Angus J Huck 16-1-2003 Basque and Sumerian

Dear Luisma,

Nothing is more guaranteed to give Larry Trask and his allies apoplexy than the suggestion that Basque is genetically related to Sumerian.

So let's examine just a fraction of the evidence.

But before we do so, let me just put on record the importance of distinguishing those stems which are common to more than one phylum and those that are unique to Dene-Caucasian.

I'll start by looking at the first category:-

Sumerian ada "father" Basque aita "father"

Sumerian agar "irrigated field, common land" Basque agirre (land-use term)

Sumerian garash "straw" Basque garo "fern", gari "wheat"

Sumerian gig/ge/ke "night" Basque gau "night"

Sumerian gur "wheels" Basque gur-di "cart", gur-pil "wheel"

Sumerian guru "high, deep" Basque garai "high"

Sumerian guru "to encircle, besiege" Basque in-guru "surrounding"

Sumerian gurun/gurin/girin/girim "fruit, berry, flower" Basque garau(n) "fruit, grain, seed", gara-tu "to sprout"

Sumerian henbur "red shoots, stalks" Basque (z)enbor "tree trunk"

Sumerian igi "eye", igisi "to see" Basque b-egi "eye", ikusi "to see"

Sumerian milla "mountain" Basque mal-da "slope"

Sumerian shur/sur "to flow, drip" Basque i-suri "flow, pour"

Sumerian tiri-gal (an unidentified bird) Basque txori "bird"

Sumerian ziz "moth" Basque sits "moth"

Now let's look at a few from he second category:-

Sumerian ahe "arm" Basque ukai "forearm", uka-bil "wrist, etc

Sumerian ala "exclamation of joy, exuberance" Basque alai "happy, merry"

Sumerian abar "cane, reed " Basque abar "branch"

Sumerian asa/as/az "bear" Basque (h)artz "bear"

Sumerian asa/as/az "myrtle" Basque aza "cabbage"

Sumerian ashki "bullrush" Basque ezki "linden tree", m-uski-l "bud", ezkai "thyme", etc.

Sumerian bila "son, heir" Basque bilo-ba "grandson"

Sumerian bir "locust, sparrow" Basque bili "gosling", biri-garro "thrush"

Sumerian bir "to be hot" Basque bero "hot"

Sumerian eg/ek/ig "embankment" Basque egi "ridge"

Sumerian en "dignatory, lord" Basque jaun "lord"

Sumerian erin/eren "cedar" Basque aran "plum"

Sumerian esh "shrine" Basque etxe "house"

Sumerian esig "wall" Basque (h)esi "fence"

Sumerian gaz "powder" Basque gatz "salt"

Sumerian giri/gir "lighting flash" Basque gar "flame"

Sumerian gis/ges "man, penis" Basque giz-on "man"

Sumerian gis/ges "wooden implement, sceptre" Basque gezi "arrow, dart"

Sumerian gud "war" Basque gudu "war"

Sumerian gun/gu "land, region, district" Basque gune "place"

Sumerian gur "copper sickle" Basque aiz-kor-a "axe"

Sumerian igira "heron" Basque ugari "heron"

Sumerian isimu/isim "offspring/descendant" Basque seme "son"

Sumerian kala/gala "store-pit, cellar" Basque gela "room"

Sumerian kar "to take away" Basque e-karr-i "to bring"

Sumerian kas "fast runner" Basque ihes/iges "flight, escape"

Sumerian kim/gim "willow tree" Basque kima/gima "shoot, sprout, bud"

Sumerian kus(-u) "to be tired", worried" Basque kexu "worried"

Sumerian lamma/lama "female spirit of good fortune" Basque lami-a/lami-ni "elf-like mythical being"

Sumerian limmu/lim "four" Basque lau(r) "four"

Sumerian lu "man" (classifier) Basque loi "body"

Sumerian luhum/luhummu "mud" Basque lo(h)i/lokatz "mud"

Sumerian mamu "dream" Basque mamu "ghost"

Sumerian mar/mur "worm" Basque zo-morr-o "insect"

Sumerian masgi "night-time vision, dream, omen" Basque a-mets "dream"

