Contribución a los estudios aquitano-vascos

Abstract

The author analyses the Basque-Aquitainian linguistic continuity theory in the light of information concerning the Armenian language and other languages which have disappeared from Near Asia, particularly Hurrian and Uratian. The study bases itself on the existence of a great many coincidences between Basque and Armenian, which are partially supported by entries in the Aquitainian onomasticon. Three types of Aquitanian-Basque-Armenian similarities are revealed in the study: phonetic matches, onomastic bases and grammatical forms. Among the first, the absence of the R- sound in an initial position, the rejection of consonant group accumulation, the lack of the f sound, the difficulty had with the pronunciation of mute + liquid (tl, pr, kl, etc.) consonant structures and the rarity of the –a in an end position are worth highlighting. Almost thirty onomastic root coincidences are given, such as: Aquit. Andere, Andos – Basq. andia “big” – Arm. andranik “first born, eldest”; Aquit. Erdenivs – Basq. erdi “half” – Arm. herdz-el “to cut, to dice”; Aquit. Ombecco – Basq. umme “child, offspring” – Arm. hambak “child”; Aquit. Sahar – Basq. zar, zahar “old” – Arm. tser “old”, etc. A number of grammatical matches are also analysed.