Vasconic Substratum Hypothesis
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The Vasconic substrate hypothesis is a proposal that several Western European languages contain remnants of an old
language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
of
Vasconic languages The Vasconic languages (from Latin 'Basque'), also called Euskarian or Basque-Aquitanian, are a putative language family that includes Basque and the extinct Aquitanian language. The extinct Iberian language is sometimes tentatively included, a ...
, of which
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
is the only surviving member. The proposal was made by the German linguist
Theo Vennemann Theo Vennemann genannt Nierfeld (; born 27 May 1937) is a German historical linguist known for his controversial theories of a " Vasconic" and an " Atlantic" stratum in European languages, published since the 1990s. He was professor of Germa ...
, but has been rejected by other linguists. According to Vennemann, Vasconic languages were once widespread on the European continent before they were mostly replaced by
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
. Relics of these languages include
toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...
across Central and Western Europe.


Basis of the hypothesis

Theo Vennemann based his hypothesis on the works of
Hans Krahe Hans Krahe (7 February 1898 – 25 June 1965) was a German philologist and linguist, specializing over many decades in the Illyrian languages. He was born in Gelsenkirchen. Work Between 1936 and 1946 he was a professor at the University of W ...
, who postulated an Old European
substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...
as the origin of the European
hydronym A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...
y (
Old European hydronymy Old European () is the term used by Hans Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of European hydronymy (river names) in Central and Western Europe.Hans Krahe, ''Unsere ältesten Flussnamen'', Wiesbaden Edition Otto Harr ...
). He classified the substratum language as Indo-European. Vennemann rejected the classification. He gives the following reasons: * The area of the hydronymy substrate language covers the Iberic Peninsula, which he postules to be non-Indo-European during the time the hydronymy developed according to Krahe. * From a
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
-statistical point of view, the dominance of a-vocalism and the sparseness of
plosive In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...
s is noteworthy. * Some hydronyms survived for a long time. This led Vennemann to the "
toponomastic Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper na ...
main axiom": Once places are given a name, they keep it, and languages that newly arrive at such a place take over the already existing toponymy. He concludes that most place names in Europe must therefore be pre-Indo-European.


The hypothesis and its evidence

Vennemann developed his ideas in a series of papers which were collected in a book called ''Europa Vasconica–Europa Semitica''. He accepts Krahe's theory that there was a uniform Old European language, which is the origin of the Old European hydronymy, but proposes that it is of Vasconic origin. Vasconic is a
language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
proposed by Vennemann encompassing Basque (its only extant member), Aquitanian, Ligurian, and possibly Iberian and Proto-Sardinian. Vennemann proposes that this uniform Vasconic substrate must come from a
linguistically Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures i ...
uniform population, which can only exist within a small area. He therefore proposes that during the last Ice Age, the Vasconic people lived in the modern region of Aquitania. As the
glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s retreated, the Vasconics began moving to the north and south, settling most of
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, spreading their language. They gave names to the rivers and places. This toponymy mostly persisted after the Vasconic language was replaced by Indo-European languages in most of their area, of which the present Basque area in
northern Spain Spain is a country located in southwestern Europe occupying most (about 82 percent) of the Iberian Peninsula. It also includes a small exclave inside France called Llívia, as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Is ...
and
southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
is postulated to be a relic.


Evidence cited by Vennemann

In support of this argument, Vennemann cites, ''inter alia'': * cultural similarities noted by
Marija Gimbutas Marija Gimbutas (, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeology, archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture, Old Europe" and for her Kurgan ...
; * parallels in geographical
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s that may be relics of a pre-Indo-European
substratum Substrata, plural of substratum, may refer to: *Earth's substrata, the geologic layering of the Earth *''Hypokeimenon'', sometimes translated as ''substratum'', a concept in metaphysics *Substrata (album), a 1997 ambient music album by Biosphere * ...
, including ** numerous examples from
Old European hydronymy Old European () is the term used by Hans Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of European hydronymy (river names) in Central and Western Europe.Hans Krahe, ''Unsere ältesten Flussnamen'', Wiesbaden Edition Otto Harr ...
and maritime terminology, noted by scholars such as
Hans Krahe Hans Krahe (7 February 1898 – 25 June 1965) was a German philologist and linguist, specializing over many decades in the Illyrian languages. He was born in Gelsenkirchen. Work Between 1936 and 1946 he was a professor at the University of W ...
, that do not necessarily have an Indo-European root, such as words in
West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic languages, Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic languages, North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages, East Germ ...
for "
sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...
" (Dutch '' zee'') and "
ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
" (Dutch '' ijs'') that are similar to their respective Basque counterparts; i.e., '' itsaso'' and '' izotz''; ** the similarity of names like
Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: ''Vath d'Aran'' or ''Vau d'Aran'', in Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', in Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an autonomous administrative entity (form ...
,
Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...
, and
Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...
to (for example) the
Standard Basque Standard Basque () is a standardised version of the Basque language, developed by the Basque Language Academy in the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version throughout the Basque Country. Heavil ...
word ''
haran Haran or Aran ( ''Hārān'') is a man in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He was a son of Terah, brother of Abraham, and father of son Lot and daughters Milcah and Iscah. He died in Ur of the Chaldees. Through Lot, Haran was the ance ...
'' ('valley'); ** the similarity of names containing ''Eber-'' with "valley," "river mouth".


