Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

IAm-The-Lawn t1_iwhamb0 wrote

That’s a pretty incredible find. Euskera is an interesting language.

Edit: It’s interesting because the language is very distinct from the other languages on the Iberian peninsula.

217

BenMottram2016 t1_iwihdko wrote

Isn't it very distinct from any other language?

63

IAm-The-Lawn t1_iwiihg5 wrote

That’s correct, to my understanding. Their language is not Indo-European.

The Basque people also have very unique blood types. Some of the highest concentrations of Type O blood, and the Rh blood group.

73

StickFigureFan t1_iwizo8f wrote

From any other currently known/spoken language. It is hypothesized that there were other languages in the same family that died out.

39

rcrabb t1_iwj7atk wrote

I’m going to hypothesize right now that future research using advanced language evolution modeling will predict that some number of words in European languages are derived from some of these hypothetical dead languages.

11

Milkhemet_Melekh t1_iwjiou7 wrote

This isn't really sci-fi. Linguistic science already has pretty solid ways of finding these, and has done so for a while.

18

Piratebuttseckz t1_iwjulem wrote

I never realized how much languages interact until i learned persian farsi as my third (after english and spanish) i found that although i couldnt speak arabic, i understood a fair few of the (written) words that i saw. The other thing was how many words lined up close enough from spanish to persian, i could absolutely believe modern european language has tones of vestigial language in it, and im just some shmuck, let alome professional hands

12

jedipiper t1_iwk1iy8 wrote

Well, wouldn't it make more sense that modern Spanish has words from Arabic in it because of the Moorish Conquests and vice versa? Also, Spanish still has a heavy Latin influence and Arabs would have interacted with Latin speakers way back.

Or is that your point?

13

Piratebuttseckz t1_iwl8zbk wrote

It was about 2/3rds of what i was trying to convey, but older words like father or table also are very similar even in the native original language

3

jedipiper t1_iwljcls wrote

Yeah, I have had a weird crossover too from Korean and German. Oma in German meaning Grandmother and something exceedingly similar in Korean mean mother. Same with Grandfather. And even Abba in Hebrew having a similar sound to Appa in Korean with the same meaning.

2

Beneficial_Sun5302 t1_iwlj67i wrote

The reason very basic words like Father are shared between Iranian and Spanish is because they both ultimately descend from an ancient Indo-European language likely spoken in present day Kazakhstan around 5000 years ago. Steppe pastoralists that spoke this language colonized Europe in the Bronze age. Their language evolved into the various Celtic, Latin, Slavic and Germanic languages of Europe. Greek also comes from this ancient language. Compare Latin, Greek, Avestan and Sanskrit and you will get chills at how similar they are.

3

Beneficial_Sun5302 t1_iwlihwl wrote

Persian, English and Spanish are all Indo-European languages, albeit from their own respective sub families. English is Germanic, Spanish is Latin and Farsi is Iranic. The Scythians and Sarmatians of Eastern Europe spoke an Iranic language that probably influenced modern day Slavic languages. Arabic is an Afroasiatic language that has more in common with Hebrew or Assyrian than it does with the Iranian languages.

2

Cualkiera67 t1_iwizr6f wrote

If it was found 2,100 years ago why are we hearing about it only now?

16

WhackIsBack t1_iwijufz wrote

My mom’s side of the family is basque. Grew up going to the Basque Country (Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona, etc). One thing I always use as an example about how distinct the language is by saying thank you and your welcome in Spanish vs Basque:

Thank you, Gracias, Eskerrik Asko You’re welcome, De Nada, Ez Horregatik

This is exciting news!

61

IslandChillin OP t1_iwivewp wrote

"The Hand of Irulegi, unearthed in 2021 near Pamplona, is a bronze plate containing 40 mysterious symbols. Experts believe they have deciphered its first word: ‘sorioneku’, or ‘good fortune’"

59

joseba_ t1_iwj2t50 wrote

Thats a remarkably similar word to what we use today in euskera : zorioneko. Euskera was a very free form language, mostly relying on spoken word, up until the 1980s when Euskaltzaindia introduced "Euskera batua". In a way, the euskera spoken in the early 20th century should be really similar to whatever version of it they were speaking 2000 years ago, it's really impressive

25

RE5TE t1_iwj68el wrote

> Euskera was a very free form language, mostly relying on spoken word

> the euskera spoken in the early 20th century should be really similar to whatever version of it they were speaking 2000 years ago

Those are opposites.

8

Important_Collar_36 t1_iwk3gwi wrote

Well in 2000+ years the pronunciation of this particular word stayed the same, the only thing that changed was the actual spelling.

It sounds like there were very few literate speakers until the language was fully codified recently. Meaning that it was free in that perhaps different families or communities had slightly different pronunciation of various words but could understand each other easily despite that fact.

4

joseba_ t1_iwj2c91 wrote

Should be highlighted the previous "oldest writings in basque" we had (Glosas Emilianses) dated from either the 10th or 11th centuries. These scribes also included the first few Castilian Spanish writings so this new discovery is really remarkable and highlights the isolated nature of early Basque settlers

18

[deleted] t1_iwgsaxr wrote

[deleted]

0

Batenzelda t1_iwgwt27 wrote

We have some written texts that are probably twice as old as this, but I don’t think any of them were in Basque

13