--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: gknysh@...
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 3:26 AM
> Subject: [tied] Wheeled vehicles
>
>
> > Prof. V. Kul'baka > This
> Personally, I believe the carriers of the Yamna and Catacomb
cultures were essentially the (Proto-)Indo-Iranians, so one would
indeed expect some degree of historical continuity between those
cultures and Rigvedic society.
>
> > Unfortunately there is no accompanying linguistic evidence in
these remains, though Kul'baka notes that a recently discovered pot
seems inscribed in what looks very much like very early Sanskrit
letters. The pot, however, is from the time and area (Donets'k
region) of the Zrubna culture (ca. 1200 BC).
>
> This looks fanciful to me. The Devanagari script derives
historically from the Brahmi script (as in the As'oka inscriptions),
which in turn may have been inspired by the North Semitic writing
system used for Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Persian Empire. But
external inspiration apart, Brahmi is a local Indian invention,
documented from the 3rd century BC and surely not *very much*
older. "Early Sanskrit letters" ca. 1200 BC in the Pontic steppe just
cannot be real.
>
> Piotr
As has been pointed out eralier, caution is beholden.
1) does anyone have access to pictures of the inscriptions ? and
could be uploaded as a file.
2) On coincidences
Yumuna, Yumna, Yamna, Jumuna , Jamna, are names for the Indian river
Yumuna which is a tributary to the ganga. It was also supposed to be
a main tributary to the Sarasvati, till the course changed due to
tectonic movements( this without going into discussions of where the
original Srarsvati flowed- that debate can continue elsewehere).
Is there any etymological connection between the two uses of Yamna,
and Yumna ?( to me both 'sound' the same !)
Ravi