Vigesimal numerical systems

Elements of
vigesimal A vigesimal ( ) or base-20 (base-score) numeral system is based on 20 (number), twenty (in the same way in which the decimal, decimal numeral system is based on 10 (number), ten). ''wikt:vigesimal#English, Vigesimal'' is derived from the Latin a ...
("base-20")
counting Counting is the process of determining the number of elements of a finite set of objects; that is, determining the size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for ever ...
and
number system A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
s, which Vennemann regards as a trait of Vasconic languages, exist in
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
, Danish and French.


Genetics

Evidence from
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
and
blood type A blood type (also known as a blood group) is based on the presence and absence of antibody, antibodies and Heredity, inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycop ...
s shows that the modern
Basque people The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous to, and primarily i ...
share physical characteristics with old populations throughout Western and Central Europe, especially in likely refugia areas, such as
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
s.


Reception


General criticism

The hypothesis has been largely rejected by historical linguists. Vennemann's theories on "Vasconic" toponymy and hydronymy were opposed by linguists such as P. R. Kitson (1996), and Baldi & Richard (2006), who pointed out that most linguists see unusual European hydronyms as more likely to have Indo-European roots of some kind, and the Indo-European linguist Michael Meier-Brügger. German linguist Dieter H. Steinbauer argued that it is difficult to argue on the basis of Basque because: * its status as an isolate means that there is insufficient historical data for the reconstruction of the substratal language and; * Basque itself has adopted many words from Indo-European languages. Steinbauer also criticized Vennemann for * assuming that a Vasconic substratal language would necessarily share with Basque a feature of root words with initial
consonant clusters In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
; * ignoring indications that the ancient
Etruscan language Etruscan ( ) was the language of the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria, in Etruria Padana and Etruria Campana in what is now Italy. Etruscan influenced Latin but was eventually superseded by it. Around 13,000 Etruscan epigraph ...
seems more closely related to western
Anatolian languages The Anatolian languages are an extinct branch of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Anatolia. The best known Anatolian language is Hittite, which is considered the earliest-attested Indo-European language. Undiscovered until the late ...
, and for * several methodological flaws, concluding that "a scientific discourse with Vennemann must face insurmountable obstacles". The Bascologist Joseba Lakarra rejects Vennemann's Vasconic etymologies, as he considers them to be incompatible with the current state of research on historical phonology and morphology of Basque.
Larry Trask Robert Lawrence Trask (10 November 1944 – 27 March 2004) was an American-British professor of linguistics at the University of Sussex, and an authority on the Basque language and the field of historical linguistics. Biography Born in Olean, ...
concludes that Vennemann found an agglutinating language unrelated to Basque, which could e.g. be Indo-European. Harald Bichlmeier points out that Vennemann compares the etymological roots of the toponymy with modern Basque words. This is incoherent, as the comparison should be done using the reconstructed forms of Proto-Basque. Jürgen Udolph shows that some of the assumed Vasconic roots are in fact Indo-European like Vennemann's *muna, especially since Proto-Basque lacked word initial /m/. Stefan Georg adds, that some roots do not exist in Basque or Proto-Basque. According to Lutz Reichardt the hypothesis is based on the assumption that "settlement continuity exists and that this means continuity of names throughout all languages being spoken in that settlement". Furthermore, he criticizes the methodology applied by those who support the Vasconian hypothesis: Hayim Y. Sheynin, an expert on Semitic languages, reviewed the work of Vennemann and concluded that his reasoning is based on outdated data and scientific works rejected by critics. He states that much of the evidence presented for an Afro-Asiatic stratum is objectable and based on mere sound similarities only. Peter Anreiter noted that toponymy with an unknown meaning can be "interpreted" in almost any language. To demonstrate his point, he then "interprets" the Vasconisms proposed by Vennemann as Turkish words. Nonetheless, he states that words with plausible Indo-European etymology should be considered as toponymy of Indo-European origin. Piotr Gąsiorowski cautioned that it is unclear whether or not an Old European Hydronymy exists at all. According to him it is mere speculation to postulate an etymology for similarly appearing toponymy from a vast area without being able to show that they are indeed from the same substratum.


