Shared words between Armenian and Basque, proposed by the late Vahan Sargsyan (In Armenian)

Araxes_600 parallel Basque and Armenian words (dragged)

The late Basque and Armenian linguist Vahan Sargsyan complied a list of 600 shared words between the two languages in a 1998 publication conducted with experts from both languages.

Unfortunately, Sargsyan passed away suddenly in 2011, leaving hundreds of more proposed shared words between Basque and Armenian unpublished.

Below is the full list (in Armenian) of the 600 original shared words identified by Sargsyan and his collaborative team of Armenian and Basque linguists in 1998.

Araxes_600 parallel Basque and Armenian words

4 thoughts on “Shared words between Armenian and Basque, proposed by the late Vahan Sargsyan (In Armenian)

  1. Chris

    Justin,

    I saw this on BBC, I thought I might have a “theory,” and that’s about all it will ever be. As you may know, Armenian and Basque are from completely different language families. Basques is an isolate while Armenian is Indo-European, though it’s quite divergent in a lot of respects. Perhaps there were never any direct contacts between Armenian and Basque speakers. While it’s impossible to establish Basque’s tenure in Europe, the fact that the Basques and Armenians share DNA is elucidory. Early European farming cultures were immigrants from Anatolia. Perhaps the earliest forms of Basque were brought to Euskaherria by these farmers. Armenian, on the other hand, is the daughter language that would’ve emerged in the region in the early Bronze Age, perhaps the Chalcolithic. The people who adopted the Indo-European dialect already spoke a language, and that language would’ve served as a substrate for Armenian. Perhaps there was a deep-time linguistic affinity between the indigenous inhabitants of the Armenian highlands and Lake Van and the people who brought Basque to Europe. What’s more, the original Indo-Europeans were pastoralist nomads, unlike the indigenous peoples of Anatolia and the Caucasus who were some of the first peoples to adopt agriculture. Thus, a good etymological study aside, much of the farming vocabulary would’ve been adopted by the incoming Indo-Europeans.

    This link is tenuous, I’ll admit. Individual words at this time depth (7000+ years) are difficult to reconstruct. Also, linguistic group does not always indicate ethnicity or genetic affinity, but there can be a pretty strong link some times.

      1. Hello Justin,

        I hope all is well. Thank you for sharing this. I met Vahan Setyan few years ago in Los Angeles and went to his book signing. I don’t remember how he found me but his book was also about Basques and Armenians ( funny fact he has my dad’s name).

        I follow you on Twitter, I don’t see if you share something or not. I mostly follow political news there to get information about Armenia/Azerbaijan conflict. It has been very difficult in the past few years.

        All the best to you 🙏🏻

        Arevik

        Sent from my iPhone

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