Vasconic hypothesis

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The vascular hypothesis is a speculative assumption about the early history of Europe . The Vasconic Hypothesis assumes that languages ​​of the Vasconic language family were spoken in large parts of Europe 7000 years ago , the last surviving representative of which is the Basque language . The Indo-European languages , on the other hand, did not become known until around the 3rd millennium BC. Chr. Common in Europe and dominates the linguistic landscape of Europe.

The vasconic hypothesis is prominently represented by the linguist Theo Vennemann . It should not only explain the insularity of Basque and the Aquitaine language , which still existed in historical times , but also offer an alternative to conventional assumptions about the early history of Europe. As a positive indication, their representatives cite toponyms , especially the names of waters in Central, Western, Southern and Northern Europe, as names of waters in onomastics are considered to be long-lived and language changes survive. The entire hypothesis and especially its "vasconic" interpretation of the names of the waters are, however, controversial among experts.

For the vasconic language family, the official registry for the ISO-639-5 language codes, the US Library of Congress , has the code [euq] for Basque (family) , while the ISO-639-1 / 2/3 language codes for Basque are [eu / eus / baq]. The closely related Aquitaine , which died out in the Middle Ages , has the ISO 639-3 language code [xaq]. The thesis that this was widespread in an old European population before the Indo-European immigration must be distinguished from the mere assumption of the Vasconic language family.

Motivation of the hypothesis

Old European hydronymy overview map of the roots * Al- , * Alm-
  • Al
  • Alm
    • Old European hydronymy overview map of the roots * Sal- , * Salm- . Data: Hans Krahe, cards (except for color marking) Antonio Torvar; Both maps show the distribution, the A-vowelism and the low occurrence of plosives in the old European hydronymy.
  • Sal
  • Salm

    • Theo Vennemann builds his hypothesis on the work of Hans Krahe . He postulated an old European language layer as the origin of the water names ( hydronyms ) , which he assigned to the Indo-European language family.

    Theo Vennemann rejects the assignment of the language class to Indo-European for the following reasons:

    • The distribution area of ​​the old European is "too big. It cannot extend to the Iberian Peninsula; because this was in the 2nd millennium - this, according to Krahe, the time when his hydronymy emerged - not Indo-European. "
    • From a phoneme statistical point of view, the dominance of a-vowelism and the low frequency of plosives are striking.
    • From the well-known longevity of some hydronyms, Vennemann derives a “toponomastic main axiom”, which assumes that once named places will keep their names and that the toponym will be adopted in other languages. Since "long before the Indo-Germanization all the distinctive natural features of the area and all the good settlement areas were named [... it follows from this] that almost all places of some importance bear pre-Indo-European names."

    The hypothesis and its evidence

    Vennemann's alternative classification of the "Old European"

    The Aranea River in the Spanish Basque Country between Erratzu and the Col d'Ispéguy, as an example of a-vowelism and the spread of ancient European hydronymy in areas that were not Indo-European

    Theo Vennemann adopts Krahe's assumption of a unified old European language class, but assigns it to a Vasconic language family he has adopted, the only recent daughter language of which is Basque today. He also counts the Basque-Aquitaine, whose Aquitaine branch died out in Roman times, the Ligurian and possibly the Iberian language and the languages ​​of the western Mediterranean islands, especially the pre-Roman Sardinian, to this Vasconic family . Insofar as the proposed relationship between Basque and some Caucasian languages can be demonstrated, Vaskonian, as the western part, belongs to a Vasko-Caucasian language family.

    He compares word cores of European field, place and waterway names with those in modern Basque. Based on the assumption that the lexemes in geographical names are older, the more linguistic areas they are found in, Vennemann concludes that these names come from a language that must be used before the spread of Indo-European.

    He assumes that the old European class can be traced back to an initial land acquisition by a population from a linguistically uniform and thus small area. They started at the end of the last ice age in what is now Aquitaine, where a European rest of the population due to the climatic conditions of the last ice age was crowded. With the retreat of the glaciers, this population found itself in a preferred position for settlement, sealed off against access from the south through the Alps, which were still glaciated for a long time. With the warming it spread again over Europe and carried a uniform language into the areas that were becoming colonizable. All landmarks - mountains, lakes, rivers, valleys, plains, etc. - were initially named by the first settlers using word material from their language. Europe would have had a single language until the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, i.e. for a few thousand years. Remains of this language would be our current toponyms, such as the river names as hydronymes.

    Europe 20,000 years ago. The last glacial maximum (Last Glacial Maximum, LGM) was around 21,000 to 18,000 years ago.
  • Solutréen culture.
  • Epi- Gravettia culture.

