[tied] Re: Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of ClassicalCiviliza

Yes, the religious contact is a fact. Before that, the Greeks got
the alphabet from Semitic speakers, and probably had commercial
contact with them.

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> > AA influence is not involved in these changes, so clearly AA
> > influence is not needed to explain similar developments
> > elsewhere. And the notion that Romance developments are
> > evidence of AA influence on Latin is just plain bizarre,
> > never mind that I'd expect significant influence on syntax
> > to be accompanied by significant lexical borrowing.
> >
>
> I think what you mean is that AA influence is not involved in
these
> changes because there was no actual physical contact with AA
speakers.
> You have left out of consideration the indirect influence of the
new
> religion. To take an example in the field of lexicon:
*parabolare "tell
> parables" for "speak" makes little sense except in a Christian
> sectarian context, as a "shibboleth word". When I hitch-hiked
through
> the states I was hassled by Jesus freaks; I know their language
habits.
>
>
> Torsten
>