Re: Semitic/Celtic Ties
| From: | Sally Caves <scaves@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, March 9, 1999, 3:39 |
|---|
> On Mon, 8 Mar 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
>
> > Actually it's very easy to interpret an obscure text as any language you
> > want if you've got a bit of imagination. Just as a trial I once took an
> > obscure 'Eteocretan' insciption and tried to "translate" it as though it
> > were Celtic. It was much easier than I expected - and that one even had
> > spaces marked!
> >
> > "Ah, who shall make thy soul tp stand in paradise? THE VIRGIN" - it read.
> > "Evidence" for a Celtic civilization in Crete worshipping the Mother
> > Goddess? Not likely! I was well aware of the weaknesses that any serious
> > an objective Celticist would soon spot. But I've a feeling I could easily
> > have persuaded the gullible.
Many gullible have fallen for just this kind of thing. Those who want to
believethat there are Welsh-speaking Indians. Those that want to believe that
Sumerian
and Quechua are related. You can take any two languages and hold them up
together and find a great number of lexical similarities. Of course the CHS
problem
is in a slightly different category as a problem, since these are not closely
related
languages, and the similarities lie in the core structure. ;-)
And then there were those who wanted to believe that Helene Smith was speaking
Martian!
Sally
>
> >
>