Atlantic (semitic) languages
Encyclopedia
The Atlantic languages of Semitic
or "Semitidic" (para-Semitic) origin are a disputed concept in historical linguistics
put forward by Theo Vennemann
. The theory has found no notable acceptance in academic circles, and is criticised as being based on sparse and often misinterpreted data.
and a substratum
in the development of Insular Celtic. He claims that "Atlantic" (Semitic or Semitidic) speakers founded coastal colonies beginning in the fifth millennium BC. Thus "Atlantic" influenced the lexicon and structure of Germanic and the structure of Insular Celtic. According to Vennemann, migrating Indo-European speakers encountered non-IE speakers in northern Europe who had already named rivers, mountains and settlements in a language he called "Vasconic". He considered that there were toponyms on the Atlantic coast that were neither Vasconic nor Indo-European. These he considers derive from languages related to the Mediterranean Hamito-Semitic group.
Vennemann bases his theory on the claim that Germanic
words without cognates
in other Indo-European languages
very often belong to semantic fields that are typical for loanword
s from a superstratum language, such as warfare, law and communal life. Likewise, he proposes Semitic etymologies for words of unknown or disputed origin; for instance he relates the word bee to Egyptian
bj-t or the name Éire
, older *īwerijū to *ʼj-wrʼ(m), 'island (of) copper', as in Akkadian
weriʼum 'copper'.
Other evidences he adduces for a Semitic superstratum are a Semitic influence on the Germanic form of the Indo-European ablaut
system and similarities between Germanic paganism
and Mesopotamian mythology, for instance the parallelism between Freyja and Ishtar
, goddesses of war and love.
The idea that there is a connection between Insular Celtic and Afroasiatic goes back to John Davies
(1632). It was expanded by John Morris-Jones
in 1913 and developed further by Vennemann. This position is supported by Pokorny
(1927–49) and Vennemann identifies Phoenicians as the likely people. A key factor is the dominant word order in Insular Celtic compared to other IE languages, together with lexical correspondences. Another important factor is the identification of the people later known as Picts
. Vennemann holds the position that they spoke an Atlantic language. This belief was also held by Zimmer
(1898) but is not generally accepted.
, critically reviewed the work Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica (2003) in which Vennemann lays out his arguments for the existence of a Semitic (or "Semitidic") superstratum in the Germanic languages. He concludes that Vennemann's arguments are unacceptable on several grounds. He notes that Vennemann bases important parts of his main claim on long-outdated and critically rejected literature, that many of the words presented by Vennemann as evidence of an Atlantic (Semitidic) superstratum display nothing more than "mere ad hoc sound similarities", and that Vennemann's claims made in reference to Semitic range from "objectionable" to "ridiculous". In summary, Sheynin concludes "that (Vennemann) failed in this book not only as comparative linguist, or etymologist, but even in his narrow specialization as a Germanist. ... In short, we consider the book a complete failure." http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-1878.html
The book has also been reviewed by Baldi and Page (Lingua 116, 2006). They too are critical of his German part of the theory. There are no Phoenician inscriptions in Britain though traders may have visited the island so the Insular Celtic part of the theory depends on linguistic evidence. The period of the fifth millennium is very early for Celtic speakers in Britain compared with other theories, for example Mallory suggests a date around 1000 BC though more recently a third or fourth millennium date has been suggested by Gray and Atkinson (and more controversially by Forster and Toth). Vennemann's view of the establishment of megaliths is not supported by mainstream archaeologists who view their construction as having a local origin. Eska (1994) argues that the change from verb-noninitial word order in Continental Celtic to verb-initial in Insular Celtic is internally motivated. Baldi and Page say that the strength of Vennemann's proposals lies in his lexical arguments and that these merit serious consideration. The origin of the Picts is unknown, see discussions by Jackson and by Wainright as well as those by Kitson and by Forsyth.
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
or "Semitidic" (para-Semitic) origin are a disputed concept in historical linguistics
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
put forward by Theo Vennemann
Theo Vennemann
Theo Vennemann is a German linguist known best for his work on historical linguistics, especially for his disputed theories of a Vasconic substratum and an Atlantic superstratum of European languages. He also suggests that the High German consonant shift was already completed in the early 1st...
. The theory has found no notable acceptance in academic circles, and is criticised as being based on sparse and often misinterpreted data.