Sumerian men "crown, tiara" Basque men "power"

Sumerian mer/mir "storm, angry, furious" Basque a-morr-o "rage"

Sumerian mur "ridge" Basque muru "small hill"

Sumerian mush "snake, reptile" Basque mus-ker "lizard"

Sumerian mush-dagur "gecko, lizard" Basque mus-ker "lizard" + zakur "dog"

Sumerian mushen "bird" (classifier) Basque mozo-lo "owl"

Sumerian nemur "glowing coals, fire" Basque nabar "brightly coloured"

Sumerian sab "middle, stem" Basque sab-el "stomach"

Sumerian sadur "low-lying end of farmer's field" Basque zador "hollow"

Sumerian shagan/shakan "large jar for oil" Basque aska "manger" (with metathesis)

Sumerian sahar "earth, silt" Basque zakar "slag"

Sumerian sahir "net, bundle" Basque sare "net"

Sumerian sakar (unidentified plant) Basque sagar "apple"

Sumerian shal/sal "narrow, thin" Basque a-zal "shallow"

Sumerian shar/sar "to enter" Basque sar-tu "to enter"

Sumerian sedur "caterpillar cocoon" Basque zeden "grub, mite, caterpillar"

Sumerian shes/ses "myrrh" Basque sasi "brambles"

Sumerian sisa "straight" Basque zuzen "straight"

Sumerian su "to stand, set up" Basque zut "upright"

Sumerian sug (unidentified small animal) Basque sagu "mouse"

Sumerian suhush "roots, support, foundation" Basque zuzter "roots"

Sumerian suku "food portion" Basque zuku "soup"

Sumerian sukur "spear, lance" Basque sakil "penis"

Sumerian susu "basket" Basque sas-ki "basket"

Sumerian ten/te-en "cold, coldness" Basque zen "dead"

Sumerian tul "public fountain, well, cistern" Basque zulo "hole" (Iberian *tulo)

Sumerian ud "sun, light, day" Basque uda "summer"

Sumerian ugu "to give birth" Basque ugari "abundant"

Sumerian un "people" Basque en-da "race"

Sumerian ur "dog" Basque or(a) "dog"

Sumerian ur "to flood" Basque ur "water"

Sumerian urin "eagle" Basque arrano "eagle"

Sumerian uru/iri "city, town, village, district Basque (h)erri, iri, uri, ili "town, village, people, country"

Sumerian us "domestic duck or goose" Basque uso "dove"

Sumerian us "foundation" Basque eutsi "to maintain, conserve, keep"

Sumerian usar/usur "neighbour" Basque auzo "neighbourhood"

Sumerian usuh "fir or spruce tree" Basque izai "fir tree"

Trask's technique would be to pour scorn on each individual comparison, but negelct to apply Bayes theorem (weak or moderate evidence becomes strong once it is stacked together - the "bundle of sticks" ).

86 comparisons is nothing compared with the number which link English and German, for instance, but it's surely more than coincidence (and there are many more).

Trask will no doubt scoff at my comparison of Sumerian kala/gala "store-pit cellar" with Basque gela "room", on the ground that the latter is Latin. Perhaps. But that doesn't explain the similarity. Sumerian couldn't have borowed the word from Latin, even if Basque did.

With best wishes,

Angus J Huck 17-1-2003 Basque and Sumerian (2)





Dear Luisma,

I have one or two things to add to my e-mail of 16/1/2003 on the above subject.

Firstly, I was wrong to place Sumerian tul "public fountain, well, cistern" in the category of stems unique to Dene-Caucasian. It is found in Indo-European (English dale and Slavonic dolina, both "valley"), and in Altaic (Turkish deli-k "hole").

Secondly, I note that in addition to Basque zeden "grub, mite, caterpillar", there is also Basque zeder "clothes moth". This is closer in form to Sumerian sedur "caterpillar cocoon".

Is this pure chance, is there an obscure psychological explanation as to why the two languages should have such similar words, is the Basque word a borrowing, or is there a genetic connection between the two?

One hit alone may well be down to chance, but 86 (and there are more) stretches probability to absurd limits.

