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For teaching purposes only; do not review, quote or
abstract. [References for
this review may be found at <Nyland>] |
[Note: All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]
DRAVIDIAN /
BASQUE ASSOCIATION *
[Contacts]
An ancient language form that
originated in the North African area of our most ancient civilizations has
been studied by Nyland
(2001). He found that many words used
to describe names of places and things on the Indian Subcontinent seem to be
closely related to the ancient language, which is being called Saharan.
It appears that the Basque language is a close relative to the
original Saharan. Following is a
discussion of this relationship:
PRINCIPAL DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES
Nearly one quarter of India's population speaks Dravidian, a language
family usually considered to have four branches (Nyland (2001): 1.
Northwest: Brahui, spoken in
Baluchistan, 2.
Northeast: Kurukh and Malto
in Bengal, 3.
Central: Telugu, Kui and Kolami-Parji, 4.
South: Tamil, Kannada,
Tulu, Malayalam, Bagada, Toda, Kota
and Kodagu. There are four major languages,
each having its own independent script and literature dating from
pre-Christian times: The number of
people speaking each in 2004 is noted as follows: 1.
Telugu (Te), the state
language of Andhra Pradesh, spoken by some 60 million people. 2.
Tamil (Ta), the state language of Tamilnadu, spoken by about 45
million people. 3.
Kannada, also called Kanarese (Ka), of the state of
Karnataka with about 34 million speakers. 4.
Malayalam (Ma), the state language of Kerala,
with some 25 million speakers. Francis Ellis, a British civil
servant who recognized the relationship between the four literary languages
as well as Tulu, Kodagu and Malto, first described the Dravidian language
family in 1816. In 1856 Robert Caldwell added several more languages, Kota,
Toda, Gondi, Kui, Kurukh and Brahui. He then took the Sanskrit word dravida, supposedly
meaning "Tamil," and used it to name the family. We may
assume that Dravidian was the language of all of India before ca.1,500
bce. This language must have been
identical, or almost so, with the Saharan language,
at the time that large migrations from the North African area took
place. The latter were stimulated by
a rapid drying-out of the region (see Climate). This was a more primitive form of modern
Basque but the Basque dictionary could still be used to translate the
Dravidian names and words in this article. BASQUE WORDS WIDESPREAD IN INDIA
We don't have to look far in India to recognize
Basque-related names and words, such as: Himalaya, ima-alaia, imajina (image,
scenery) alaia (pleasing):
"Pleasing scenery."
GENETIC
RELATIONSHIPS
A group of comparative linguists
in the United States developed a system that they called the "Lexico-Statistical
Method" and attempted to put a percentage figure on the
degree to which languages are related (M.Swadesh, Linguistics Today, 1954).
It is based on the percentage of resemblances between 200 words considered to
be essential in a language: 1.
The oldest names for parts of the body and its functions 2.
Pronouns and numerals 3.
Names for dwellings, children and families 4.
Domestic animals The well-known Basque linguist A.
Tovar followed this method to measure the degree of kinship of Basque with
other languages of non-Indo-European origin. The closest relationship he
found was with Berber (11%) followed by Circaskian/Kirrukaskan (7.5%), Coptic
(6.5%), Arabic (3.25%). Then he asked
Dr. Lahovary to try this method on Dravidian, with the astounding result of
50+%. This meant that, of all the languages tested so far, the Dravidian
language was closest to Basque by far. However, the ease with which Edo
Nyland assembled the long list of related Basque-Ainu words, makes it likely
that Ainu could even be closer to early Basque than Dravidian. A student of
Lexico-Statistical Method should test this possibility. This method is of no use with invented languages such as Latin, Greek, Sanskrit,
Hebrew, English, German etc. because all of these are made up almost 100% by
formulaic manipulation and mutilation of the Basque/Saharan language. REASON FOR THE
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DRAVIDIAN AND BASQUE
A calamity of unprecedented scale
must have driven large numbers of people from the once well-populated North African
area, starting about 10,000 bce. (see Climate). Some of the tribes living along the
Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian ocean shores had developed advanced skills
in boat building, sailing techniques and star navigation, which specialized
knowledge was carefully guarded by the families involved. They became later
known to the Egyptians as the Sea Peoples. Other
tribes in the interior had no relationship to salt water and were dependent
upon the Sea Peoples for ocean transport when the time came to seek a new
homeland. All of these people had the same Goddess religion, a universal
language called Saharan and strong oral traditions.
