DOCSLIB.ORG

Ivo Budil John Pinkerton and His Vision of Ancient Scythians: "Si Les

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ivo Budil John Pinkerton and His Vision of Ancient Scythians: John Pinkerton and his vision of ancient Scythians: “Si les Aryens n'existaient pas, il faudrait 14 | 15 les inventer” | Ivo Budil Ivo Budil John Pinkerton and his vision of ancient Scythians: "Si les Aryens n´existaient pas, il faudrait les inventer"1 1) Studie je dílčím výstupem projektu specifického výzkumu Katedry antropologických a historických věd FF ZČU, 2009. Abstract The main purpose of the article is to describe the racial interpretation of European history proposed by an eminent British scholar John Pinkerton (1758–1826) in his book A Disserta- tion on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians or Goths (1787). The hypothesis suggested by John Pinkerton will be evaluated in a broader historical, intellectual and cultural context and its relationship to traditional Scytho-Celtic paradigm and indology of Royal Asiatic So- ciety will be analyzed. Author argued that we could derive some fundamental similarities between Pinkerton's thesis and Aryan ideology penetrating Western political culture in the second half of nineteenth century. The fact could indicate that Western mentality used to be in a certain sense preadapted at the threshold of modernity for expansion of a new “myth of foundation” in the guise of racial aggressive narrative. John Pinkerton (1758–1826) as scholar has been widely neglected in the debates con- cerning the emergence of modern racial thinking including the Aryan imagination.2 In his excellent survey of the intellectual development of British collective identities prior 2) For instance, the name of John Pinkerton is missing in the classic narrative on the roots of Western racial ideology written by Léon Poliakov (1996, first edition 1971). John Pinkerton and his vision of ancient Scythians: “Si les Aryens n'existaient pas, il faudrait 16 | 17 les inventer” | Ivo Budil 1800, Colin Kidd emphasized Pinkerton's role in the rise of “a racist ideology celebrating of the nineteenth century the philology had been replaced by craniometry as a funda- the common Teutonic origins of Britain's core English and Lowland Scots nations”.3 There- mental methodology for a definition of a race. fore, John Pinkerton exploited an alleged “Gothic associations of the Picts as the foun- The sacred genealogies of Noah's descendants described in Genesis provided dation for a full-blown Scottish Teutonism” and appreciated the Lowlanders of modern a clue for understanding world ethnic diversity and arguments for all speculations con- Scotland as “a libertarian and industrious Teutonic people”.4 Colin Kidd argued that Pink- cerning ethnic and national origins from medieval and early modern ages almost to the erton as “the late Enlightenment racialist” brought together “a critique of the Old Testa- dawn of modern anthropological and ethnological disciplines. As Colin Kidd emphasized, ment, a Voltairean anti-Judaism, polygenesis and a virulent Celtophobia”.5 Reginald Hors- “the death of Adam was a slow death”, even as the sciences on human diversity were “de- man depicted John Pinkerton as a strong proponent of racial inferiority of Celts having mythologized”, they still kept “Mosaic” structure of arguments taken from the tradi- foreshadowed the racial scientific essentialism of the nineteenth-century.6 tion of Genesis.7 Christian scholars recognized the three sons of Noah – Shem, Ham, and The main purpose of this article is to analyze the Pinkerton's scientific en- Japheth – under the pagan names Cronos, Titan, and Japhets. Josephus stressed that the deavor in the broader historical and intellectual context. I will try to demonstrate that his descendants of Shem populated “Asia to the Indian Ocean”, while sons of Japheth occu- speculation on the fundamental role of the Scythians at the dawn of the Western civili- pied Europe from Tanaïs (Don) to Gadeïra (Cadiz). According to the Book of Jubilee from zation involved the structure of arguments close to that used by the founding fathers of second century BC “all that is to the north (of the Don) belongs to Japheth and all that is to the Aryan ideology. Pinkerton's work indicated that the European academic milieu was the south belongs to Shem”.8 Colin Kidd emphasized that the dominant Western linguistic pre-adapted to accept a new secular “myth of foundation” involving the image of ex- school before the arrival of Indo-European philology was so-called Scytho-Celtic para- pansion of Asiatic