The bronze hand-shaped amulet is thought to have been a good-luck charm. It was found in 2021 amid the ruins of a 2,100-year-old building at Irulegi in Spain's Navarre region.Image credit: Aiestaran et al.; Antiquity Publications Ltd
Posted on 02/22/2024 9:34:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv
An inscription carved into a 2,100-year-old hand-shaped amulet from northeastern Spain seems to be related to Basque and may be a rare example of an ancient language spoken in Europe more than 5,000 years ago.
In a new study, published Tuesday (Feb. 20) in the journal Antiquity, researchers revealed that the inscription is the oldest and longest ever found in a Vasconic language, a group of languages that includes modern Basque. Until now, the only known ancient Vasconic texts were mainly from a few words written on coins from the region, the researchers said.
Archaeologists unearthed the amulet in 2021 at the Iron Age site of Irulegi, in Spain's Navarre region. The first word of the inscription, which uses the Latin alphabet, is "sorioneku" or "sorioneke" — similar to the modern Basque word "zorioneko," meaning "good fortune." Because of this similarity, the researchers think the meaning of the words are the same, and that the amulet may have hung outside a building as a good luck charm...
While only the first word of the inscription has been deciphered, the researchers have identified at least five words, written with 18 characters on the "palm" of the hand...
Archaeological finds suggest that the settlement at Irulegi existed from the first millennium B.C. until the first century B.C., when it was likely burned down during the Sertorian War from 80 to 72 B.C. between rival factions of Romans, who ruled much of the Iberian Peninsula at the time... The use of Latin characters shows the Romans were present in the area when the amulet was made.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The bronze hand-shaped amulet is thought to have been a good-luck charm. It was found in 2021 amid the ruins of a 2,100-year-old building at Irulegi in Spain's Navarre region.Image credit: Aiestaran et al.; Antiquity Publications Ltd
I’m Basque, as this is very cool.
“Basque is the last surviving Paleo-European language spoken indigenously in Europe, predating the Indo-European languages of the Bronze Age...”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language
Thanks, but it’s an unsubstantiated claim.
I don’t know, man. It’s all Greek to me.
:^)
Tom Hanks ... Da Vinci Code
all I got .....
RE: I’m Basque,
On the Les Crane Show in 1965 (late night show like Tonight) the singer Caterina Valente said she was told Basque is the most difficult language in the world to learn.
I saw somewhere recently it wasn’t.
Do you know?
I don’t know if it’s the worst, but I find the grammar very difficult. I am learning Basque, I wasn’t brought up with the language, just Spanish.
Thanks. Never heard the facts from someone who knows.
That depends upon the native language of the learner. It's all relative!
For someone already fluent in, say, Mandarin Chinese, learning Sichuanese would be relatively easy.
By the same token, someone with a good foundation in Aquitanian would probably find learning Modern Basque a "piece of cake."
Regards,
Your memory is playing tricks on you: That wasn't on the "Les Crane Show."
It was on the "Danny Kaye Show," and it was in 1966 (on Dec. 28, to be exact).
I watched only a few minutes of the show (my parents were switching back and forth between "Danny Kaye" and an episode of "I Spy"), so didn't catch that particular remark.
Regards,
Ah, yes: The Basques have learned much at the feet of their Spanish masters!
< ducks! >
Regards,
The trick there, of course, is that Aquitanian no longer exists!
The Basque POV is that it was the other way around!
I'll see myself out.
Thanks, SunkenCiv!
Did you post an article years ago that speculated about similarities between the Basque language and the language of the Ainu people of Northern Japan?
Doesn’t ring a bell, but the bell doesn’t work all that well nowadays.
[rustling papers sound]
Ah, here it is, blam posted it in 2004:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1160355/posts
keyword:
https://freerepublic.com/tag/basque/index
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