of Homo
Sapiens Sapiens isolated by the Wurm Glaciation in the Pyrinees. With the
retreat of the Wurm other strains could return, & blended with the surviving
population in the more accessible areas, leaving the isolated Basques - well
- isolated. I think with Ron that these were the megalithic people that
built Stonehenge, Carnac, the structures on Malta & the stone circles, long
barrows on the Ahaggar plateau in Algeria & the cromlechs in the High
Galilea in Israel. I don't assume the Basques did it but they were related
to those who did. "

Can I throw into this particular pool the findings of Sir John Rhys &
Brynmor Jones ( see the former's book with the latter's appendix "The Welsh
People") that the grammar of Welsh and Irish in non-european tho' their
vocabularies largely are. They also dismiss any relation between Basque &
this non-european grammar - which would be the most obvious logical thought.
Instead they give great detailed comparison between Coptic, Berber and
Irish/Welsh including
1. initial position in the sentence of the main verb
2. the use of a singular 3rd person verb for both singular & plural subjects
- so long as nouns are subjects; if the plural pronoun is used then it atkes
3rd pers plur ending.
3. the use of the word 'back/after' to create the past tense
4. inflected prepositions [ I think I''m right in sayingt hat these are
still traceable in medieval Welsh but now no longer]
etc
Their conclusion is that Mediterranean megalith stone builders populated the
north coast of Africa, Malta, the Balearics, Spain and Atlantic France. They
then moved up Str George's Channel ( between Ireland and Britain) and
settles Ireland Cornwall, Wales & Scotland taking with them their tradition
and skills in setting up monoliths, megaliths and stone circles and left
behind a language that was non-european.

best wishes and congrats to the new gt uncle
from
Heather

•

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