Language
And Geography
Rev. Dr. Joseph
Bosworth (1789-1876) was a reknowned language scholar in his day. On
the subject of origins, he stated, “The Goths were of Asiatic
origin... [early Roman historian] Tacitus speaks of no Goths in
Scandinavia.” (The
Origin of the Germanic And Scandinavian Languages And Nations, pp.
112-113) The scholarly
twenty-volume series, Asiatic Researches, adds this important
information: “A late very learned writer concludes, after all
his laborious researches, that the Goths or Scythians came from
Persia; and another contends with
great force, that both the Irish and old Britons proceeded
severally from the borders of the Caspian; a coincidence of
conclusions from different media by persons wholly unconnected, which
could scarce have happened, if they were not grounded on solid
principles.” (II:65)
The lost Ten Tribes of Israel were last seen in Persia
on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where they suddenly and mysteriously
disappeared to history at the very same time
and place as several European
tribes just as suddenly and mysteriously
first appeared to history.
Many historians fail to see
this, insisting instead that the Caucasian
peoples originated in far northwest-European Scandinavia. But
Encyclopedia Britannica wisely stated, “IT HAS BEEN
observed with truth that
so many populous Nations can hardly
have sprung from the Scandinavian PENINSULA.”
(11th ed., 12:272)
Similarly, Winfred P. Lehman
has commented, “The
further eastward an Indo-European people lives, the more
archaisms are found in its
language; the further westward they have gone, the fewer archaisms,
and the more numerous new-formations are found in its language. From
these and other indications we infer that... The home of the
Indo-European original race must be sought in the highlands of Central
Asia.” (A
Reader In Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics,
Indiana University Press, 1967)
The origin of European peoples was in the East, but not in Central
Asia. Linguist Margaret M. Bryant says, “Professor [Harold]
Bender shows in his excellent
study [The Home of the
Indo-Europeans, pp. 21-22] that the honeybee is indigenous to
most parts of Europe and that almost every Indo-European language has
a common word for honey... Professor
Bender is careful to point out that the various locations in Asia
that have been suggested as the original homeland [of the Caucasian
race] are not the regions frequented by the honeybee.”
(Modern English and its
Heritage, pp. 19-21) Where
in Asia were honeybees found in Biblical times? The land of Canaan in
ancient Palestine provides the answer to the problem of the scholars.
Bees and honey were plentiful in Palestine: There are 60 references to
bees and honey in the Bible. The “Caucasians” did come from the
East, but it was the Mid-East,
not Central Asia. The Mid-East fits language
requirements of an Eastern origin, as well.
The
Semitic-Indo-European Connection
Some fail to see the connection
between Europe and the Hebrew lost
tribes because Semitic and Indo-European languages differ. Recent
scholarship, however, has demonstrated through the principles of “element
correspondences” and “expression elements,” that
Indo-European and Semitic are relatives. Danish Language scholar,
Louis Hjelmslev stated that the “genetic relationship between the
two languages [Indo-European and Semitic] …can be accounted for
only on the assumption that the two languages have a common
origin.” (Language, An Introduction, Univ. of Wisconsin
Press, Madison, WI, 1970, p. 127) Dr.
Hjelmslev’s conclusion is that Semitic and Indo-European “developed
from the splitting of a single basic language.” (ibid.,
p. 83) Danish language
scholars have therefore proposed dropping the terms ‘Indo-European’
and ‘Semitic’ in favor of one new combined language family
called ‘Nostratic,’ from the Latin meaning, ‘our own
countrymen.’ (ibid., p. 80)
Hebrew language scholar, Dr. Isaac Elchanan Mozeson, spent
many years analyzing the link between the Indo-European and Semitic
language groups. His findings resulted in a comprehensive guide, The
Word, The Dictionary That Reveals The Hebrew Source Of English.
In this he was preceded by the author of the popular English dictionary,
Noah Webster, who also traced hundreds of words to a Semitic
source. Mozeson says, “Many words should be acknowledged as
borrowings from the Hebrew. Some of these giant oversights include: OGRE
(from mighty Og King of Bashan) and COLLOSSUS
(a Greek version of the Hebrew GoLLiuS, familiar to English
speakers as Goliath.)”
Mozeson continues, “The few acknowledged borrowings from Hebrew,
like AMEN and JUBILEE, should also be credited to words like AMENABLE
and JUBILATE, which are attributed to other sources. There are thousands
of other English and Hebrew words that sound remarkably alike and mean
the same, but are not cited by linguists. A few of these are ABASH and
BooSHa, ALBINO and LaBHaN, EVIL and AVeL, LICK and LaKaK, and REGULAR
and RaGeeL... Many animal names only have meanings in the Biblical
language of Adam: GIRAFFE means ‘neck,’ SKUNK means ‘stink,’
HORSE means ‘plower’ and GOPHER means ‘digger.’” Dr.
Mozeson has traced 22,000 English words to Semitic roots.