    • Basque word cores

    Vennemann counts word kernels such as among the toponyms of Old European

    • al- / alm Aller, Alm,
    • var- / ver Werre, Warn ,
    • sal- / salm Saale, Salm,
    • is- / eis Isar, Eisack,
    • ur- / aur Urach, Aurach,
    • aran Arno (Tuscany), Ahrntal (South Tyrol), Ahr, Ahrensburg, Arenberg, Arundel (England), Arendal (Norway), Aranea (Spanish Basque Country)
    • ibar Eberberg / Ebrach

    He interprets these word stems as vasconic and compares them with modern Basque. The Arn names of (h) aran : bask. 'Tal', the boar names from ibar : bask. 'Tal', 'estuary', the original names of ur : bask. 'Water'. The Basque syllable is , which means 'water, body of water', is the basis of the is / eis names.

    Vigesimality

    According to Vennemann, the use of the vigesimal system was a characteristic of the old European language. Today's Basque is purely vigesimal. Traces of a vigesimality have been preserved in the island Celtic languages, in French and in the Danish language, which Vennemann traces back to language contact with Vasconic languages. He assumes that it was only Indo-European immigration that established the decimal system in Europe.

    reception

    General criticism

    Vennemann's thesis was largely rejected by experts. According to Lutz Reichardt , Vennemann's theses are based on the false assumption that from older archaeological finds one can conclude that “there is continuity of settlement and thus name continuity through all subsequent language layers.” He also criticizes the methodology used by supporters of the Vasconic Hypothesis:

    “It is arbitrarily segmented and some of the segments are not or not correctly explained. In addition, contrary to the documentary evidence, the secondary occurrence of the place name elements -ingen, -hûsen, -dorf, -bach and so on is expected. [...] In this respect, as [Hans Bahlow's] successors, you [Vennemann and his pupil Freche, note] can share the judgment that Pierre Hessmann made on the work of H. Bahlow, the content of which, as I said, has not changed since then did not spare: 'The interpretations and the conclusions drawn from them about ancient European peoples cannot be taken seriously by any philologist.' "

    Harald Bichlmeier criticizes Vennemann's approach, because in his "Etymologies" he compares medieval forms of German place and river names with modern Basque words, instead of, as methodically required, the urban reconstructs. "

    Peter Anreiter points out that toponyms, the true meaning of which is no longer handed down, can be “interpreted” in any language and, as reductio ad absurdum, presents an ironic interpretation of the “vasconisms” as Turkish. Nevertheless, he advocates that "what can be explained Indo-European [...] may remain Indo-European."

    The Bascologist Joseba A. Lakarra rejects the vasconic etymologies because, in his opinion, they are incompatible with the state of research on the history of sounds and forms in Basque.

    In his monograph Indo-European Linguistics , which has advanced to become a standard work, Michael Meier-Brügger expresses himself with the words that Vennemann's theses are “all rich in unprovable imagination”.

    Likewise, Hayim Y. Sheynin, as an expert on Semitic languages, rejects all of Venneman's approaches in an article in Linguist List ; he reports that correspondence that he received thereupon fully supports him in this, with the exception of Robert Mailhammer and a geneticist from Australia, Langendorf.

    Origin of European vigesimal systems

    Theo Vennemann sees the use of a vigesimal counting method in the modern Celtic languages, French and Danish as a remnant of the vasconic vigesimal system . In fact, the oldest Celtic language levels, including Old Irish and Gallic, just like Old Norse, had no vigesimal system, but only developed this in the Middle Ages. This means that there is no question of Gallic influence in French either. In Danish, too, the twenties system did not spread until Central Danish (Gammeldansk) in the 13th and 14th centuries. Manfred Kudlek is considering a. a. a possible medieval wave of borrowings that “if it were, then from France” could have spread. Brigitte Bauer also sees no substrate influence in the European vigesimal system, but rather "a medieval development, related in part to major changes in society, such as the development of the monetary system."

    See also

    literature

    • Alfred Bammesberger, Theo Vennemann: Languages ​​in Prehistoric Europe. Winter, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8253-1449-9 , pp. 319-332.
    • Andrea Böhm: Problems of the interpretation of Central European place names. Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-8316-0152-6 .
    • Rudolf Gerber: The language. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2007, ISBN 978-3-8334-7515-3 .
    • Elisabeth Hamel: The Development of the Nations in Europe. Research in archeology, linguistics and genetics. Rottenbücher Verlag, Ebersberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027516-6 , pp. 181-192, 429-439.
    • Elisabeth Hamel, Theo Vennemann: Vaskonian was the original language of the continent. In: Spectrum of Science. German edition of Scientific American. Spektrumverlag, Heidelberg May 2002. ISSN  0170-2971 .
    • Dieter H. Steinbauer: Vasconic - Original Language of Europe? In: Günter Hauska (Ed.): Genes, languages ​​and their evolution. Universitätsverlag, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-930480-46-8 .
    • Jürgen Udolph (Ed.): Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica ?: Critical contributions to the question of the Basque and Semitic substratum in Europe. Baar-Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-935536-06-6 .
    • Theo Vennemann: On the question of pre-Indo-European substrates in Central and Western Europe. In: Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna, Theo Vennemann (ed.): Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica. (= Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs. Volume 138). de Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-017054-X , pp. 517-590.
    • Theo Vennemann: Basques, Semites, Indo-Europeans. Original home questions from a linguistic and anthropological point of view. In: Wolfgang Meid (Hrsg.): Language and culture of the Indo-Europeans. Files of the X. Conference of the Indo-European Society, 22. – 28. September 1996. (= Innsbruck contributions to linguistics. Volume 93). Innsbruck 1998, ISBN 3-85124-668-3 , pp. 119-138.
    • Theo Vennemann: Linguistic Reconstruction in the Context of European Prehistory. In: Transactions of the Philological Society. Oxford 92.1994, ISSN  0079-1636 , pp. 215-284.

