From: Steve Woodson
Message: 7472
Date: 2001-06-05
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark DeFillo" <ategnatos@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 8:07 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Greek wanax and basileus: A final solution finally? :P
>
> I find myself rather confused and perturbed by a general assumption that
> physical distance between peoples precludes a connection between their
> languages. This comes up here in the issue of whether it is reasonable to
> find links between Khattic and Greek, and in many other situations. To me,
> it sounds like scholars are vastly underestimating the capabilities of
> pre-modern people, just like those who find it mysterious that ancient
> people could lift heavy stones, building pyramids, megaliths, etc. (These
> things are not hard, craftsmen working with only hand tools, can do them
> still, there is no mystery.) Similarly, to assume that distance precludes
> contact is a major underestimation. It is worth remembering that several
> ancient IndoEuropean peoples specifically had the custom of travelling
long
> distances particularly for religious purposes, both sages and pilgrims.
This
> custom continues to this day in India. And even the most "primitive" (ie
> non-technological, civilized, settled) people do the same thing... in
> Australian Aboriginal traditional religion, the holy sites that the men of
a
> tribe were/are responsible for are often very far from their home area, so
> that they would (I don't know if they still do) often go on journeys of
> weeks or even months, entirely on foot, to perform their sacred duties.
>
> Possibilities prove nothing, of course, but it still seems foolhardy to me
> to ignore, eliminate, or discount the possibility of cultural and
linguistic
> contact even across a considerable distance. Let us give our predecessors
> and ancestors due credit for what they could do without the awesome
> technology at our disposal. For that matter, there are still many people
> today to whom my current action of communicating simultaneously with
people
> in many distant lands would be unimaginable.
>
> I hope this did not seem off-topic: my intent is to question what has
seemed
> to me (and tell me if you think I'm wrong that the assumption is made) a
> flaw in basic assumptions behind linguistic research.
>
> Hoping this is helpful,
> Mark DeFillo
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