ORIGIN OF BASQUES

Iurii Mosenkis

Main (genealogical) part of the is North(east) Caucasian. Proto-Basque migration from Caucasus might continue (in several waves?) during the Neolithic period, from the Cardium Pottery/Impresso. The Basques spread in Northwest Europe with the Bell Beakers and R1b male haplogroup. Kura-Araxes/Khirbet-Kerak influence is not excluded

AREA AND CONTACTS

Basque is one among ‘Paleo-Hispanic’ languages. Several Greek and words of ‘Mediterranean’ origin have Basque equivalents which might reflect more wide area of Basque in pre-historic times. Some Basque ‘mysterious’ words might be of Phoenician, Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Germanic origin

Paleo-Hispanic languages

Aquitanian Aquitanian language was an old form of Basque, and both languages belong to the Vasconic family.

Iberian had connections with Basque, but Iberian-Basque relations remain disputable. Frequent suffix of Iberian tribe-names -tan (, , , Bastetani, , /Cossetani, Vescetani, Turdetani, , Lusitani and many others) resembles Proto-West Chadic *danH- ‘family, clan, people’ (also Egyptian ‘family’ and South Cushitic ‘daughter’). Thus an old hypothesis about as mainly ‘Hamitic’ peoples may be accepted. Now Iberian can be used as a conventional name for ‘Hamitic’ (non-Semitic – in the case of Basque non-Phoenician – Afro-Asiatic) element of Basque. The element might be substrate, adstrate, or/and superstrate.

Tartessian While was interpreted by some scholars as an Aegean name because of -ss- suffix, P. Kretschmer (long before recent deciffrements of Tartessian inscriptions) explained the name of Tartessian king Arganthonios as Celtic because of Celtic argant- ‘silver’. South was known in antiquity as a silver-rich country, and many scholars (J. G. Herder was among the first) think that Basque zilhar, zidar, zirar ‘silver’ was a source of Slavic-Baltic-Germanic names of the metal.

Pre-historic Basque area: Basque-like substrate in Greek and Latin

This problem is an object of discussion. Basque-like words in Old Irish are well- known, but does Latin include Basque-like substrate? A Vasconic language reached Italy1. E. g., Latin gutta ‘a drop of fluid’ of unknown origin : Basque guti, gutti, guttu ‘a

1 Dieterlen F., Bengtson, J. Confirmation de l’ancienne extension des Basquespar l’étude des dialectes de l’Europe de l’Ouest romane, Journal of Language Relationship / Вопросы языкового родства, 14/1 (2016), https://www.academia.edu/30676662/Confirmation_of_the_Basque_ancient_extension_through_study_of _Western_European_romance_dialects_180jlr2016_14_1_21_27 little, some’ : Proto-Kartvelian *k’ut’u- ‘small’2; North Caucasian cognates are also proposed. The name of Liguria (southeastern and northwestern ) might reflect Basque ligor ‘dry land’. More surprising examples are Basque parallels of ‘Mediterranean’ (i. e. pre-Indo- European substratal) words not only in Latin but also in Greek. Pre-Greek larinos, Latin laridum ‘fat’ : Basque larru ‘skin, leather’ Pre-Greek makele ‘mattock’ : Basque makila ‘stick’ (if the latter is not from Latin bacilla) Pre-Greek mikos ‘small’ (/mikros, cf. kudos/kudros) : Basque miko ‘a little’, Proto-North Caucasian * k ‘small, young one’ Pre-Greek apion, Latin pirum < *pisum ‘pear’ : Proto-Basque * ‘pomace of apples, of grapes’ Pre-Greek ksule, hule, ksulon, sulon (Slavic-Baltic-Germanic parallels, but non-Indo- European substrate is not excluded)3 < *sule ‘wood’, Latin silva ‘forest’4 (and Old Norse usli ‘glowing ashes’?) : Proto-Basque *sul ‘wood’ Pre-Greek aphros ‘foam’ : Basque apar ‘foam’ : Georgian ’er , ’er-ul-i ‘froth’5. It is common ‘Mediterranean’ word rather than Greek loan in Basque or Basque-like loan in Greek. Greek ἴσοξ ‘whale-like fish’ (Hesych.), Latin esox ‘pike’, Celtic *esoks ‘salmon’ might be linked with Basque suge ‘snake’. As Nicolás Monto correctly underlines (pers. comm.), Greek and Latin words (because of intervocale -s- and the absence of s > r respectively) are late loans. These words might be a result of 1) wide prehistoric Basque area, including not only a part of Italy but also a part of Greece; 2) pre-Indo-European pan-Mediterranean koine; 3) an influence of pre-Greek and pre-Latin substrate languages on Basque.

Early contacts

Phoenician First Phoenicians appeared in the in the Sea People time or short after the time. Their development occurred after the Bronze Age collapse about 1200 BCE. Phoenician element, but not strong, might be later brought in the Northwest Europe by migrants like ‘Milesians’, i. e. Celtic migrants from Spain to Ireland (S. Hewitt). Cf. Phoenician origin of Proto-Germanic *apan ‘ape’ and common monkey name in Latvian and Etruscan. Basque daguen-il ‘August’ (-il ‘month’) might reflect the name of Canaanite god of grain Dagon.

2 Basque-Kartvelian after: http://lingvoforum.net/index.php?topic=5114.50 3 Beekes, pp. 1037–1038. 4 Cf.: ‘The earlier etymologies connecting ὕλη with Lat. silva or with ξύλον must be rejected’, Beekes, p. 1530. 5 Basq.-Georg. after: Braun, J. Protokartvelian, Agade (Warszawa 2008), p. 17. Basque bozkario ‘happiness’ might be linked with enigmatic (without etymology) Greek makar ‘happy’ (particularly, in the name of the Canarian Islands, initially colonized by the Phoenicians) and Romanian bucur ‘happy’. Possible Phoenician source of the words might be related to Arabic Barak and Hebrew Baruch – names which mean ‘happy’. Basque ertz, eretz ‘side’ might be of Semitic origin. It was possible link with Proto- Germanic *ertho ‘earth’. Basque nagusi ‘master, chief’ : Ethiopian negus ‘emperor’ point to social organization.

