Basques

I have a question perhaps an expert can help me on regarding Basques,my father was a Basques from the Pryennes,never had him say much regarding it,on a few websites I've come across I've read that the Basques were remnants of atlantis,and also was the only language that the devil didn't speak,may be a dumb question but I was always told the only dumb question was one that wasn't asked

While I had not heard rumors that they could possibly be the remanants of Atlantis, I do know that it is the oldest spoken language on earth. Interesting parallel if you think about it.

Oldtimer2 -

You may want to check out the following book on Basque history. I highly recommend it -

The Basque History of the World - Mark Kurlansky

From what I remember, The Basque language is so old they cannot find it's root. Only one other language in the world has this same situation.

I wonder if there are any similarities to Pali in some way?

I became curious about the language myself and found the following during my Google travels - Kern County Basque Club. This club is based in Bakersfield, California.

There is quite a bit of interesting information available including Basque recipes and a four-lesson section for the Basque language.

Another very amazing thing about Basque people is that most of them have negative blood. And of all the negative types, O-neg. is most predominant.
I am of Basque decent also.

Originally posted by Tomorrow

Another very amazing thing about Basque people is that most of them have negative blood. And of all the negative types, O-neg. is most predominant...

Has there been any speculation from the medical community as to why this is the case? Is the medical community even researching this curiosity?

I believe the theory is that Basques are the remnants of the first homo sapien sapien settlers in Europe. Most died out during the last glacial period - and were replaced by a later wave of immigration from whom most other Europeans are descended.

Originally posted by Bibliophile

Originally posted by Tomorrow

Another very amazing thing about Basque people is that most of them have negative blood. And of all the negative types, O-neg. is most predominant...

Has there been any speculation from the medical community as to why this is the case? Is the medical community even researching this curiosity?

Yes my father had negative blood,was always a worry if he had to have major surgery,also allergic to any form of Morophine,thanks again for all the info you have given me,as both parents are deceased and both were youngest,though my dads sister is 104 and still full of piss and vinegar lol

While in San Sabastian (known as Donostia in Basque) Spain a few years back I was interviewing Spanish and Basque fishermen for a research project when I heard an amazing legend:

According to the Basques that I talked to their language was taught to them by the codfish! The Basque fishing fleet was the first in Europe to discover the teeming cod grounds off New England - and supplied the Mediterranean with a salted fish that only they knew about.

Because the fact that salted cod is headless, many legends arose about the nature of the fish - one of them claiming that codfish could actually speak. Originally I took it as waterfront humor, or just some old timers trying to make the foreigner look stupid. But sure enough, Mark Kurlansky confirmed the story in his book titled "Cod"

The basques are thought to be a remnant of the original, or at least a very very old, european population. They don't speak an indo-european language, their language is entirely different, its something of a standalone, there is no other language quite like it.

Since there was no continent of Atlantis in the Atlantic ocean, I doubt that they are from it, and I doubt that the debil would have trouble learning the language.

And no, it definitly wasn't a stupid question. I bet that there are lots of people here that have never heard of the Basque, or couldn't even point out the pyrenees on a map (we'll give them a map of brazil to throw them off).

. Only one other language in the world has this same situation.

There are a few languages that are 'isolates'. Sumerian is one, for example.

Is the medical community even researching this curiosity?

I don't know about the basque in particular, but I do know that blood typing studies have been done on lots of populations, there are lots of cases similar to this. Its pretty neat. I think that native americans, in teh north at least, have similar bloodtypes, and this is different from europeans, who tend to have some other blood type, etc.

I was viewing Archives of the last month, and found there has been a "Find" which now dates the Basque Language, in it's Written form now to 300 AD.

www.stuff.co.nz...

Archaeologists unearth oldest Basque inscriptions
16 June 2006

BILBAO: Archaeologists have unearthed inscriptions in the Basque language that could date from as early as the third century, a find Basque linguists hailed as extraordinarily important.

Basque, or euskera to its speakers, is considered to be one of the oldest languages in Europe and scholars have long wondered whether it is derived from African, Caucasian or Etruscan tongues, or if it developed in isolation.

Until now, a text written by a monk in both Castillian Spanish and Basque had been the oldest written example of the language, dating from the year 1040.

The new inscriptions were found at a Roman site near the Basque town of Vitoria in northern Spain, and included the names of colours, verbs and references to God, Christianity and the Holy Family etched into bricks, bones and pieces of glass.

The head of the excavation, Eliseo Gil, said the pieces would not be dated exactly until October or November, but members of the Academy of the Basque Language, Euskaltzaindia, said the find was extraordinary

Among the words inscribed were the colours "urdin" (blue), "zuri" (white) and "gorri" (red), verbs "edan" (drink) "ian" (eat) and "lo" (sleep), the excavation team said.

Another piece read "Iesus, Ioshse ata ta Miriam ama" (Jesus, the father Joseph and the mother Mary) while another had the greeting "Geure ata zutan" (May the Father be with you).

Archaeologists also found pictures depicting the life of Jesus, including what could be a Last Supper.

I though those who posted here before, would be interested in the Findings.

Ciao

Shane

Wow, thats fascinating, seems a good discovery for the study of basque AND early christianity. Good find!

As to the statement this thread that the Basque language has no known linguistic correlations with other languages, I have read somewhere that the people from Georgia which a part of Russia near Armenia, are often able to understand spoken Basque on first hearing. I am unable to cite any linguistic references on this however.

Originally posted by Nygdan

I don't know about the basque in particular, but I do know that blood typing studies have been done on lots of populations, there are lots of cases similar to this. Its pretty neat. I think that native americans, in teh north at least, have similar bloodtypes, and this is different from europeans, who tend to have some other blood type, etc.

Actually, the Native Americans do not have similar blood type. The Natives are almost all type O positive, which is the oldest blood type in the world. The Basques are RH negative, mostly O negative, but other blood groups as well. The RH negative factor is an extremely rare bloodtype, with over 95% of RH negatives occuring in exclusively European ethnic groups. The Basques are espeically notable here, as they are perhaps the only group in the world where RH negative blood types are the most common.

The Basques are indeed quite unique and fascinating.

Here is a BBC article that links them to the Celts in Britian.

news.bbc.co.uk...

[edit on 28-6-2006 by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

Originally posted by michaelanteski
are often able to understand spoken Basque on first hearing

!?

Fascinating.

The Basques are espeically notable here, as they are perhaps the only group in the world where RH negative blood types are the most common.

See above response.

Thanks for the clarification too!

I also have RH negative blood type, Type B-. I have no Basque roots, my ancestry is primarily central and Eastern European. But it could very well be that those regions, where the first native Europeans lived had been fully assimilated by the invading Indo-Europeans. The Basques could be the very last full blooded remnants of the native pre-Indo/Aryan European people.