It is likely that their Saharan language was the only highly developed
language in the entire world at that time, the product of a marvelous oral
educational tradition. History proved that they were well equipped for
pioneering anywhere in the wide world. As Lahovary
noted: "One of the most common linguistic phenomena is the ease with
which a new language can impose itself on vast masses, even if spoken only by
a relatively small minority, should this minority have political power or the
prestige of a superior civilization" (p371). To political power and
civilization, we might add the vibrant Goddess religion of the North
Africans. The present evidence of significant remnants of the Saharan language in distant parts of the world shows
that their language took hold wherever they settled. All of these people believed
absolutely in reincarnation,
which meant that a person, with all his/her knowledge and experiences, would
live on in a newborn when the body died. Risk taking was part of the joy of
living, even if lives of productive people were frequently lost.
Reincarnation would then restore the deceased person to active life. It was
all part of living. As a result, these people were timeless and they totally
believed that it was their duty to continue with the tasks and ideals of
their previous lives. They had no idea of what we call history because they
were history themselves. A son would always follow in the footsteps of his
incarnation, whether farmer, ocean navigator, herdsman or fisherman, a system
which created enormous stability in their civilization, and which was also at
the root of the caste system. The women were responsible for the home front,
the men for the out-service which included long distance exploration, ocean
travel and trading, whaling, fishing etc. Several writers have speculated
about the origin of the Dravidian people and how they acquired their language
and religion. There are two main theories. Most of the North Africans were
white-skinned, but in or near Ethiopia there lived a population of
dark-skinned and black people (and they are still there) who did not have the
usual Negro features. This may have been the population that gave rise to the
Dravidians. They may have been one of the last tribes to be forced to migrate
when the extreme drought finally settled in their area. Another theory is
that the refugees from North Africa were Caucasian, who then entered the land
of the indigenous people of India and introduced their language and religion.
As has happened elsewhere, this probably quite small population of immigrants
mixed with the dark skinned local population and in time the white
characteristic were totally submerged.
Edo Nyland favors this theory. Sailing east around 3-4,000 bce. they
had found Mesopotamia already fully occupied so they settled in the fertile
Indus valley, where they built their villages, which around 2,500 bce.
developed into major cities like Mohenjo-Daro and "Harappa".
The Goddess religion was retained by them and further developed into the
characteristic and artistic religion of today. The Saharan language was mixed
with the indigenous languages of the people and over time these evolved into
a number of related languages. It should be noted that the
Basques and the Dravidians had never been in physical contact with each
other, living in widely separated areas.
Therefore, the language they shared with the Dravidians must have been
acquired from a common, North African source. The Basques and Berbers have a
special characteristic that the Dravidians do not have: Rh-negative blood. If
these tribes had ever been in close contact, that characteristic would have
been evident today. MALE DOMINATION IN INDIA
Around 1,800 bce., the thriving
land of the Indus civilization attracted a large land-migration of tall,
Caucasian herdsmen, coming from the Near East or North Africa (see Nyland
(2001). They brought with them a new religion that they had created by turning
the Goddess religion inside out. Where the old society was a gentle and
matrilineal organized, yet egalitarian society, the newcomers were
patriarchal warriors and extremely dictatorial; they promoted writing and
forbade the maintenance of the ancient oral traditions. A start was made with
the creation of a new language, later called Samskrta (Sanskrit), and eventually the
speaking of the Universal language was forbidden. Under this new order the
formerly highly respected and independent women became the property of
fathers and husbands, to be given away, used, punished or disposed of at
will, never to be without supervision of a man. They no longer had any say in
the running of the tribe. For the resident Dravidians the choice was either
to adopt the newcomers' way or slavery. The Dravidian peoples chose not to
submit and decided to flee from the Indus valley. The newcomers, being
herdsmen, had no knowledge of city management or desire to live in this
manner and the ancient cities were plundered and abandoned. Those who stayed,
mixed in with the new population and in time altered the character of the
Caucasian herdsmen to create the distinctive race of people we see today in
northern India and Pakistan. The majority of the Dravidians fled south and entered
the area of other tribes which move created a domino effect of new and
sometimes bloody conflicts, one of which, the Tamil fight for Sri Lanka, is
still making headlines in our newspapers today. |