At 4:25 PM -0500 on 1/9/03, Trei, Peter wrote:
> Basque is unique, as you say I remember someone saying somewhere, probably on PBS, that Basque is *very* old, paleolithic, and lots of popular mythology has cropped up that it's the closest living relative to some other ur-language, which even Indo-European is derived from. Jerod Diamond, of "Guns, Germs and Steel", is excerpted here about Proto-Indo-European languages in Europe. (among other things, like the advent of horse warfare) http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/diamond.html Speaking of horse culture :-), the other thing I was reminded of, for some reason, is the discovery of Celtic tombs in central Asia above India somewhere, in China, I think, mummies with red hair, plaid and all, from some time long before the Celts were eventually pushed into Europe, Celts, meeting, the Basques, as the first people to do so. Of course, Himmler, and other "aryan"-worshippers then and now, have spun all this into a massive pseudogenetic fantasy, as Diamond has noted above. Cheers, RAH -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