pastoral nomads as an alternative scenario to the traditional narrative digm.9 It presented an attempt to accommodate the biblical tradition to classical ethno- of the Old Testament. However, because of the progress in comparative and historical logical sources and local ethnic memories,10 to retain Hebrew as a language inspired by philology achieved by scholars in British Calcutta, the Aryans gained sounder scientific God and to appreciate the role of local European languages in the same time.11 For in- backing than Scythians whose studies were linked to the older stage of the Western dis- stance, Adriaen van Scrieck considered Hebrew to be the primogenia (“first-born”) while ciplines focused on the Orient. Subsequently, the Scythians were completely replaced lingua Iaphetica (“neighbor language”) presented “mother tongue of Scythian, Celtic, Teu- by Aryans in the genealogical imagination of the nineteenth-century as the alleged an- tonic, Belgian, Danish, and northern”.12 The idea of timeless sacrality of Hebrew had in- cestors of the modern European populations. fluenced strongly the development of Western historical, philological and ethnological Western civilization could be labeled as logo-centric not because of special disciplines.13 In 1765 Nicolas Beauzée remarked in the article entitled “langue” in the En- qualities of philosophical thinking only. Language has been playing an important role in cyclopédie that “the modern languages of Europe, which adopted analytic construction, many aspects of European imagination including religion, origins and characters of na- tions or historical narratives and consciousness. Linguistic inquiry had been considered to be a key for reconstruction of the roots of Western civilization. In the eighteenth-cen- tury the alliance between the concept of race and philology developed having made the “achievements” of linguistic creativity, performance and heritage of a concrete ethnic group an indicator of its “racial quality”. The most destructive form of racial ideology pre- 7) KIDD, 1999, p. 10. sented by Aryan fantasy emerged initially from the linguistic speculations on the mutual 8) OLENDER, 1994, p. 11. affinities between European and Indian languages. At the beginning of the second half 9) KIDD, 1999, p. 31. The locus classicus is one sentence in William Camden's Britain (1610, 2.66): “… in times past, as Strabo writeth, al people Westward were termed Celto- Scythae” (cit. SHUGER, 1997, p. 499). 10) For instance, Tacitus in Germania mentions the tradition that Ulysses should have visited the west of Germany, and built Asciburg on the Rhine; and “a Northern antiquary 3) KIDD, 1999, p. 204. has hence dreamed that Ulysses was Odin” (PINKERTON, 1787, p. 46). 4) Ibidem, p. 204. 11) OLENDER, 1994, p. 16. 5) Ibidem, p. 56. 12) Ibidem, p. 16. 6) HORSMAN, 1976, p. 391. 13) Ibidem, p. 19. John Pinkerton and his vision of ancient Scythians: “Si les Aryens n'existaient pas, il faudrait 18 | 19 les inventer” | Ivo Budil remain much closer to the primitive language than did Greek or Latin… Thus our modern nus (1170–1247), Archbishop of Toledo (1208–1247) and author of De rebus Hispaniae language (French) as well as Spanish and English, are linked to Hebrew through Celtic”.14 and Historia Arabum,22 wrote that “Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Flanders, and The political development in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- England, have all one speech, though distinguished by their idioms”.23 Walafrid Strabo tury enabled the rise of the new genealogical speculations on the national origins follow- (808–849), a Benedictine monk, poet and theologian, who was preceptor of the young ing the Noachic or Graeco-Troja lineages and reflecting political aspirations of emerging Prince Charles the Bald at the court of Louis the Pious before having been elected the political units and powers. The sacred hegemony of Hebrew as a primordial language of abbot of Reichenau, remarked that “the Goths, who were also called Getae, being in the the Paradise was challenged and that fact had vast consequences for development of provinces of the Greek empire at the time they were brought to the Christian faith, though collective identities of Western nations. not by the right way, had our language, that is the Tudesque”.24 A traditional view reflecting the religious prestige of Hebrew, for instance The notion of common linguistic and cultural identity had been accompanied the thesis of Samuel Bochart on the mutual genealogical connections between Hebrew by the animosity to the classical civilization of the