Origin of the vigesimal numerical systems in Europe

Vennemann argues that the vigesimal numerical systems in the modern Celtic languages, in French and Danish are a remnant of the Vasconic vigesimal counting system. According to Manfred Kudlek, Old Irish and Gallic did not have vigesimal counting systems and neither did Old Norse. The vigesimal systems in the respective languages developed during the Middle Ages, e.g. Danish started to use a vigesimal system in the 13th/14th century. Therefore, the French system cannot be the result of Celtic influence. Kudlek proposes that the Celtic and Danish systems are loans from French. Brigitte Bauer, too, rejects substratal influence. She suggests that intrasocietal developments, e.g. in the monetary system, may explain the adoption of vigesimal systems.


Genetics

Manfred Kayser and Lutz Roewer, both experts on genetics, commented in 2013 that genetics do not reveal anything about the languages spoken by the individuals. Furthermore, the information genetics can deliver on population historical hypothesis is limited. Dieterlen and Bengtson find the distribution of blood factors and haploid groups is convincing evidence for Basque settlement in Western Europe before the Indo-Europeans settled there in line with Vennemann's hypothesis. They note that similarity between the distributions in Basque areas and Sardinia.


See also

* Atlantic (Semitic) languages *
Atlantic Bronze Age The Atlantic Bronze Age is a term that has never been formally defined. Some take its meaning to be a label for the period spanning approximately 1300–700 BC in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain; that is, the Atlantic coast of Euro ...
*
Aquitanian language The Aquitanian language was the language of the ancient Aquitani, a people living in Roman times between the Pyrenees, the Garonne river and the Atlantic Ocean. Epigraphic evidence for this language has also been found south of the Pyrenees, in ...
*
Bronze Age in Europe The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age. It starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC and spans ...
* Indo-European substrate hypotheses * Neolithic Europe § Language in the Neolithic *
Old European hydronymy Old European () is the term used by Hans Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of European hydronymy (river names) in Central and Western Europe.Hans Krahe, ''Unsere ältesten Flussnamen'', Wiesbaden Edition Otto Harr ...
* Origin of the Basques § Old European *
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula This is a list of the pre- Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania, i.e., modern Portugal, Spain and Andorra). Some closely fit the concept of a people, ethnic group or tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribe ...
*
Proto-Basque Proto-Basque (; ; ) is a reconstructed ancient stage of the Basque language. It preceded another reconstructed stage, Common Basque, which is derived by comparing dialects of modern Basque. Common Basque is their reconstructed common ancestor. Pr ...
* Urbian *
Dené–Caucasian languages Dené–Caucasian is a discredited language family proposal that includes widely-separated language groups spoken in the Northern Hemisphere: Sino-Tibetan languages, Yeniseian languages and Burushaski in Asia; Na-Dené languages in North Am ...


References


External links


Personal homepage of Theo Vennemann

Theo Vennemann's page at University of Munich

Review of Theo Vennemann's collection of articles, ''Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica''
by Hayim Sheynin via
LINGUIST List The LINGUIST List is an online resource for the academic field of linguistics. It was founded by Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation in the United S ...
15.1878 (June 21, 2004)
Review of Theo Vennemann's ''Europa Vasconica-Europa Semitica''
by
Philip Baldi Philip Baldi (born 1946) is an American linguist and classical scholar specializing in Indo-European studies. He is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Classics at Pennsylvania State University. Biography Baldi was born in Scranton, Pennsylvan ...
and B. Richard Page, in ''Lingua'', volume 116, issue 12, December 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasconic Substratum Theory Pre-Indo-European languages Basque language Historical linguistics Linguistic strata