The
Persian Connection
The relationship between Indo-European and Semitic language groups is no
accident. Asiatic Researches says, “We may therefore hold
this proposition firmly established, that IRAN, OR PERSIA IN ITS LARGEST
SENSE, WAS THE TRUE CENTER OF POPULATION, OF KNOWLEDGE, OF LANGUAGES,
AND OF ARTS; which, instead of travelling westward only, as it has been
fancifully supposed, or eastward, as might with equal reason have been
asserted, were expanded in all directions to all regions of the
world.” (II:65) Iran, also called Medo-Persia, was the
earliest known source of the Indo-European languages, where one branch
of mankind evidently settled immediately after the scattering of mankind
at the Tower of Babel. (Gen. 11) The lost Ten Tribes of the House
of Israel were taken into captivity and settled in this same region of
Medo-Persia during their captivity in the 7th-8th centuries, B.C. They
would have naturally picked up, in whole or in part, the language of
those who held them subject. It is therefore no surprise that the early
Anglo-Saxon-Gothic tribes had hundreds of Medo-Persian words in their
vocabulary when they escaped into Europe (Appendix 6), and
adopted the ‘Indo-European’ (sometimes called, ‘inflexive’)
language type, as well. Dr. Joseph Bosworth also concurs in this,
saying, “Etymologists have proposed [the language category] Arian
or Persian, as it designates their origin amongst the Arians, Iranians,
or Persians.” (Bosworth, ‘Origin’ p. 7)
The
Sak or Tzakari
were Israelites
Persian inscriptions frequently refer to a people called Sak or Sacae,
a term which developed from the name of the Patriarch Isaac. (Appendix
2) Encyclopaedia Britannica gives interesting evidence of the
use of this name in ancient times, telling us that Mediterranean sea
raiders were active “in the Levant, between 1230-1190 B.C.,” and
that Egyptian sources named them the “Danauna... [and] Tzakari,”
while Greek tradition referred to them as the “Danaans.” (22:504,
‘Troy’, emphasis added) A connection therefore exists between
the Danaan, which we have identified as the Hebrew tribe of Dan, and
these Tzakari. Were the Tzakari indeed Hebrews also?
In
Israel’s Lost Tribes Today, Historian Steven M. Collins
says, “The word ‘Levant’ refers to the Eastern Mediterranean,
which includes the seacoast of Palestine, the main base of the tribe of
Dan. It is significant that the name of another group accompanying the
Danite sea raiders included the root word ‘Tzak,’ because it
is a Hebrew form of the name ‘Isaac.’ Two modern Israeli leaders
with this Hebrew name were Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak
Rabin. If one represents the ‘Tz’ sound with an ‘S,’ (both
symbols are related sibilant consonants) the name of this ancient tribe
becomes the ‘Sakari,’ indicating that they were also
Israelites. This is an important point, as it indicates that
Israelites were known as the ‘Saka’ in Palestine centuries before
their descendants (the ‘Saka’ or ‘Sacae’) were
known by that same name in Asia!” (Emphasis in original)
The
Armenian Connection
Another little known fact is that
the Hebrews originally settled on the south side of the Caucasus
Mountains in the region of Mount Ararat (ancient Urartu), in
modern Armenia. From there, Abraham’s father, Terah,
moved south to Ur of Chaldees where Abraham
was born. Dr. Cunningham Geike, in Hours With The Bible,
says, “The tribe to which Abraham, the great
forefather of the Hebrews belonged, had its original seat in the
district named from Arphaxad, the head of the race, and hence known to
the Greeks and Romans by the name of Arrapachitis. It lies north of
Assyria in the mountains of Southern
Armenia, straight south of the modern city of Kars and of
Mount Ararat, and is
a tangle of wild hills, rising
often to great heights, but intersected by fruitful valleys.”
(I:293-4) This
birthplace of the Hebrew race was also part of the region called “Aram,”
from a son of Shem, which some scholars trace as the root of the word,
Armenia. (McClintock
& Strong’s Encyclopedia I:407)
Interestingly enough, this same relatively small region is also cited as
the birthplace of the Anglo-Saxon race according to the famous Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle of early Britain. Asiatic Researches says, “The
Saxon Chronicle, I presume from good authority, brings the first
inhabitants of Britain from Armenia.” (II:65)
Did some of the early Hebrew race migrate westward from Aram, or
Armenia, to settle in Britain and Europe, while others (in-cluding
Abraham’s father, Terah) move southward to Ur in Chaldea? It is
an intriguing possibility, especially as some of the early inhabitants
of Europe were known as Iberians. This book has traced the word, Iberian,
to Eber, the father of the Hebrew race. As Dr. Geake indicated, the
Bible is clear that Armenia, or Aram, in early times (circa
2000 B.C.) was inhabited by Hebrews, and it was Hebrew colonists from
this same region, called Iberians, who settled early Europe.
Since Armenia is located just south of the Caucasus Mountains, it is
perhaps more than coincidental that European peoples are known as
Caucasian. Dr. Joseph Bosworth says that they are called, “Caucasian,
from the supposition that the primitive seat of this race was near Mount
Caucasus.” (ibid., p. 7) Indeed it was!
Summary
Over many early centuries, a stream of Hebrew-Semitic people migrated
westward from the ‘Levant’ or Mid-East. The earliest wave, said
to have come from the region of Armenia (ancient Urartu), was
known as Iberian — a name derived from Eber,
ancestor of Abraham.
A later stream continued from Canaan (Palestine), during the
Israelites’ sojourn there, and grew larger at the time of the
Babylonian and Assyrian invasions. Indeed, the Assyrian conquest is
known as ‘the Dispersion’ of Israel, a fit term for the migration of
perhaps hundreds of thousands of Hebrews out of the Mid-East, many of
them to lands of safety in the West.
Finally, Israelites conquered by Assyria were placed in the region
of Medo-Persia, where they adopted the Indo-European, or inflexive
language style, and brought it with them when they migrated over
succeeding centuries into Europe.
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