South inhabited by Latin nations called and the languages of Europe via the Phoenicians or demonstration presented by Fa- Welsche.25 Probably the most famous expression of the ethnical and cultural hatred re- ther Louis Thomassin in 1690 on the proximity between Hebrew and French, was mar- flecting an old bipolarity between barbarism and civilization in early Middle Ages provided ginalized by the aspirations of local ethnical idioms and “patriotic humanists”.15 Mau- Liutprand (922–972), Bishop of Cremona, in his Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana ad rice Olender stressed that “each region of Europe thus had its doctors ‘of Languages of Nicephorum Phocam. This ambitious politician and historian belonged to a distinguished Paradise’,or specialists in the study of their Babelian derivatives”.16 Gimbattista Vico in- Lombard family. He became a confidential secretary of Berenger II, ruler of Italy, at his effectually criticized in his New Science these new fantastical narratives as a preposter- court in Pavia. In 949 Liutprand was sent on an embassy to Constantinople.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ancient Iranian Nomads in Western Central Asia
    ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5 ANCIENT IRANIAN NOMADS IN. 1 ANCIENT IRANIAN NOMADS IN WESTERN CENTRAL ASIA* A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov Contents Literary sources on the ancient Iranian nomads of Central Asia ............ 25 Society and economy of the Iranian nomads of Central Asia .............. 26 Culture of the Iranian nomads of Central Asia ..................... 29 The territory of Central Asia, which consists of vast expanses of steppe-land, desert and semi-desert with fine seasonal pastures, was destined by nature for the development of nomadic cattle-breeding. Between the seventh and third centuries b.c. it was inhabited by a large number of tribes, called Scythians by the Greeks, and Sakas by the Persians. The history of the Central Asian nomads is inseparable from that of the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe zone. Their political and economic life was closely linked, and their material culture had much in common. It should also be noted that, despite their distinctive qualities, the nomadic tribes were closely connected with the agricultural population of Central Asia. In fact, the history and movements of these nomadic tribes and the settled population cannot be considered in isolation; each had its impact on the other, and this interdependence must be properly understood. * See Map 1. 24 ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5 Literary sources on the ancient Iranian. Literary sources on the ancient Iranian nomads of Central Asia The term ‘Tura’¯ 1 is the name by which the Central Asian nomadic tribes were in one of the earliest parts of the Avesta. The Turas¯ are portrayed as enemies of the sedentary Iranians and described, in Yašt XVII (prayer to the goddess Aši), 55–6, as possessing fleet-footed horses.2 As early as 641 or 640 b.c.
    [Show full text]
  • A Utumn Catalogue 2016
    Autumn Catalogue 2016 antiquariaat FORUM & ASHER Rare Books Autumn Catalogue 2016 ’t Goy-Houten 2016 autumn catalogue 2016 Extensive descriptions and images available on request. All offers are without engagement and subject to prior sale. All items in this list are complete and in good condition unless stated otherwise. Any item not agreeing with the description may be returned within one week after receipt. Prices are EURO (€). Postage and insurance are not included. VAT is charged at the standard rate to all EU customers. EU customers: please quote your VAT number when placing orders. Preferred mode of payment: in advance, wire transfer or bankcheck. Arrangements can be made for MasterCard and VisaCard. Ownership of goods does not pass to the purchaser until the price has been paid in full. General conditions of sale are those laid down in the ILAB Code of Usages and Customs, which can be viewed at: <www.ilab.org/eng/ilab/code.html>. New customers are requested to provide references when ordering. Orders can be sent to either firm. Tuurdijk 16 Tuurdijk 16 3997 ms ‘t Goy – Houten 3997 ms ‘t Goy – Houten The Netherlands The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0)30 6011955 Phone: +31 (0)30 6011955 Fax: +31 (0)30 6011813 Fax: +31 (0)30 6011813 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.forumrarebooks.com Web: www.asherbooks.com front cover: no. 163 on p. 90. v 1.1 · 12 Dec 2016 p. 136: no. 230 on p. 123. inside front cover: no. 32 on p. 23. inside back cover: no.