‘H t c’ Non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic elements in Basque are very old, accepted during the migration and then in Spain.

The earliest known prehistoric sample to date is an E-V13 from dating from 5000 BCE. […] The only concrete evidence for this at the moment is the presence of the E-V13 subclade, commonest in the southern Balkans today, at a 7000-year old Neolithic site in north-east Spain, which was tested by Lacan et al (2011). However, since E1b1b has not been found in any of the various Neolithic sites from the Balkans and Central Europe, it is more likely that the Catalan E- V13 individual was descended from Mediterranean Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.6

If the Bell Beaker pottery was really similar to the Swifterbant one (while the Swifterbant culture was linked with Ertebølle) then ‘Hamitic’ element might be also accepted in Northwest Europe. These elements were studied by A. Trombetti, H. Schuchardt7, V. Blažek etc. Some elements might have both etymologies. E. g., Spanish gusano ‘worm, caterpillar’ of unknown origin (traditionally interpreted as ‘Iberian’8, cf. Proto-Afro-Asiatic *k c-am/n- ‘locust, ant, larva’) : Proto-Basque * u e ‘snake’, a cognate of ɣu u /s ‘snake’.

Greek Greeks might firstly appear in the Iberian Peninsula in the Mycenaean time (1450– 1200 BCE) or, if the ‘Minoans’ were Greeks, during previous centuries. Lebor gabala Erinn, or ‘The Book of Invasions in Ireland’, linked some invaders not only with Spain but also with Greece – it may point to the Sea People period. Basque arto ‘millet’ and at(h)eri ‘fine weather’ might reflect Greek artos ‘bread’ (cf. Sumerian urta ‘barley’) and aither ‘ether’ respectively. If Basque urre, urhe ‘gold’ ‘cannot possibly be linked to Lat. aurum id., from old Lat. *ausom’ (Trask) then cf. Greek okhros ‘yellow’ > Georgian oq’ro ‘gold’. Basque zitu ‘reaping, harvest’, which is traditionally compared with Greek sitos ‘bread’, is now derived from Latin sectum ‘cut’ (L. Trask).

6 http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_E1b1b_Y-DNA.shtml 7 Schuchardt, Hugo (1913): "Baskisch-Hamitische wortvergleichungen" Revista Internacional de Estudios Vascos = "Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques" 7:289–340. http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/4881/1/07289340.pdf 8 http://www.cranberryletters.com/iberia/ Latin, Celtic, and Germanic Contacts of the Basques with Romans, , and are well-known. ‘Mysterious’ Basque arrain ‘fish’9 might be simply a form related to Latin rana ‘frog’. Basque negu ‘winter’ of unknown origin10 : Proto-Indo-European *sniegwh- ‘snow’, e. g. Latin ninguit ‘it is snowing’. Basque uzta ‘harvest, July’ of unknown origin, ‘but why is July harvest time?’11 : Latin Augustus. Basque artz ‘bear’ might be a loan from Celtic art- ‘bear’ whereas Basque silhar, sildar ‘silver’ might be related to Celtiberian silabur ‘silver’ (synonym of arganto ‘silver’).

9 Without etymology: Yu. V. Zytsar (pers. comm.), L. Trask’s dictionary, J. Bengtson’s e-database. 10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140820130434/https://cryptm.org/~nort/linguistics/Basque%20etymology.p df 11 https://web.archive.org/web/20140820130434/https://cryptm.org/~nort/linguistics/Basque%20etymology.p df BASQUE AND ANCIENT NEAR EAST

More of preserved Kassite words have Basque parallels. Basque and Sumerian share not only basic (including verbs) but also cultural lexicon. Basque-Hurrian similarities are not so wide but also include basic and cultural words. In contrast, Basque-Cassite parallels are only common ‘Sino-Caucasian’

Kassite

The hypothesis might be more serious than one can think. Despite only two dozens of Kassite words are preserved12, several of them demonstrate clear similarities with Basque ones. Yu. V. Zytsar mentioned Basque buru ‘head’ : Kassite barhu ‘head’ (which, acc. to him, ‘speaks nothing’)13. But cf. also:

Probable parallels Basque giz-on ‘man’, Aquitanian cison- in male names : Kass-/Koss-/Kiss- ‘Kassite’; Basque buru ‘head’ : Kassite not only barhu ‘head’ but also bur(i) ‘lord’, burna ‘protege’; Basque jaun, jain, jin ‘lord’ : Kassite ianzi ‘king’; Basque seme ‘son’ : Kassite š ‘child’; Basque *sagi / *-ski ‘moon, sun’ (> argi-zagi ‘moon’, egu-zki ‘sun’ : North Caucasian *c jVkwo ‘brand, spark, brilliance’, J. Bengtson) : Kassite S h, Š h ‘sun’; Basque ill- ‘moon’ (< ill-argi ‘moon’ < ‘*moonlight’, argi ‘light’ – L. Trask) : Kassite ilulu ‘heaven’;

Dubious parallels Basque jainko, jeinko, jinko ‘God’ : Kassite da-gigi ‘sky’ (with Mingrelian-Chan-like class (?) prefix); Basque alaba ‘daughter’, iloba ‘nephew, grandchild’ : Kassite ulam ‘chield’; Basque elur/erur/edur ‘snow’ (d > l, r, not vice versa) : Kassite turuhna ‘wind’; Basque izter ‘thigh’ : Kassite š r ‘bow’; Basque adar ‘branch, leg of chair or bed’ : Kassite saribu ‘foot’; Basque ikatz ‘charcoal’ : Kassite da-k š ‘star’ (but the root of the latter word might be of Indo-Aryan origin); Basque jautsi, jatsi ‘go down, fall’ : Kassite š ‘earth’ Kassite dynasty ruled in Mesopotamia during centuries, and Basque-Kassite comparisons might be linked with Basque-Sumerian parallels.

