No real similarities between Basque and Finno-Ugric languages. All the best! Raimo Personal photography homepage at http://www.uusikaupunki.fi/~raikorho
-----Alkuper�inen viesti----- L�hett�j�: Bob Walkden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vastaanottaja: Keith Whaley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> P�iv�: 19. tammikuuta 2003 12:23 Aihe: Re: Robert Capa's biography >Hi, > >Sunday, January 19, 2003, 10:12:55 AM, you wrote: > >>> I watched it in Basque once when I was in San Sebastian. Somehow it >>> didn't seem quite so funny <g>. > >> I would guess! Isn't Basque one of the very few languages on Earth >> that have no known progenitor? > >well, they all have progenitors! It was thought to have no surviving >relatives, although I believe there are some similarities with the >Finno-Ugric (Finnish & Hungarian) group and languages of the Caucasus. >It's not an Indo-European language and for a long time people thought it >was descended from the language of the aboriginal (modern human) inhabitants of >Europe (ie the Cro-Magnons) who were, according to the theory, gradually pushed west >as the Indo-European speakers moved in, and that the Basques themselves were genetic >descendants of the aboriginal Europeans. Recent DNA evidence suggests that this is >not the case. The Basque people are genetically related to the Celtic people who >populate a lot of the Atlantic coastline - the Bretons, Cornish, Welsh and so on, but >analysis of European DNA seems to suggest that they have no special claim to >aboriginality over and above the claims of the other genetic 'types' that have been >identified. > >This is all explained quite accessibly in 'The Seven Daughters of Eve' by >Brian Sykes, who is Prof. of Human Genetics at Oxford. There's a >spin-off commercial website at www.oxfordancestors.com which lets you >trace back your own European genetic inheritance, if indeed you are of >European ancestry. It costs an arm, a leg and a ball of spit. > >Speaking as an Indo-European, I think the origins of the >Indo-Europeans is far more interesting than the origin of the Basques ><g>, but the mystery of their origins is fascinating in its own right. > >> When watching many foreign works/films (TV) I can get along with >> rudimentary knowledge of a few languages, but I'd suppose with Basque, >> it would demand subtitles! > >it's very interesting to listen to, rather like Hungarian and Amharic >in my own experience, because as you suggest there are really no >points of contact that you can grab a hold of. > >--- > > Bob >
