1. Pre-Indo-European Languages of Western and Southern Europe 18.11.2014
Oliver Simkin

4. Types of Evidence 1. Living Language (Basque)
2. Inscriptions in Extinct Languages
3. Substratum loanwords

5. 4 Pre-Indo-European Languages
Basque
Iberian
Etruscan
Eteocretan

19. Basque Basque names in Roman, Iberian inscriptions: 100 BC – 300 AD
First texts in Basque: 1040

21. Where does Basque come from?
A Problem of Prehistory

23. Near-Eastern DNA in Europe

25. Basque Consonant System
p t c k
b d Ɉ g
m n ɲ
l ʎ
s̪ s̺ ʃ
ts̪ ts̺ tʃ
f ʝ h ɾ r

26. Proto-Basque Phonemic Inventory
Lenis b d g n l r s ś h Fortis (p) t k N L R ts tś a e i o u

27. Proto-Basque Phonotactics
No initial r-
No CR clusters: CVRSC syllabic template
No initial d- except in finite verb-forms
Restricted distribution of Fortis consonants

28. (Proto-)Basque Morphology
Agglutinative
Polysynthetic
Ergative
Nouns – cases formed by suffixes
Verbs – prefixes and suffixes
ikas̺i learn irakats̺i teach
is̪eki burn iras̪eki set fire to

31. Iberian Morphology Agglutinative Polysynthetic Ergative ???
Nouns – not much sign of a case system
Verbs – prefixes, suffixes, incorporation
biderokededine sesdirgadedin
basbiderokedine baserokeiunbaida

32. Proto-Basque Phonemic Inventory
b d g n l r s ś h
(p) t k N L R ts tś
a e i o u
Iberian Phonemic Inventory
b d g n l r s ś
t k (N) L R
a e i o u ã

33. Basque and Iberian Phonological Similarities
No bilabial nasal m
No glides w y
No fricatives f v θ đ
No long vowels
Two sibilants
Two rhotics, probably also two liquids etc.

34. Basque-Iberian Phonotactic Similarities
No initial r-
Initial d- is grammatically restricted
No CR clusters: CVRSC syllable template
Restricted distribution of fortis consonants
[m] only as a restricted allophone of /b/
Fortis consonants at compound juncture

35. Etruscan

36. Etruscan, Rhaetic, Lemnian Tursenoi Etrusci Rasna
The Tyrrhenian family:
Etruscan, Rhaetic, Lemnian
Tursenoi
Etrusci
Rasna

40. Lemnian seems to have an Italic loanword napʰotʰ ‘grandson’.
Lemnian seems close to Etruscan, not so close to Rhaetic.
The ‘Sea People’, who sailed east to attack the Hittites and Egyptians c.1200 BC onwards, included people called Turusha.

41. Etruscan – Anatolian Connections
Genetic evidence (people, cows)
Linguistic evidence (apparent Anatolian loanwords in Etruscan)
Archaeological evidence (similar tombs)
Folk tradition (Herodotus, etc)

43. Sun usil seHwel- egus̪ki Moon tiwr meHnes- ilargi
Etruscan PIE Basque
Sun usil seHwel egus̪ki
Moon tiwr meHnes ilargi
Earth kel dʰegʰem lur
Water tʰi wod-r ur
Father apa pHter aita
Mother ati meHter ama
Brother ruwa bʰreHter anaia
Son klan suHnus s̺eme

44. Etruscan Phonemic Inventory
pʰ tʰ kʰ p t k m n f s ʃ h ts r l y w a e i u

45. Etruscan Morphology Inflectional, not polysynthetic Suffixing
Nominal case-system
Nominative-accusative, not ergative
Verbs not marked for person or number

46. Etruscan case system Nouns Demonstr.prn. 1sg.prn. Nom. -ø -ø mi
Acc. -ø -an mini
Gen. -as -as ?
‘2nd.Gen.’ -al -la ?
Abl. -is -is ?
Loc. -i / -tʰi -i / -tʰi ?

47. Eteocretan

50. Eteocretan

51. Minoan Linear A

53. Pre-Greek Laburinthos maze (orig. ‘palace’) Huakinthos hyacinth
Terebinthos terebinth tree
Asaminthos bath-tub
Merinthos rope
Zakunthos (placename)
Korinthos (placename)
Amarunthos (placename)

54. ? ?
Eteocretan = Linear A = Pre-Greek

55. Minoan Linear A

56. Eteocretan

57. Pre-Greek –nthos Placenames

58. Pre-Greek = Linear A Laburinthos maze (orig. palace)
Mallos wool, sheep’s fleece
Barakis green cloak (orig. green dye)
Nikuleon fig fruit
Lura lyre
Basileus king (orig. mayor)

59. ? ?
Eteocretan = Linear A = Pre-Greek

60. Eteocretan – Greek bilingual from Dreros

62. Turon…….turo[ isalabre…..isaluria

63. ? ?
Eteocretan = Linear A = Pre-Greek

64. Proto-Basque Phonemic Inventory
b d g n l r s ś h
(p) t k N L R ts tś
a e i o u
Iberian Phonemic Inventory
b d g n l r s ś
t k (N) L R
a e i o u ã

68. The End

71. Basque s̺emearents̪at hartu dut I’ve taken it for my son
s̺aldu dis̪kis̪ugu
We have sold them to you
ikusi gaitus̪u
You have seen us
Mirenek es̪tul egin du
Miren has coughed

72. Iberian are tage adinbelaur antalskar
Here lies Adinbelaur, son of Antalskar
ikonãkei-ãi ildubeleś eban
I am (the grave) of Ikonãkei. Ildubeleś set it up.
ildirda-śalir-ban
This is the coin of (the city) Ilerda
ildirbigis-en seltaŕ-ãi
I am the tomb of Ildirbigis
nerśetikan-tegiar-ãi
I was made by Nersetikan

73. Etruscan mi welelias tʰina mlakʰ malakas
I (am) the good jug of good Welelia
laris welkasnas mini turuke
Laris Welkasnas gave me
itun turuke wenel atelinas tinas kliniaras
Wenel Atelinas gave this to the sons of Zeus
ekltʰi ʃutʰitʰ lartʰ altʰu
Larth Althu (is) in this tomb

74. Eteocretan …]rmaw et isalabre komn[…]d men inai isaluria lmo
…]ark agset med arkrkokles de[….
…]iarala pʰraisoi inai […]restnmntorsardopʰsano[…
…]sanomoselos pʰraisona[….

75. Linear A a-re-ne-si-di-jo-pi-ke-pa-ja-ta-ri-no-te-ri-mu a-ja-ku
a-ta-i-jo-wa-ja tu-ru-sa du-bu-re i-da-a
u-na-ka-na-si i-pi-na-ma si-ru-te
ta-na-su-te-ke se-to-i-ja a-sa-sa-ra-me
a-ta-i-jo-wa-ja o-su-qa-re ja-sa-sa-ra-me

76. 1 tʰu Hoino- bat 2 tsal duo- bi 3 ki trei- hiru 4 ʃa kʷetwor- laur
Etruscan PIE Basque
1 tʰu Hoino- bat
2 tsal duo- bi
3 ki trei hiru
4 ʃa kʷetwor- laur
5 makʰ penkʷe borts̪
6 hutʰ sweks s̺ei
7 ketsp septm s̪as̪pi
10 sar dekm hamar

77. Vinča, Tartaria tablets, 5000 BC

78. Varna,
4500 BC

79. Dispilio tablet, 5000 BC