Alternative Altaic-Kassite comparisons

12 Sources of the Kassite lexicon: Braun, J. Kassite and Dravidian, Agade (Warszawa 2009), after F. Delitzsch and K. Balkan. 13 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 61, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf The name of the Kassites / Kissioi might reflect Turkic k š /keše ‘person’; š in the root : Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu l, so Kassites might be splitted from Turkic after the split between Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu. According to glottochronological estimation, Turkic separated from Mongolian about two thousands years before the appearance of Kassites. Kassite barhu ‘head’14 : Proto-Turkic * ‘head’ Kassite burna ‘protege’ : Proto-Altaic * r ‘to cover, shade’ > Proto-Turkic *bürü- ‘to cover up’ > Karakhanid bürün- ‘to be covered’ Kassite da-gigi ‘heaven’ : Turkic kök ‘heaven’ Kassite da-k š ‘star’ : Proto-Altaic *k > Turkic *Ku ɨk ‘the constellation of Cancer’ Kassite ilulu ‘heaven’ : Proto-Turkic * u - u ‘star’ Kassite kukla ‘servant’ : Proto-Altaic *k ‘servant, slave’ > Proto-Turkic *Kul Kassite miri-jaš ‘earth’ : Proto-Altaic * ro ‘sand, stony earth, marsh’ > Proto-Turkic * ōr ‘chalk, earth, clay’ and Proto-Turkic * r ‘earth, land’ Kassite Sah, Š h ‘the Sun’ : Proto-Altaic *sio gu ‘sun, sky’ > Proto-Tungus-Manchu * ‘the Sun,’ Middle Korean ha i ‘the Sun’ Kassite saribu ‘foot’ : Proto-Altaic * re ‘barefooted’ > Mongolian * r -ma So Kassite might be a rest of Altaic on its Near Eastern homeland, cf. below about the Kura-Araxes. Ancient Near Eastern Turukki with Hurrian names (G. Wilhelm) and Graeco-Roman Turkoi in Ukraine might be related to the Altaic component of Hittite- Luwian, Hurrian, and Kassite. However, Kartvelian parallels of the name of the Kassites, several Kassite words and prefix da- might be also demonstrated.

Sumerian

100-word exact equivalents ‘eye’ Basque b-egi ‘eye’ (Proto-North Caucasian *=agwV ‘to see’) : Sumerian igi ‘eye’ ‘earth’ Basque lur ‘earth’ (Sin-Caucasian, cf. Avar raƛ ‘earth’) : Sumerian arali ‘earth’ ‘night’ Basque gau ‘night’ : Sumerian ngi ‘night’ ‘belly’ Basque sabel ‘belly’ : Sumerian h š r ‘belly’ ‘dog’ Basque or ‘dog’ : Sumerian ur ‘dog’ ‘come’ Basque -augin ‘come’ : Sumerian gana ‘come on!’ ‘kill’ Basque -ro ‘kill’ : Sumerian rah ‘kill’ ‘root’ B herro ‘root’ : S ur ‘root’

100-word non-exact equivalents ‘hand’ Basque be-so ‘arm’ : Sumerian šu ‘hand’ ‘head’ Basque soin, soñ, suñ ‘shoulder, body’, possibly ‘*head’ (soinegi, soñegi ‘shoulder’, -egi ‘place’: ‘*shoulder as a place of head’?) : Sumerian sang ‘head’ ‘blood’ Basque odol ‘blood’ (Sino-Caucasian: Preclassic Old Chinese d(h)ǝrʔ ‘sacrificial meat’) : Sumerian dara ‘red’

14 The source of the Kassite lexicon: Braun, J. Kassite and Dravidian, Agade (Warszawa, 2009). ‘see’ Basque ekusi ‘see’ : Sumerian haz ‘eyes’ ‘bird’ Basque arano ‘eagle’ : Sumerian hurin ‘eagle’ (both might be Indo-European, cf. Greek or-n-is ‘bird’) ‘tree’: Basque adar ‘branch’ : Sumerian adar ‘a type of wood, a plant’ ‘water’ Basque itsaso ‘sea’ : Sumerian eš10 ‘water’ ‘burn’ Basque bero ‘hot, warm, heat’ : Sumerian bar ‘burn’ ‘fire’ Basque isar ‘star’ or rather -ze- ‘burn’ : Sumerian izi ‘fire’ ‘sun’ Basque uda ‘summer’ : Sumerian ud ‘day, heat, summer, sun’ ‘swim’ B igeri, uger ‘swimming’ : S engur ‘waters’ ‘dry’ Basque lehor ‘dry’ : Sumerian lah ‘to dry’ ‘path’ Basque haran ‘valley’ : Sumerian harran ‘route, passage, path’

Other important words Basque bi-zi ‘alive, living’ : Sumerian zi ‘life’ Basque bele ‘crow’ (cf. Irish bran ‘crow’ of unknown origin) : Sumerian buru ‘crow’ Basque urzo ‘pigeon’ : Sumerian irsang ‘pigeon’ Basque ne-ska ‘girl’ : Sumerian unu ‘girl’ Basque ama ‘mother’ : Sumerian ama ‘mother’ Basque zango ‘leg’ : Sumerian zingi ‘ankle bone’

Cultural words Basque jaun ‘lord’ : Sumerian en < *ewen ‘lord’ Basque idi ‘ox’ : Sumerian udu ‘sheep’ Basque ahuntz ‘goat’ : Sumerian uzud ‘goat’ Basque burdin ‘iron’ : Sumerian urudu ‘copper’ Basque gar/li ‘wheat’ : Sumerian gar ‘bread’ Basque sagar ‘apple’ : Sumerian h šhur ‘apple’ Basque zeri ‘pig’ : Sumerian zeh ‘piglet’ Are these parallels a result of common ‘Sino-Caucasian’ heritage in both languages, or they traced to closer affinity between Basque and Sumerian?

