Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey

lugal in the bilboes

I'd swear I was looking at two different languages separated by several thousands of years in time, but what do I know. [via Laputan Logic] An adjunct professor of Basque Studies in Nevada is quoted in a newspaper article saying the usual, strange things about Basque, a European language isolate.

Gene research is helping clear up the mystery of the origins of the Basque people, a culture that apparently came out of East Africa 50,000 years ago and passed through the Middle East on the way to Western Europe, a University of Nevada researcher says.

That's one of the reasons when reviewing documents written in the ancient Sumerian language, "you would swear you are reading Basque," said Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, adjunct professor for the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

[San Francisco Chronicle July 9, 2003, from AP]

As part of an unscientific experiment, I selected two texts, one in Sumerian and the other in Basque, so that readers of this blog could make their own comparison.

Some Sumerian, transliterated:

MAD 4:014=ZA 63 p.258f (ISN)~
1) 10.0.0 zu2-lum gur ku3-ta
2) u4 zu2-lum 1 ku3 gin2-a?
3) 0.3.2 al-ag2-ga2
4) USZ dumu sag-du5-ke4
5) USZ dumu sagi-mah-ra
6) ku3 10 ku3 gin2-sze3
7) i3-na-sum
8) ku3 aszag-ka sze aszag-bi
9) 30.0.0 sze gur ku3-ta gu2 ba-gar
10) mu sar-ka3-li2-LUGAL-ri2
11) lugal a-ga-de3{ki}-ka
12) USZ dumu sagi-mah
13) ME-an-ne2
-
14) dumu lugal-kalag-zi-pi
15) USZ dumu sag-du5-ka-ra? (SZE3)
16) in-da-pa
17) u4 buru14!-ka sze-zu 1 ku3 gin2 (GANA2)
18) 3.0.0 sze gur-ta 30.0.0 sze-pi gur
19) ga-ra-ag2]
20) in-na-du11? (AK)
21) inim-bi [al-til]?
(double line)
22) igi 1 nin-du11-ga
23) igi 1 lu2-[x]-x
24) igi 1 {d}en-lil2-[la2] nu-[kiri6

[I. J. Gelb, "Sargonic texts in the Louvre Museum", Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary, no. 4, Chicago 1970]

Some Basque:

Kontuan izanik munduko askatasuna, justizia eta bakea giza familiako kide guztien berezko duintasunean eta eskubide berdin eta ukaezinetan oinarritzen direla;

Kontuan izanik giza eskubideak ez ezagutzearen eta gutxiestearen ondorioz, giza kontzientziari irain egiten dioten basakeriak gertatu izan direla; eta gizon-emakumeek, beldur eta gabezia orotik aske, hitz egiteko askatasuna eta sinesmen-askatasuna izango dituzten munduaren etorrera aldarrikatu dela gizakiaren helburu nagusi;

Kontuan izanik ezinbestekoa dela giza eskubideak zuzenbidezko erregimen batek babestea, gizakia-tirania eta zapalkuntzaren aurkako azken irtenbidea den matxinadara jo beharrean aurkitu ez dadin;

[Universal Declaration for Human Rights in Basque]

Some more texts in Akkadian and Neo-Sumerian.

Posted by jim at July 30, 2003 10:08 AM