    [Show full text]
  • The Satrap of Western Anatolia and the Greeks
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks Eyal Meyer University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Recommended Citation Meyer, Eyal, "The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2473. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2473 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2473 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The aS trap Of Western Anatolia And The Greeks Abstract This dissertation explores the extent to which Persian policies in the western satrapies originated from the provincial capitals in the Anatolian periphery rather than from the royal centers in the Persian heartland in the fifth ec ntury BC. I begin by establishing that the Persian administrative apparatus was a product of a grand reform initiated by Darius I, which was aimed at producing a more uniform and centralized administrative infrastructure. In the following chapter I show that the provincial administration was embedded with chancellors, scribes, secretaries and military personnel of royal status and that the satrapies were periodically inspected by the Persian King or his loyal agents, which allowed to central authorities to monitory the provinces. In chapter three I delineate the extent of satrapal authority, responsibility and resources, and conclude that the satraps were supplied with considerable resources which enabled to fulfill the duties of their office. After the power dynamic between the Great Persian King and his provincial governors and the nature of the office of satrap has been analyzed, I begin a diachronic scrutiny of Greco-Persian interactions in the fifth century BC.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaelic Scotland in the Colonial Imagination
    Gaelic Scotland in the Colonial Imagination Gaelic Scotland in the Colonial Imagination Anglophone Writing from 1600 to 1900 Silke Stroh northwestern university press evanston, illinois Northwestern University Press www .nupress.northwestern .edu Copyright © 2017 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2017. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data are available from the Library of Congress. Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons At- tribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. In all cases attribution should include the following information: Stroh, Silke. Gaelic Scotland in the Colonial Imagination: Anglophone Writing from 1600 to 1900. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2017. For permissions beyond the scope of this license, visit www.nupress.northwestern.edu An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high-quality books open access for the public good. More information about the initiative and links to the open-access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 3 Chapter 1 The Modern Nation- State and Its Others: Civilizing Missions at Home and Abroad, ca. 1600 to 1800 33 Chapter 2 Anglophone Literature of Civilization and the Hybridized Gaelic Subject: Martin Martin’s Travel Writings 77 Chapter 3 The Reemergence of the Primitive Other? Noble Savagery and the Romantic Age 113 Chapter 4 From Flirtations with Romantic Otherness to a More Integrated National Synthesis: “Gentleman Savages” in Walter Scott’s Novel Waverley 141 Chapter 5 Of Celts and Teutons: Racial Biology and Anti- Gaelic Discourse, ca.
    [Show full text]
  • THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY — the LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE by Brian D
    THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY — THE LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE by Brian D. Joseph, The Ohio State University 0. Introduction A stunning result of linguistic research in the 19th century was the recognition that some languages show correspondences of form that cannot be due to chance convergences, to borrowing among the languages involved, or to universal characteristics of human language, and that such correspondences therefore can only be the result of the languages in question having sprung from a common source language in the past. Such languages are said to be “related” (more specifically, “genetically related”, though “genetic” here does not have any connection to the term referring to a biological genetic relationship) and to belong to a “language family”. It can therefore be convenient to model such linguistic genetic relationships via a “family tree”, showing the genealogy of the languages claimed to be related. For example, in the model below, all the languages B through I in the tree are related as members of the same family; if they were not related, they would not all descend from the same original language A. In such a schema, A is the “proto-language”, the starting point for the family, and B, C, and D are “offspring” (often referred to as “daughter languages”); B, C, and D are thus “siblings” (often referred to as “sister languages”), and each represents a separate “branch” of the family tree. B and C, in turn, are starting points for other offspring languages, E, F, and G, and H and I, respectively. Thus B stands in the same relationship to E, F, and G as A does to B, C, and D.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Background of the Contact Between Celtic Languages and English