Hurrian

100-word exact equivalents Proto-Basque *hor ‘dog’ : Hurrian erw/bi ‘dog’ Basque *e ku ‘hand’ : Hurrian and Urartian šu- ‘hand’ Proto-Basque *asa-l ‘skin’ : Hurrian šhe ‘skin’

100-word non-exact equivalents Proto-Basque * e ‘to eat one's fill, be satiated; full, satiated’ : Hurrian še ‘fat’ Proto-Basque *ort ‘barefoot’ : Hurrian ur(n)i ‘foot’ Proto-Basque *beko ‘forehead’ (not from Latin, in contrast to L. Trask, – J. Bengtson) : Hurrian paɣi ‘head’ Proto-Basque *idun ‘neck’ : Hurrian kudu-ni ‘neck’ Proto-Basque *ɦo ‘deepest part of a river, abyss, sea, whirlpool’ : Hurrian še ‘rain’ Proto-Basque *ɦaran ‘valley’ : Hurrian, Urartian hari ‘road’ Proto-Basque *tala ‘twig, young branch’ : Hurrian tali ‘tree’

Cultural words Basque ala- ‘female cognate’ : Hurrian allae ‘lady’ Basque tupiki/topinki ‘copper’ : Hurrian tab-/tib- ‘metal, metalworking’

Hattic

Despite Hattic, like Basque, includes ‘Sino-Caucasian’ (main, genealogical) and Afro- Asiatic (of contact origin) elements, Hattic-Bascue lexical parallels belonged to the 100- word Swadesh list are weak. These parallels are not specific for these two languages, twey represent common Sino-Caucasian lexicon. E. g.: Proto-Basque *e ku- ‘to see’ : Hattic kun ‘to see’; Proto-Basque *hur ‘water’ : Hattic ura/i ‘water spring’.

BASQUE AND CAUCASUS

An old Basque-Caucasian hypothesis might be now interpreted as Basque-North(east) Caucasian affinity whereas some relations (affinity, macro-family affinity, or contact/) between Kartvelian and Basque-North Caucasian are also very possibly

Kartvelian Basque-Kartvelian hypothesis traced to old comparison of two names – Pyrenean Iberia and Caucasian Iberia, traditionally linked with Basque ibar ‘valley’ and Georgian bari ‘valley’. A large collection of Basque-Kartvelian comparisons is proposed15, e. g., in a recent book16. Yu. V. Zytsar, the famous supporter of the Basque-Kartvelian hypothesis, admitted that the most of the Basque-Caucasian comparisons are belonged to the North Caucasian (‘mountainous Caucasian’, in former Soviet terms) languages17. Yu. V. Zytsar’s program article entitled ‘On the Basque-Caucasian affinity’, not ‘On the Basque-Kartvelian affinity’. Yu. V. Zytsar (after N. Ya. Marr and A. S. Chikobava) supported the affinity of Kartvelian and North Caucasian languages18. Thus, Basque-Kartvelian question is strongly related to the problem of Kartvelian- North Caucasian affinity.

‘Co o C uc ’ (contact or affinity) and Basque Kartvelian and North Caucasian languages demonstrate many parallels in the basic lexicon19. It may be interpreted as 1) an evidence of the affinities between two language families which represent two hypothetical macro-families (Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian respectively) or 2) the affinity of the Kartvelian and North Caucasian languages (as members of the same Ibero-Caucasian family or macro-family – N. Marr, A. Chikobava) or 3) a result of contacts (perhaps, between post-Zarzian groups of the R1b ancestors of the Elshan culture and the Near Eastern Kartvelians, e. g. near the Halys = Mingrel ghali ‘river’ area) which formed common Caucasian ‘Sprachbund’. Basque is mainly Daghestanian-related but it has some Kartvelian-like parallels, especially similar to Mingrelian. See the Swadesh list evidence: ‘that’ Proto-Kartvelian *ma- : West Caucasian *m(a)-, East Caucasian *ma-20 ‘not’ PK *ma : WC *ma, EC *ma21