Note that I have compared only stems (not compounds), and have compared primary meanings only (at least where they are known with some certainty).

If we knew the historical soundshifts which underly the Sumerian stems, then I suspect we would be able to identify even more cognates.

In addition, many items of core vocabulary in Sumerian are unknown, which increases still further the number of likely cognates.

Unfortunately, unlike Yeniseian and North Caucasian, Sumerian doesn't belong to a family of closely related languages, which would allow us to examine historical soundshifts, as is the case with Yeniseian and North Caucasian (even Burushaski has two distinct dialects, and Basque can be compared with what we know of Iberian, even if scholars shun this procedure). Sumerian really is an isolate.

An interesting Sumerian word is parim "arid land, dry land". This bears more than a superficial resemblance to Spanish paramo "barren upland plateau".

Now, paramo does not exist in Basque, but the word is clearly a Late Latin borrowing from Iberian, and seems to originate from the North-West.

I have previously analysed the word as *par, the North-West Iberian equivalent of Basque i-bar "river-bank, valley", + the -ama suffix found in place-names like Lezama, Beizama, etc. (The additional anterior i- in ibar would not have existed in most dialects of Iberian, and in the North-West, initial b often became p.)

While I still regard this analysis as the most likely, we should consider seriously the possibility that paramo is not a compound but a stem cognate with Sumerian parim.

The difficulty with this is that final m is impossible in both Basque and Iberian, so the stem, if that is what it is, would have had to have had three syllables, something almost unique in Basque and Iberian. (izokin "salmon" is a probable 3-syllable stem, since ancient borrowings into Celtic and Latin retain the initial i-, though not the final n. gorosti "holly" is probably a compound: gor-osti or goros-ti.)

We must note that Sumerian doesn't just contain stems resembling stems in Basque. gam "to bend, curve, bow down, kneel", and man "partner", will be familiar to students of Indo-European.

I recently referred to the deity, Torolus Gombiciegus, recorded on a Roman era inscription at Pias, Spain.

There is also a Vinia Campegiensis, a place recorded in Roman times, somewhere near Caceres.

This is an absolutely ghastly Roman rendering of a native name, which may have been *Benegonbikiaigi, the settlement of Gonbikiaigi. (*Bene/wini is the same as the bene in Bene(h)arnum and Benegorri.) Note, though, that the votive inscription (written by natives, or Romanised natives, in Latin), gives the word for "eye" as biki. The place-name, doubtless recorded by a Latin monoglot, gives the same word as pegi, which is closer to Basque, even though the initial b becomes p, as is often the case in the Iberian of the North-West.

With best wishes,

Angus J Huck

19-1-2003 Basque and Sumerian (3)





Dear Luisma,

Some more Basque/Sumerian comparisons:-

Sumerian gak/kak "peg, nail, spike, bone, hinge, joint, knee" and Basque gako "hook, key".

Examples of this stem in Iberian are: (1) CACUSIN "keeper of the keys", from the Ascoli bronze plate, and (2) the tesera in the shape of a horse bearing the message ni biak(a) kordi kakar "I have both cart hooks" (the Iberian script has no non-syllabic k-sign, so the final a in biak(a) should be disregarded).

Sumerian garanda "bearing fruit" and Basque i-gali "fruit".

garanda is a compound, of course.

Sumerian eranum and Basque erramu "laurel".

This is a bit of a longshot, perhaps, since it requires us to accept a Sumerian three-syallable stem. (But I seem to remember Jimmy Carter once being described as a "longshot"!)

Sumerian di/de "to speak" and Basque dei-tu "to call".

This stem is found in Iberian, on the Liria ceramics, where a picture of a river battle is captioned gudua : deistea "the battle, the command".

Sumerian umu "nurse" and Basque ema-kume (first element) "woman".

Sumerian gana/gan "tract of land, field, parcel", and the first element in the Basque place-names Gandiaga and Gandarias.

There is also a similar word in Chechen (North Caucasian), I believe.

Also Sumerian ganba "market place" and the Basque place-name, Ganba.

Latin campus is no doubt an ancient borrowing from Dene-Caucasian.

Sumerian erib "daughter-in-law" and Basque arre-ba "sister of a man".