    Historical background of the contact between Celtic languages and English Dominković, Mario Master's thesis / Diplomski rad 2016 Degree Grantor / Ustanova koja je dodijelila akademski / stručni stupanj: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences / Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Filozofski fakultet Permanent link / Trajna poveznica: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:149845 Rights / Prava: In copyright Download date / Datum preuzimanja: 2021-09-27 Repository / Repozitorij: FFOS-repository - Repository of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Osijek Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer i mađarskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer Mario Dominković Povijesna pozadina kontakta između keltskih jezika i engleskog Diplomski rad Mentor: izv. prof. dr. sc. Tanja Gradečak – Erdeljić Osijek, 2016. Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Odsjek za engleski jezik i književnost Diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer i mađarskog jezika i književnosti – nastavnički smjer Mario Dominković Povijesna pozadina kontakta između keltskih jezika i engleskog Diplomski rad Znanstveno područje: humanističke znanosti Znanstveno polje: filologija Znanstvena grana: anglistika Mentor: izv. prof. dr. sc. Tanja Gradečak – Erdeljić Osijek, 2016. J.J. Strossmayer University in Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Teaching English as
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnicity and the Writing of Medieval Scottish History1
    The Scottish Historical Review, Volume LXXXV, 1: No. 219: April 2006, 1–27 MATTHEW H. HAMMOND Ethnicity and the Writing of Medieval Scottish history1 ABSTRACT Historians have long tended to define medieval Scottish society in terms of interactions between ethnic groups. This approach was developed over the course of the long nineteenth century, a formative period for the study of medieval Scotland. At that time, many scholars based their analysis upon scientific principles, long since debunked, which held that medieval ‘peoples’ could only be understood in terms of ‘full ethnic packages’. This approach was combined with a positivist historical narrative that defined Germanic Anglo-Saxons and Normans as the harbingers of advances in Civilisation. While the prejudices of that era have largely faded away, the modern discipline still relies all too often on a dualistic ethnic framework. This is particularly evident in a structure of periodisation that draws a clear line between the ‘Celtic’ eleventh century and the ‘Norman’ twelfth. Furthermore, dualistic oppositions based on ethnicity continue, particu- larly in discussions of law, kingship, lordship and religion. Geoffrey Barrow’s Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, first published in 1965 and now available in the fourth edition, is proba- bly the most widely read book ever written by a professional historian on the Middle Ages in Scotland.2 In seeking to introduce the thirteenth century to such a broad audience, Barrow depicted Alexander III’s Scot- land as fundamentally
    [Show full text]
  • Internal Classification of Indo-European Languages: Survey
    Václav Blažek (Masaryk University of Brno, Czech Republic) On the internal classification of Indo-European languages: Survey The purpose of the present study is to confront most representative models of the internal classification of Indo-European languages and their daughter branches. 0. Indo-European 0.1. In the 19th century the tree-diagram of A. Schleicher (1860) was very popular: Germanic Lithuanian Slavo-Lithuaian Slavic Celtic Indo-European Italo-Celtic Italic Graeco-Italo- -Celtic Albanian Aryo-Graeco- Greek Italo-Celtic Iranian Aryan Indo-Aryan After the discovery of the Indo-European affiliation of the Tocharian A & B languages and the languages of ancient Asia Minor, it is necessary to take them in account. The models of the recent time accept the Anatolian vs. non-Anatolian (‘Indo-European’ in the narrower sense) dichotomy, which was first formulated by E. Sturtevant (1942). Naturally, it is difficult to include the relic languages into the model of any classification, if they are known only from several inscriptions, glosses or even only from proper names. That is why there are so big differences in classification between these scantily recorded languages. For this reason some scholars omit them at all. 0.2. Gamkrelidze & Ivanov (1984, 415) developed the traditional ideas: Greek Armenian Indo- Iranian Balto- -Slavic Germanic Italic Celtic Tocharian Anatolian 0.3. Vladimir Georgiev (1981, 363) included in his Indo-European classification some of the relic languages, plus the languages with a doubtful IE affiliation at all: Tocharian Northern Balto-Slavic Germanic Celtic Ligurian Italic & Venetic Western Illyrian Messapic Siculian Greek & Macedonian Indo-European Central Phrygian Armenian Daco-Mysian & Albanian Eastern Indo-Iranian Thracian Southern = Aegean Pelasgian Palaic Southeast = Hittite; Lydian; Etruscan-Rhaetic; Elymian = Anatolian Luwian; Lycian; Carian; Eteocretan 0.4.