15 http://lingvoforum.net/index.php?topic=5114.50 16 Braun, J. Protokartvelian, Agade (Warszawa 2008). 17 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 63, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 18 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 64, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 19 Historiography and references: http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/caucasus/IberoCaucasian.pdf 20 Климов Г. А. О гипотезе внутреннего родства кавказских языков, Вопросы языкознания, 1968, № 6, с. 20. 21 Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 20. ‘two’ PK *t’q’u-p- ‘twin’ : WC *(t’)q’ ( )- ‘2’, EC *t’q’ - ‘20’22 : Basque bi ‘2’23 ‘fish’ PK * x - : Proto-North Caucasian *χ ħ ‘fish’ ‘bird’ PK * x k - ‘jaybird’ : PNC * ʁ ‘a kind of bird (jackdaw, magpie)’ ‘dog’ Georg.-Zan. *xwad- ‘male’24, PK *xwir- ‘male, male dog’ > Swan xwir- : PNC *χ_Hweje ‘dog’ ‘tree’ PK *biga ‘big stick’ : PNC * ħ nq _V ‘stick’; Georgian muxa ‘oak-tree’ : PNC * ħoq_we ‘oak-tree’25 : Proto-Basque *moku-r ‘log, branch’ ‘seed’ PK *te-s ‘to sow’ : WC *ta-s ‘to seed’, EC *ta-s ‘to cast’26; Proto-Nakh *tas- ‘to cast, to sow’, PAK *taj( )sa- ‘to sow’27 : Proto-Basque *hasi ‘seed’ ‘skin’ PK *qam-l- ‘skin (of goat, sheep)’ : WC *txam- ‘skin’, Daghest. ham, t’o ‘skin’28; PNC *χʕ > PWC *t-q:am ‘skin’; J. Braun compares Georgian k’ ‘skin’ : Basque gain ‘surface’29 ‘flesh’ PK * eγ - ‘meat (in Swan), fig’ : WC *ly ‘meat’, EC k’ ‘meat’30; PNC *rä ƛ ɨ ‘meat’; Basque lohi ‘body’; Basque haragi ‘meat’ ‘horn’ Svan. ’v ‘horn’31, u ’v- ‘horn’32 : PNC * u ‘stick’ ‘tail’ PK *k - ‘tail’ : PNC *k [c]V ‘tail’ ‘feather’ PK *ɣlia- ‘armpit’ : PNC *q_ɨ lʔi ‘elbow; arm, wing’ : Basque (h)egal ‘wing’33 ‘hair’ PK *c er- ‘beard’ : PNC *c ħ r ‘hair’ : Basque bi-zar ‘beard’ ‘eye’ PK *( )t - ‘eye’ : PNC *ʡwil ʡi ‘eye,’ PNC *ʔiŁ V ‘to look’ > Proto-Nakh *t-all- ‘mouth’ Georg. baga ‘lip’: PNC *bek ‘a part of face, mouth’ (Nakh *bak’a ‘mouth,’ Lezghian group ‘lips and nose’) (НС, с. 289); PNC *pŭrV ‘a part of face under the nose’,

22 Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 24. 23 Basq.-North Cauc. from starling 24 The reconstruction after: Климов Г.А. Этимологический словарь картвельских языков, М., 1964, с. 258. 25 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling 26 Климов Г.А. О гипотезе…, с. 20. 27 http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi- bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Ckart%5Ckartet&first=1&off=&text_pro to=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_rusmean=&method_rusmean=substring&ic_rusmean=o n&text_meaning=sow&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_gru=&method_gru=substring &ic_gru=on&text_grmean=&method_grmean=substring&ic_grmean=on&text_egrmean=&method_egrme an=substring&ic_egrmean=on&text_meg=&method_meg=substring&ic_meg=on&text_mgmean=&metho d_mgmean=substring&ic_mgmean=on&text_emgmean=&method_emgmean=substring&ic_emgmean=on &text_sva=&method_sva=substring&ic_sva=on&text_svmean=&method_svmean=substring&ic_svmean= on&text_esvmean=&method_esvmean=substring&ic_esvmean=on&text_laz=&method_laz=substring&ic_ laz=on&text_lzmean=&method_lzmean=substring&ic_lzmean=on&text_elzmean=&method_elzmean=sub string&ic_elzmean=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on&text_any=&method_any=su bstring&sort=proto&ic_any=on 28 Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 24. 29 Braun, J. Protokartvelian, Agade (Warszawa 2008), p. 15. 30 Климов Г. А. Кавказские языки, М., 1965, с. 71. 31 Kakha Naveriani’s personal communication with O. V. Malovichko. 32 Климов Г. А. Основы лингвистической компаративистики, М., 1990, с. 106. 33 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling ‘nose’ (НС, с. 876) : Georg. piri (< Proto-Karthv.) ‘mouth’ : Basque beko ‘forehead, cheek’34 ‘tooth’ PK *cal- ‘one thing’ : WC *ca ‘tooth’, EC *cer ‘tooth’35; PNC *cɨ V ‘tooth’ > Proto-Nakh *ca, Proto-Avaro-Andian *colu, PWC *c:A ‘hand’ PK *qel- ‘hand’ : PNC *k ī ʡɨ ‘hand’36; PNC *b[э]cV ‘leg, a part of arm or leg’ (Avar-And. *bic:V, Tsez. *bisV etc.) (НС, с. 291)37 : Georg. ‘branch’38 : Basq. b-eso ‘arm’39 ‘heart’ PK *gu-l- ‘heart’ : PNC *jerk ‘heart’ > Proto-Nakh * o-k , PWK * ʷǝ : Basq. bi- hotz ‘heart’40 ‘sun’ PK *d-eɣ- / *d-ɣe- ‘day’ : (PNC *wirǝ q_A ‘sun’ < PNC *h ēr ‘day’ and) *H īq_ ‘day, Sun’41 : Basque egu- ‘sun, day’42; ‘moon’ PK * e- ‘Sun’ : PNC *wǝ c o ‘moon’43; ‘star’ PK * egw- ‘thorny bush’, PK *cxw- ‘thorn, arrow’, Georg. žv r ‘cross’, Zan cognates ‘stick, prick’44 (cf. ‘arrow’ and ‘star’ in Indo-European) : Basq. isar ‘star’45; PNC * _wharī / * _wahrī ‘star’46; ‘rain’ PK *zγ > чан. zuγ -, Svan zuγ ‘sea’ (K. Bouda proposes Proto-Kartv. reconstruction *zuγ )47, zγ n ‘border’ : PNC * igV ‘hail; rain’ (Proto-Germ. *regna- ‘rain’) : Basque sakon ‘deep’ (Sequana?) ‘earth’ Georg. c’ ‘earth’ : PNC *mel _V ‘place, ground’ or rather PNC * ‘meadow, hill slope’; Georgian mta ‘mountain’ : Khinalug (Daghestanian) mɨda ‘mountain’ : Basque mendi ‘mountain’48 (not < Latin montus – Trask) ‘fire’ PK *cx1- : PNC *c j ‘fire’ : Basque su ‘fire’49; ‘yellow’ Kartv. *q’ - ‘yellow’ : WC *γ ( )- ‘dry, yellow’, EC *q’ur- ‘dry’50; PNC *=eq_wA ‘yellow’ : Basque (h)ori ‘yellow’ ‘night’ Georg. γ e ‘night’ : Proto-Lezgi *xIam > Tsakh. xIam ‘night’, Tabas. xIab- ‘evening’, Abkhaz -xa ‘night’ : Basque gau, gaba ‘night’51 (Sino-Tibetan *ɣVm(H) ‘dark, shade’);