I doubt this one, because the b in Basque is actually part of the second element in a compound.

In Iberian, arreba was used as an epithet for female deities, as in Basi Arrebe, the subject of the Ullastreet lead tablet votive inscription. The Romans rendered this as Revva and Reus.

Sumerian du "heap" and Basque idu/ido/itu "peak" (found in mountain names like Idubeda, Idubaltza, Idocorry, Amarritu, etc).

Sumerian darra "cured, dried" and Basque i-dor "dry".

Sumerian buru "crow, raven" and Basque bela/bele "crow, raven".

In Iberian, we find this stem in personal names like Belasko "little crow" and Belaur "baby crow" and place-names like Belegia (Iruna near Gasteiz) "place of the crows" and Vellica also "place of the crows". (The Iberian personal name element beles has nothing to do with blackness or crows, but is in fact equivalent to Basque belatz "falcon".)

On the subject of Basque gela "room" and its possible relationship with Sumerian gala/kala "cellar, storage-pit", note the Roman place-name Gella (Cerro del Castillo de Montealegre). If this is really a Latin place-name, then why did Roman writers record it in this form?

Now, on the subject of the second element in Sumerian garanda, there is an obscure Basque word, anta, meaning "proportion". This may have been used as a suffix in prehistoric times, equivalent to English -ness, giving us the river name Carantona (Charente) "highness, holiness?" and Solent "hole-ness, estuary-ness?".

With best wishes,

Angus J Huck

19-1-2003 Basque and Sumerian (4)





Dear Luisma,

Yet more Basque/Sumerian comparisons:-

Sumerian aka/ak/ag/a "to do, act, place, make into" and Basque egin "to do, make" and ekin "to persist".

There is an obvious connection between egin and the -gin agent suffix, which we know also existed in Iberian (Enasacin, Ataecina, etc)

Sumerian ara "to shine, blaze" and Basque argi "light".

Sumerian alim "wild ram, bison, aurochs, powerful" and Basque orein "deer".

Sumerian bal "to revolve" and bala "spindle" and Basque bil "sphere" (as in gur-pil, barra-bil, uka-bil, Balki-bil, etc).

Sumerian bid/vi "anus" and Basque bide "road, way, means, etc".

Sumerian gi "reed" and Basque i-hi "reed" (Iberian *ki, as in Ili-ki and Kieko, the 10th C name of Eltziego, Araba).

Sumerian hegal "overflow, abundance" and Basque ugari "abundance" ???

Sumerian ub "cavity, hole, pitfall" and Basque ubi "ford" (as in Salduba, Birobi, Segobi-a, etc).

Sumerian susur "stove grill" and Basque su "fire".

Some of these look fairly weak, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong!

With best wishes,

5-2-2003 Basque and Sumerian





Dear Luisma,

In one of my recent e-mails about Basque and Sumerian, I compared Basque sakil/zakil "penis" to Sumerian tukul "weapon" and sukur "spear, lance".

In offering this comparison, I made an assumption, which I now believe to be wrong, that "penis" is the primary meaning of sakil/zakil.

I now think this meaning is in fact secondary, and that the primary meaning may have been "spear" or "lance".

After all, sakil/zakil has additional meanings in Basque of "plant stalk" and "cleft" (if I translate the Spanish in De Kerexeta correctly).

The earlier Basque word for "penis" may well be barroa (found also in barra-bil "testicle").

If I am right, Iberian *sekel/tekel, found in some personal names, would be "spear" or "lance", a meaning identical to that of the Sumerian cognate sukur.

Note also the following Na Dene reflexes: Tlingit takh'al "needle" and Eyak takl "arrow".

This helps solve the problem of Iberian *sekel/tekel.

No-one is likely to allow themselves to be known as "penis", but "spear" or "lance" certainly.

The name Irsecel (one of the mercenaries listed on the Ascoli bronze plate) appears at first light to be "your penis", but may in fact mean "three spears", ie "trident".

The interchangeability of initial s- with initial t- in Iberian is consistent with the same effect in Sumerian and the initial t- in Na Dene.

With best wishes,

Angus J Huck