From: matt6219
Message: 14294
Date: 2002-08-12
> Glencity/
>
> My apologies for any apparent misunderstandings.
>
> I'm fully aware that your original question was specifically
> with reference to Kaskian, and not Hattic, though I was
> unaware of your web reference, as I've been a member of
> TIED for only a short time, and have not as yet worked my
> way through the archive. The web-reference I posted was
> the only link I've recently come across of research in the
> area and time-frame in question - not much of a lead, I grant
> you!
>
> References in academic journals tend to be listed on the
> internet as 'abstracts' only, and one very seldom finds the
> full text of a relevant article, but I will keep looking, as this
> is an issue I would like to follow through for my own benefit.
>
> The Kaskians (also known as Gasga/Gashgash) dwelt on
> the NE coast of Turkey and in the mountainous hinterland
> to the east of present day Sinop. They have been linked
> ethnically (and it is presumed that there is also a linguistic
> link) to the pre-Indo-Hittite population of Anatolia from circa
> 3000 BC. As you have plainly stated there is no /written/
> evidence for the Kaskian language or for the above conclu-
> sion. My own slender resources do not cover this area in
> any historical detail. It was for this reason that I referred you
> to the various works listed.
>
> In Ch.2 p.42-3 of a work I cited previously, 'The Abkhazians'
> (ed. Hewitt), the Kaskians are treated as one element of a
> linguistic continuum located around the south-east, east and
> north-east shores of the Black Sea. This conclusion has been
> reached on the basis of ancient toponyms and hydronyms.
>
> A modification of this theory suggests either migration from
> Anatolia to the NW Caucasus at a remote date or FROM the
> NW Caucasus TO Anatolia. A positive link between Hattic
> and NW Caucasian is already proven beyond reasonable doubt.
> I personally support the 'linguistic continuum' model, though in
> all honesty I have to confess to an inadequate knowledge of
> the historical geography of NE Anatolia
>
> One much-cited linguistic 'clue' to the relationship of the Kaskian
> language is the presence of the toponymic/hydronomic element
> -ps(y)- (= water, river in Abkhaz), e.g. Aripsa, the name of a
> fortress in NE Anatolia, also the ancient name for the R.Chorokh,
> which was Apsara, earlier still called Akampsis. The ps(y)-element
> is also wide-spread in the area of W. Georgia I referred to, inthe
> hydronyms Supsa and Lagumpsa and similar. This suggest thatAnatolia
> the original population of W.Georgia, ancient Colchis, was almost
> certainly not Kartvelian in origin.
>
> Assyrian sources state that Kaskians were still living in NE
> in the 8th century and only a part participated in any migrationThose
> to the NW Caucasus (if such a migration did indeed take place).
> remaining are presumed to have been absorbed into laterpopulations.
>these
> Archaeology also supports southern connections of NW Caucasians,
> who are held to be the originators of the Maikop Culture.
>
> References in other works - Diakonov, 1968, p.13: Gordeziani, 1975,
> pp. 8-10: Inal-Ipa, 1976, pp.11 & 117. (I'm not aware that any of
> works is availble in an English translation, but you may comeacross
> extracts translated into English quoted in other works.)find them.
>
> As promised, I will post other information and references as I
>Apsara = 'water nymph'
> Regards
>
> Geoff