34 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling 35 Климов Г. А. Кавказские…, с. 71. 36 Cf.: Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 24. 37 Possible class prefix b-. 38 Old class prefix? 39 Class prefix. 40 Cf.: Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 24. 41 Cf.: Климов Г. А. Кавказские… , с. 71. 42 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling 43 Cf.: Климов Г. А. Кавказские…, с. 71. 44 Климов Г. А. Этимологический…, с. 269. 45 North Caucasian-Basque after: Чирикба В.А. Баскский… с. 102. 46 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling 47 Kartvelian after: Климов Г. А. Этимологический… – С. 89. 48 Georg.-Khin.-Basq.: starling 49 North Caucasian-Basque parallels after: Чирикба В.А. Баскский и северокавказские языки, Древняя Анатолия, М., 1985, с. 102. 50 Климов Г. А. О гипотезе…, с. 24. 51 North Caucasian-Basque after: Чирикба В.А. Баскский…, с. 103. ‘hot’ PK *px- ‘warm’ : WC *pxa ‘warm’, EC *px ‘warm’52 ‘child’ Georgian -š ‘son’ : PNC - š E- rV- ‘son, daughter’ : Basque osa-ba ‘uncle’53; Georg. bavšvi, dialectal bovšvi54, Megrel oš ‘lad’ : Abkhaz ba, Abaza pa, Kabardian kua ‘child’, Proto-Nakh *bader ‘child’ : Basque -ba in the names of kinship : Sumerian banda ‘child’ ‘knee’: PK *muql- ‘knee’ (< *mu-ql-, cf. Svan mu- and Kartvel. *qel- ‘hand’?) : PNC *k rV ‘leg’ : Basque ma-kur ‘curved’ < kurtu ‘kneel’ ‘kill’ might represent common element of Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian macro- familias. Underlined words are included in the S. E. Yakhontov 35-word list of the most stable words55. If 1) the Kartvelian member of the Nostratic macro-family has a minimal number of lexical parallels with other , 2) Kartvelian has prefixes while other Nostratic languages, including Proto-Indo-European, has no prefixes, and 3) several prefixes and other grammar features of Kartvelian are similar to the Afro-Asiatic ones (N. Ya. Marr), then Kartvelian may be very archaic intermediate link between Nostratic, Sino-Caucasian, and Afro-Asiatic. In other words, Kartvelian might be the language branch which is closest to ‘proto-Nostratic Natufian’ language and a language of the PPNA.

Northeast Caucasian: mainstream ‘Vasco-Caucasic unity’ (J. Bengtson’s term) is now confirmed: ‘Trombetti, Uhlenbeck, Bouda, Tailleur, Lafon, Chirikba, Blažek, and I have conducted such investigations, and have found that the more we study the Vasco-Caucasic (Macro-Caucasic) hypothesis the more it is confirmed’56. See ‘Basque etymology’ compiled by John Bengtson57. Basque prefix be- in the names of body parts J. Braun brilliantly compares with East Caucasian class prefix58. Basque ‘expressive prefix’ m-, ma- might be the similar class demonstrative. For me personally, the ‘Basque origin discussion’ has ended else in the ‘pre-Internet age’ and before reading J. Bengtson’s works became available for me: when I met the

52 Климов Г. А. Кавказские…, с. 71. 53 Basq.-North Cauc.: starling 54 The word after: Марр Н. Я. Избранные произведения, Л., 1933–1937, т. IV, c. 261. 55 Comments: Дьячок М. Т. Лексикостатистический список С. Е. Яхонтова: проблема верифика-ции, Иностранные языки в научном и учебно-методическом аспектах (Новосибирск, 2008), Вып. 7, с. 14-18, http://www.testsoch.info/dyachok-leksikostatisticheskij-spisok-s-e-yaxontova-problema-verifikacii/ 56 Bengston, John D. A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1, Mother Tongue 26 (1996), http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/s3.gif ; Bengtson, J. The Basque language: history and origin, International Journal of Modern Anthropology (2011), https://www.academia.edu/6157165/The_Basque_Language_History_and_Origin ; Bengtson, John D. Some notes on Basque and Caucasian, https://www.academia.edu/6224517/Some_Notes_on_Basque_and_Caucasian_draft_Dec._2011 See also: Чирикба В. А. Баскский и северокавказские языки, Древняя Анатолия (Москва 1985). 57 http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/main.cgi?flags=eygtnnl 58 Comments: Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 58, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf Basque word oihan ‘forest’, I immediately compared it with its East Caucasian parallels and concluded: Basque is an East Caucasian language! An old hypothesis of ‘dual’ (Caucasian-‘Hamitic’) nature of Basque (H. Schuchardt, A. Trombetti, C. C. Uhlenbeck etc.) can be now interpreted as follows: Basque is a Caucasian (close to Northeast Caucasian) language with ‘Hamitic’ substrate or/and adstrate element, accepted in the Northern Africa (during the Basque migration from an area close to the Caucasus) or/and in the Iberian Peninsula. Some ‘Iberian’ words in Spanish might be not Afro-Asiatic but North Caucasian, e. g. Spanish perro ‘dog’59 : Khinalug (Daghestanian) pχra ‘dog’. Evidence of Basque toponyms in the Berber area of the Northern Africa60 is very important. Cantabrian tribe Avar-, which name is comparable with the name of main Daghestanian people Avar61, gives another evidence of the migration: Dagestanian languages are the clothes cognates of Basque among other ‘Sino-Caucasian’/’Dene- Basque’ languages. N. Ya. Marr underlined possible relations between the Basque language and the Abkhaz language, and compared the names of Basque and the Byzantine name of Abkhaz, Abasgoi. Basque, reconstructed as *avask-62, Latin Vasc- (and related Aquitanian tribe name Ausci)63 might be derived from the self-name eusk- (cf. also Amerind Atabaskans who speak the Na-Dene languages, related to Sino-Caucasian). Basque-Sumerian similarities as well as Basque-Hurrian ones64 might be interpreted in the ‘Sino-Caucasian’ context: main (genealogical) part of Sumerian was Tibeto- Burman, and Hurrian included East Caucasian component (genealogical or accepted?). Very early ‘Sino-Caucasian’ connections of the Basque language are represented, e. g., by Basque ate ‘door’ : Proto-Yenisseian *ʔa(ʔ)t- ‘door’ (the comparison is absent in S. A. Starostin’s reconstructions). Basques used aeral burial rite, typical to the Dene-Basque peoples. Thus, the Basque language is included in the ‘Sino-Caucasian’ macro-family, in which it is closely related to the Northeast Caucasian languages