    [Show full text]
  • This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. JOHANNES SWARTENHENGST (1644-1711): A DUTCH CARTESIAN IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE ESTER BERTRAND PHD THESIS UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH & FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS 2014 2 JOHANNES SWARTENHENGST (1644-1711): A DUTCH CARTESIAN IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE ESTER BERTRAND The painting on the title page, entitled The Stallion, is by the accomplished Dutch painter of equestrian scenes, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668). In agreement with the Creative Commons Licence this copy was retrieved from the following website: http://www.wouwerman.org/ PHD THESIS UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH & FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS JUNE 2014 Funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), the Free University of Brussels, and the University of Edinburgh I, Ester Bertrand, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 95.000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Life Science Journal 2013;10(7S) 799 a Study on Buddhism in the Parthian Era in Iran Dr Mehrn
    Life Science Journal 2013;10(7s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com A Study on Buddhism in the Parthian Era in Iran Dr Mehrnaz Behroozy1, Khadijeh Naghipourfar 2 1. Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2. Graduated in pre Islamic Historical Era of Iran, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Abstract: Religion among Iranians, like other nations, has always been very important. Religious tolerance in Achaemenid Empire continued in Parthian Era as well. This religious openness among public lasts in Seleucid Empire and after them, in Parthian era, and let the other religions to enter to Iran. Of course it shall be considered that after Seleucid’s attack to Iran, the Iranian’s lost their self-esteem, therefore their belief to religion became poor and acceptance of foreign religions was common in this era. One of these foreign religions was Buddhism. Buddhism formed in east and northeast of Iran. Its missionaries tried to extend their influence inside Iran and find some followers among Iranians. This is a library study to investigate Iranians approach toward Buddhism in Parthian Era, the followers of this religion, and the areas affected by this religion in the Parthian Era. This investigation is performed using different reference texts, historical resources and the literatures regarding Buddhism in Iran in Parthian Era. This is worth to mention that one can conclude that due to the religious tolerance in Parthian Era, a lot of new religions emerged in this era and Buddhism is one of them. The main problem of the author is the lack of references for the chosen subject and there is no direct reference about Buddhism history in the Parthian Era.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo
    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo-European and Germanic Background Indo-European Background It has already been mentioned in this course that German and English are related languages. Two languages can be related to each other in much the same way that two people can be related to each other. If two people share a common ancestor, say their mother or their great-grandfather, then they are genetically related. Similarly, German and English are genetically related because they share a common ancestor, a language which was spoken in what is now northern Germany sometime before the Angles and the Saxons migrated to England. We do not have written records of this language, unfortunately, but we have a good idea of what it must have looked and sounded like. We have arrived at our conclusions as to what it looked and sounded like by comparing the sounds of words and morphemes in earlier written stages of English and German (and Dutch) and in modern-day English and German dialects. As a result of the comparisons we are able to reconstruct what the original language, called a proto-language, must have been like. This particular proto-language is usually referred to as Proto-West Germanic. The method of reconstruction based on comparison is called the comparative method. If faced with two languages the comparative method can tell us one of three things: 1) the two languages are related in that both are descended from a common ancestor, e.g. German and English, 2) the two are related in that one is the ancestor of the other, e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Icelandic -Basque Pidgin
    Icelandic -Basque pidgin J58E itiNA~IQ,~UAtDE ttJi\iversity ofIllinois) Abstract In this paper i present dn analysts fJ/What fe1iJii,tns ofit trade l~nguage born in the seventeenth cen­ tury as a consequence 0/ Basque fishing trips in Me North Atlantic. Since the data t~at'we have show a linguistic syifiiii in an early stage ofdevelopment and the lan­ gUages in contact are easily identifiable, "whichever characteristics arepr~sent £n the contact language 1 will be traceable to one ofthe initial languages or to unilvifsal tendencies • For this purpose, an analysis ofthe main typological features ofboth Basque and Icelandic is also provided. *' 1. Introduction The only remaining vestige that we have of what appears to have been used as a means of communication between Basque whale hunters and Icelandic traders in the seventeenth century is constituted by a few sentences, together with a word list. The existence of this p'idgin seems to have gone virfually unnoticed. Hancock (1977) does not mention it in his "Repertoire of Pidgin and Creole Languages" although he mentions an extinct Icelandic French Pidgin. My source of information is Nicolaas Deen's Glossaria duo Vasco-lslandica (Ams­ terdam 1937, reprinted in this volume), which' is a commentary and translation of two manuscripts written in Iceland in t4e'seventeenth century. Since the contact sit­ uation was interrupted in the 'first part of the eighteenth century and was of inter­ mittent nature, the contact pidgin probably never developed much further than the stage recorded in the manuscripts. The' first manuscript lacks interest for our pur­ poses since it is just a list of lexical items seemingly elicited from the Basque sailors ,by pointing at different objects and vaguely organized according to semantic fields.
    [Show full text]