More on Veleia's Archeological Discovery

Thanks to EITb, we learn more details about the archeological discovery in Veleia:

Iruña-Veleia archeological site

Oldest colour names, verbs and religious references in Basque

06/15/2006

The managers of the archaeological site Iruña-Veleia, ten kilometres away from Vitoria-Gasteiz, have unveiled the details of their discovery today. As they have said, they have found words of two kinds: common, and linked to religious issues.

Among the common words, they found "zuri urdin gori" (colours white, blue and red), "urdin isar" (blue star) -although philologists think that in this case the meaning is separate star and blue-, "edan ian lo" (drink, eat, sleep), "ian ta edan" (eat and drink) and "jaun" (lord).

Other words are linked to religious issues: "Geure ata zutan" (our Father among us), the greeting ancient Christians used, and "Iesus, Ioshe ata ta Mirian ama" (Jesus, Jose and Virgin Mary), that is, the Sacred Family.

According to this discovery, the first common words in Basque would have been found in Alava, bringing the apparition of written Basque records several centuries backwards in time. The first recorded writing was, as in the case of Spanish, San Millán's glosses (La Rioja).

Philological debate

The manager of the site, Eliseo Gil, and the philologists Hendrike Knörr (vice-president of the Academy of Basque Language) and Joaquín Gorrotxategi, have explained for the press that the findings have an "outstanding importance," but they have demanded more time for investigations.

The words were found on the foundations of a house, written on bricks, although some of them were inscribed on glass and bones. Apart from the Basque words, drawings showing scenes of Jesus' life were also found, as well as what could be a representation of the Last Supper.

Angry

The managers of the archaeological site have shown their anger at the leaks about the latest findings in the Alavan town.

"These have been totally irresponsible leaks that have annoyed the scientific community raising suspicions of fraud and search of prominence," Knörr affirmed.

.... ... .