59 http://www.cranberryletters.com/iberia/ 60 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 56, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 61 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 56, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 62 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 56, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 63 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 56, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf 64 Зыцарь Ю. В. О родстве баскского языка с кавказскими, Вопросы языкознания, 1955, № 5, с. 56, http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf OTHER HYPOTHESES

More exotic hypotheses about the genealogical nature of Basque are also proposed.

Indo-European Surprising hypothesis of the ‘Basque as Indo-European’65 was criticized66. The hypothesis was proposed in early publication of C. C. Uhlenbeck.

Armenian The hypothesis is not such well-known as Kartvelian, but the idea was proposed several centuries ago and developed by Joseph Karst67. A collection of Basque- Armenian comparisons is proposed68. Many of these comparisons are not etymologically correct, but several goups of Basque-Armenian similarities are not excluded: 1) common Hurro-Urartian elements; 2) common North Caucasian elements, 3) common ‘Mediterranean’ elements like ‘stone’.

65 Forni, Gianfranco (2013). "Evidence for Basque as an Indo-European Language". Journal of Indo-European Studies, 41, No. 1-2; Forni, Gianfranco (2013). "Evidence for Basque as an Indo-European Language: A Reply to the Critics". Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1-2, excepts of both: https://www.academia.edu/3801960/Evidence_for_Basque_as_an_Indo-European_Language_EXCERPT_ 66 Kassian, A. S. On Forni’s Basque–Indo-European Hypothesis, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1-2, http://euskararenjatorria.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/08Kassian-JIES.pdf ; Koch, John T. (2013). "Is Basque an Indo-European Language?". Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1-2, https://www.academia.edu/4029770/Is_Basque_an_Indo-European_Language 67 Karst, J. Alarodiens et proto-basques, Vienne: Imprimérie des Pp. Mékhitharistes, 1928, 136 p. Cf.: Karst, J. E u ’or e e B que (Strasburg 1954). 68 http://forum.vardanank.org/index.php?showtopic=74928 ; http://budennovsk.org/?p=39476 PROTO-BASQUE MIGRATIONS: A reconstruction

Proto-Basques might appear in Spain in Early Neolithic with the first R1b carriers of Impresso, via the Northern Africa or/and the , but copper and wheel might be brought later, about 3500– 2800 BCE. The spread of proto-Basques in the West Europe occurred with R1b of Bell Beakers

R1b and Bell Beakers Vasconic languages might be spread in pre-historical Europe but not such early as Theo Vennemann thinks: it might be wide migration of Bell Beakers who brought the R1b haplogroup contacted with Corded Ware. Language of the Bell Beakers might be Basque-like initially but Indo-Europeanized under the Corded Ware influence. Now the R1b male haplogroup is the most frequent in the Basque Country, Wales, and Ireland.

Evidence of the association of R1b with the Beaker folk comes from a number of sources. Firstly, two skeletons from a Beaker site in Germany are the only ancient humans reported so far to carry R1b. It has never been found in the bones of anyone – farmer or huntergatherer – earlier than 2600 BC, or indeed later. Second, the distribution of R1b, in particular the S116 subgroup which accounts for most Irish R1b, is related to the geographic spread of the Beaker culture, and S116 is thought to have originated in Iberia. Third, there is a strong correlation within Italy of the frequency of an S116 subgroup called S28 and the distribution of bell Beaker sites. Finally, whole Y chromosome data reveals a massive expansion in numbers at around this time, a starburst of new lineages can be seen, as each man had many sons, so the population of R1b was increasing rapidly in size. […] The carriers of R1b almost certainly brought the Irish language. […] And one of the most famous texts in Irish, the Lebor Gabala Erenn, the Book of the Taking of Ireland, recounts a migration from Iberia. It may well be the memory of a real invasion.69

The R1b male haplogroup, dated to about 5100 BCE, was found in the Cardial Pottery site of Norteast Spain70 whereas another male haplogroup of the Impresso/Cardial Pottery was E. If R1b represents Basque-Caucasian languages and E represents Afro-Asiatic languages then the bearers of the Impresso might carry both haplogroups and languages. A synthesis of North Caucasian and Afro-Asiatic elements in Basque could begin in Cardium Pottery. John D. Bengtson thinks that proto-Basques appeared in Spain with the Cardial Pottery71. However, if the first proto-Basques might appear with Cardium Pottery/Impresso, then main Basque migration possibly was with Bell Beakers. Some R1b carriers could reach the Iberian Peninsula long before the Bell Beaker migration, but main wave of the haplogroup movement coincided with the spread of the Bell Beaker tradition.