Theory and lines of argumentation
According to Vennemann, Afroasiatic seafarers settled the European Atlantic coast and are to be associated with the European Megalithic Culture. They left a superstratum in the Germanic languagesGermanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and a substratum
Substratum
In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...
in the development of Insular Celtic. He claims that "Atlantic" (Semitic or Semitidic) speakers founded coastal colonies beginning in the fifth millennium BC. Thus "Atlantic" influenced the lexicon and structure of Germanic and the structure of Insular Celtic. According to Vennemann, migrating Indo-European speakers encountered non-IE speakers in northern Europe who had already named rivers, mountains and settlements in a language he called "Vasconic". He considered that there were toponyms on the Atlantic coast that were neither Vasconic nor Indo-European. These he considers derive from languages related to the Mediterranean Hamito-Semitic group.
Vennemann bases his theory on the claim that Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
words without cognates
Germanic substrate hypothesis
The Germanic substrate hypothesis is an attempt to explain the distinctive nature of the Germanic languages within the context of the Indo-European language family...
in other Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
very often belong to semantic fields that are typical for loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s from a superstratum language, such as warfare, law and communal life. Likewise, he proposes Semitic etymologies for words of unknown or disputed origin; for instance he relates the word bee to Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
bj-t or the name Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
, older *īwerijū to *ʼj-wrʼ(m), 'island (of) copper', as in Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
weriʼum 'copper'.
Other evidences he adduces for a Semitic superstratum are a Semitic influence on the Germanic form of the Indo-European ablaut
Indo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
system and similarities between Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
and Mesopotamian mythology, for instance the parallelism between Freyja and Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
, goddesses of war and love.
The idea that there is a connection between Insular Celtic and Afroasiatic goes back to John Davies
John Davies
-Politicians:*John Davies , British businessman and Conservative MP and cabinet minister*John S. Davies , Pennsylvania politician...
(1632). It was expanded by John Morris-Jones
John Morris-Jones
Sir John Morris-Jones was a Welsh grammarian, academic and poet.He was born at Llandrygarn, Anglesey and educated at Friars School, Bangor. Whilst at Jesus College, Oxford, Morris-Jones co-founded the Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym...
in 1913 and developed further by Vennemann. This position is supported by Pokorny
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny was an Austrian linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.-Life:...
(1927–49) and Vennemann identifies Phoenicians as the likely people. A key factor is the dominant word order in Insular Celtic compared to other IE languages, together with lexical correspondences. Another important factor is the identification of the people later known as Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
. Vennemann holds the position that they spoke an Atlantic language. This belief was also held by Zimmer
Heinrich Zimmer (Celticist)
Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer was a German Celticist and Indologist.Born to a farming family in Kastellaun in the Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany, he studied ancient languages at Kaiser Wilhelm University in Strassburg, going on to study Indology and Sanskrit under Rudolf von Roth at the...
(1898) but is not generally accepted.
Criticism
Hayim Y. Sheynin, adjunct professor of Jewish Literature at Gratz CollegeGratz College
Gratz College is a general college of Jewish studies founded in 1895 offering a broad array of credentials and programs in virtually every area of higher Judaic learning to aspiring Jewish educators, communal professionals, lay people and others seeking to become more knowledgeable of...
, critically reviewed the work Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica (2003) in which Vennemann lays out his arguments for the existence of a Semitic (or "Semitidic") superstratum in the Germanic languages. He concludes that Vennemann's arguments are unacceptable on several grounds. He notes that Vennemann bases important parts of his main claim on long-outdated and critically rejected literature, that many of the words presented by Vennemann as evidence of an Atlantic (Semitidic) superstratum display nothing more than "mere ad hoc sound similarities", and that Vennemann's claims made in reference to Semitic range from "objectionable" to "ridiculous". In summary, Sheynin concludes "that (Vennemann) failed in this book not only as comparative linguist, or etymologist, but even in his narrow specialization as a Germanist. ... In short, we consider the book a complete failure." http://linguistlist.org/issues/15/15-1878.html
The book has also been reviewed by Baldi and Page (Lingua 116, 2006). They too are critical of his German part of the theory. There are no Phoenician inscriptions in Britain though traders may have visited the island so the Insular Celtic part of the theory depends on linguistic evidence. The period of the fifth millennium is very early for Celtic speakers in Britain compared with other theories, for example Mallory suggests a date around 1000 BC though more recently a third or fourth millennium date has been suggested by Gray and Atkinson (and more controversially by Forster and Toth). Vennemann's view of the establishment of megaliths is not supported by mainstream archaeologists who view their construction as having a local origin. Eska (1994) argues that the change from verb-noninitial word order in Continental Celtic to verb-initial in Insular Celtic is internally motivated. Baldi and Page say that the strength of Vennemann's proposals lies in his lexical arguments and that these merit serious consideration. The origin of the Picts is unknown, see discussions by Jackson and by Wainright as well as those by Kitson and by Forsyth.
External links
- Homepage of Theo Vennemann
- Review of Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica by Hayim Y. Sheynin