Re: Renfrew's theory renamed as Vasco-Caucasian

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...> wrote:

>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Octavià Alexandre oalexandre@ wrote:
> >
> > The only thing I would spare is [Vennemann's 'Atlantic'
> > or 'Semitidic'], [...] probably linked to the spread of
> > megalithism along the Atlantic coast.
> >
> > > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I don't think he mentions that.
> >
> > Of course, because this is my theory.
>
> No, that is actually Vennemann's own theory:
>
> "From about 5000 BC onward, Semitidic peoples, bearers of the
> megalithic culture, moved north along the Atlantic coast to all the
> islands and up the navigable rivers as seafaring colonizers, until
> they reached southern Sweden in the middle of the third millennium.
> [...] I assume the megalithic culture to have spread along the
> Atlantic coast from the south and west of the Iberian Peninsula and
> France (5th millennium) via Ireland and Britain (4th millennium) all
> the way to Sweden (3rd millennium) and thus to have its origin in
> the coastal regions between the western Mediterranean and the
> Atlantic, where I locate the homeland of the Semitic peoples"
> (Vennemann, Theo. Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica. Trends in
> linguistics. Studies and monographs. Bd 138. Mouton de Gruyter,
> Berlin 2003, p. 594. English translation provided in Philip Baldi &
> B. Richard Page's review of Vennemann's monography in _Lingua_ 116
> [2006], p. 2193).
>

Now it's time to debunk Vennemann's hypothesis of a Semitic-like language spoken in the Atlantic fringe. Considering Celts took over the Megalithic culture and Celtic has Vasco-Caucasian loanwords such as *dubr-o- 'water', *longa: 'boat' or *mak(k)W-o- 'son', the most parsiomonious hypothesis is the Megalithic people spoke VC languages. This is consistent with my own version of Renfrew's theory.

> Yes, this is Celtic *dubro- `water' (which Matasovic conflates with *dubo- `dark'), although the proposed link
> to other IE words meaning `deep' is also dubious IMHO (see Delamarre's Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise for
> more details).
>
> I'd relate this and the Arabic word to the hydronym Tiber, likely of Etruscan origin (thepri-, thefri- thifari-
> `channel') and to Pre-Greek *dabur in laburínthos. This is parallel to Hurrian tem-ari `irrigation ditch;
> channel', which Starostin links to NEC *ta:mh\i `vein; pipe, kennel'. There's also Turkic *da.mor `vein,
> artery; root'.
>

In 'labyrinth', the semantic shift 'channel' > 'corridor' is straightforward.

Mostly known from the Greek myth, the symbol of the labyrinth is also found in other ancient cultures, although its actual meaning is unknown to us. However, given that Greek myths tend to be metaphoric descriptions of reality (e.g. Pandora's box as a metaphor of the subconscious), a possible solution suggested by some authors would be an initiatic path in some widespread religious cult.

However, given the etymology from 'channel' and entering a little into the "fringe" realm, an alternative explanation could be it was inspired on the ring-like channel system which surrounded the mythical town of Atlantis.

http://mmmgroup2.altervista.org/e-labiri.html