69 Prehistoric genocide in Ireland? https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/genetic- ancestry/guff_documents/Genocide_in_Ireland.pdf 70 An early Neolithic Cardial culture burial dated to around 5178–5066 BCE at the Els Trocs site, , in the , Spain were found to contain R1b1*, Haak, Wolfgang; Lazaridis, Iosif (February 10, 2015). "Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". bioRxiv. http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/02/10/013433 71 Bengtson, John D. Basque and the other Mediterranean languages, Mother Tongue XIV (2009), https://www.academia.edu/6158323/Basque_and_the_Other_Mediterranean_Languages The Y haplogroup R1b, which is known in the Kura-Araxes culture, is the most frequent among the Tabasaran people of Daghestan which language is Northeast Caucasian.

Cattle were probably domesticated in West Asia around 8,500 BCE by R1b tribes. The southern branch, R1b-V88 propagated from the Fertile Crescent into Egypt and across North Africa. Archeology shows that cattle herders reached Lybia by 5,500 BCE and Algeria by 4,500 BCE.72 Like its northern counterpart (R1b-M269), R1b-V88 is associated with the domestication of cattle in northern Mesopotamia. Both branches of R1b probably split soon after cattle were domesticated, approximately 10,500 years ago (8,500 BCE). R1b-V88 migrated south towards the Levant and Egypt. The migration of R1b people can be followed archeologically through the presence of domesticated cattle, which appear in central Syria around 8,000-7,500 BCE (late Mureybet period), then in the Southern Levant and Egypt around 7,000-6,500 BCE (e.g. at Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba). Cattle herders subsequently spread across most of northern and eastern Africa. The Sahara desert would have been more humid during the Neolithic Subpluvial period (c. 7250-3250 BCE), and would have been a vast savannah full of grass, an ideal environment for cattle herding. Evidence of cow herding during the Neolithic has shown up at Uan Muhuggiag in central Libya around 5500 BCE, at the Capeletti Cave in northern Algeria around 4500 BCE. But the most compelling evidence that R1b people related to modern Europeans once roamed the Sahara is to be found at Tassili n'Ajjer in southern Algeria, a site famous pyroglyphs (rock art) dating from the Neolithic era. Some painting dating from around 3000 BCE depict fair-skinned and blond or auburn haired women riding on cows. After reaching the Maghreb, R1b-V88 cattle herders could have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Iberia, probably accompanied by G2 farmers, J1 and T1a goat herders and native Maghreban E- M81 lineages. These Maghreban Neolithic farmers/herders could have been the ones who established the Almagra Pottery culture in in the 6th millennium BCE.73

Time of the migration N. I. Vavilov’s view (in his book ‘Five continents’) on the similarity between North Spanish and West Georgian wheat and harvesting tool is well-known. The etymological e-base, compiled by John Bengtson, included many agricultural terms (‘harrow’, ‘seed’, ‘to grind, mill’, ‘hoe, spade, mattock’, ‘wheat’, ‘beans’, ‘oats’, ‘cattle’, ‘cow’, ‘sew’, ‘vessel’, ‘wheel’ etc.; some animals might be wild or domestic). The last date might be represented by ‘wheel’ which appeared not earlier than 4500 BCE and widely spread about 3500 BCE. Basque gabi ‘hammer’, pre-Celtic *gobed- ‘smith’ and Avar k’e e ‘smith’ are related to the metallic era rather than to the Palaeolithic tools. If Basque tupiki / topinki ‘copper’ is comparable with Hurrian tap-/tip- ‘metal’ then the migration might occur after the appearance of the Kura-Araxes culture in 3700–3500 BCE. The link between Basque burdin ‘iron’ and Sumerian urudu ‘copper’ is disputable. If Basque uri/iri ‘village, town, city’ coincided with Latin urbs, urvs ‘city’, Sumerian uru/ere ‘city’ (with Dravidian parallels and possibly of Dravidian Ubaid origin) not accidently then it was pre-historic Mediterranean urbanization which might be compared with the Ubaid and Uruk ones.

72 http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_E1b1b_Y-DNA.shtml 73 http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_R1b_Y-DNA.shtml Therefore, the migration might occur after the appearance of agriculture and metallurgy, i. e. after the start of the Neolithic. The most possible time of the Basque migration is the Uruk period, about 4000–3200 BCE. In comparison, two Uruk influences on Egypt, in 3400 and 3100 BCE, were reconstructed. The appearance of the Levantine branch of Kura-Araxes, i. e. Khirbet-Kerak, roughly coincided with the start of the Bell Beakers.

Way of migration The proto-Basques might reach Spain 1) via Northern Africa or 2) via the Mediterranean Sea. In the first case, it is very doubtful that the migration occurred through the territory of the Egyptian centralized state or around the territory. Therefore, the migration might occur before 3100 BCE. In the second case, the Los Millares fortified site of Southeastern Spain (from about 3200 BCE), close to earlier Ozieri culture of Sardinia which was related to the Aegean Cycladic culture, was an example of maritime migration. The Los Millares site represented the Almerian/Ibero-Saharan metallurgical culture with East Mediterranean and North African links. Previous Culture of Caves was linked with East Mediterranean and Cardial Pottery. The Bell Beaker culture appeared from the Almerian culture.