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Antonio Torvar: Krahe Old European Hydronymy and westindogermanishen Languages , Proceedings of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, presented in February 1976,
    2. ↑ Hans Krahe: The structure of the old European hydronymy. Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, born in 1962 No. 5, pp. 285–342.
    3. ^ Theo Vennemann: On the question of pre-Indo-European substrates , lecture on the occasion of the memorial event for Johannes Hubschmid at the University of Heidelberg, January 18, 1996, printed in Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica, Chapter 17, p. 525
    4. ^ Theo Vennemann: On the question of pre-Indo-European substrates , lecture on the occasion of the memorial event for Johannes Hubschmid at the University of Heidelberg, January 18, 1996, printed in Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica, Chapter 17, 522-523
    5. ↑ Theo Vennemann: On the question of pre-Indo-European substrates , lecture on the occasion of the memorial event for Johannes Hubschmid at the University of Heidelberg, January 18, 1996, printed in Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica, Chapter 17, 518f.
    6. ↑ In the rest of the Indo-European literature, the term vasconic is used differently for a language of antiquity in today's Aquitaine and Basque Country , which has been handed down through place names and short inscriptions in stone . For example Michael Meier-Brügger, Matthias Fritz, Manfred Mayrhofer: Indo-European Linguistics. de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-025143-2 , p. 170 f. Vennemann calls this language "Basque-Aquitaine".
    7. ^ Theo Vennemann: The Ginko tree: Germanistic yearbook for Northern Europe. Helsinki, University of Helsinki, 1995, pp. 39-115 f.
    8. ^ Remarks on some British place names, Europa Vasconia - Europa Semitica, pp. 479-515.
    9. ↑ etymology and place names research, Europe Vasconia - Europe Semitica, pp 753-802.
    10. ^ Lutz Reichardt: successor to Hans Bahlow. In: Contributions to Name Research (BN) 1996; 31 (4): 398-406. P. 399
    11. ^ Lutz Reichardt: successor to Hans Bahlow. In: Contributions to Name Research (BN) 1996; 31 (4): 398-406. P. 405
    12. ↑ Harald Bichlmeier: Analysis and evaluation of the linguistic standards of current research of the traditional kind on 'old European hydronymy' from the perspective of today's Indo-European studies. In: onenological information 101/102 (2012/2013), pp. 397–438, fn. 63
    13. ↑ Peter Anreiter: Thoughts on the book by Theo Vennemann. In: Udolph, J. (Ed.) Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica? Critical contributions to the question of the Basque and Semitic substratum in Europe . Pp. 11-64. Hamburg 2013. pp. 25–27
    14. ↑ Peter Anreiter: Thoughts on the book by Theo Vennemann. In: Udolph, J. (Ed.) Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica? Critical contributions to the question of the Basque and Semitic substratum in Europe. Pp. 11-64. Hamburg 2013. p. 63
    15. ^ Joseba A. Lakarra: On Ancient European and Reconstruction of Proto-Basque. In: Udolph, J. (Ed.) Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica? Critical contributions to the question of the Basque and Semitic substratum in Europe. Pp. 65-150. Hamburg 2013. p. 134
    16. ↑ Michael Meier-Brügger: Indo-European Linguistics . 9th edition. 2010, p. 166 .
    17. ↑ Hayim Y. Shynin, Review: Historical Linguistics: Vennemann (2003) in: LINGUIST List 15.1878 (Mon Jun 21 2004) online
    18. ↑ a b c Manfred Kudlek: Vigesimal number name systems in languages ​​of Europe and neighboring areas. P. 221–240 In: Armin R. Bachmann / Christliebe El Mogharbel / Katja Himstedt (ed.): Form and structure in language: Festschrift for Elmar Ternes. Tübingen 2010.
    19. ↑ Bauer, Brigitte LM (2001): Vigesimal numerals in romance: an Indo-European perspective . In: General Linguistics 41.1, p. 21