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[Note: All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]
COMPARING
BASQUE AND THE
DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES *
(Contact)
THE MAIN DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES
About one quarter of India's
population speaks Dravidian, a language family usually considered
to have four branches:
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:
The Dravidian language family was
first described in 1816 by Francis Ellis, a British civil servant who recognized
the relationship between the four literary languages as well as Tulu, Kodagu
and Malto. 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. IN INDIA, BASQUE CAN BE DETECTED EVERYWHERE
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."
THE GENETIC
RELATIONSHIP
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:
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. WHY THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BASQUE AND DRAVIDIAN?
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. THE COMING OF MALE DOMINATION
About 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. 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 dark-skinned
Dravidians the choice was either 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. |
==========================================
For further detail, please
refer to:
Nyland, Edo. 2001. Linguistic Archaeology: AnIntroduction. Trafford Publ., Victoria, B.C., Canada.
ISBN 1-55212-668-4. 541 p. [
see abstract & summary]
Nyland, Edo. 2002.
Odysseus and the Sea Peoples: A
Bronze Age History of Scotland Trafford Publ., Victoria,
B.C., Canada.
307 p. [see
abstract & summary].
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