Proto-Euphratean is a

hypothetical A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

unclassified Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

language or languages which was considered by some

Assyriologists Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeas ...

(for example,

Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie and Penn, both in ...

) to be the

substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

language of the people who introduced farming into Southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in the Early

Ubaid period The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Wool ...

(5300–4700 BC). Dyakonov and Ardzinba identified these

languages with the Samarran culture.

Benno Landsberger Benno Landsberger (21 April 1890 – 26 April 1968) was a German Assyriologist. Early life and education He was born on 21 April 1890 in Friedek, then part of Austrian Silesia, and from 1908 studied Oriental Studies at Leipzig. Amongst his te ...

and other Assyriologists argued that by examining the structure of Sumerian names of occupations, as well as toponyms and

hydronym A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...

s, one can suggest that there was once an earlier group of people in the region who spoke an entirely different language, often referred to as Proto-Euphratean. Terms for "farmer", "smith", "carpenter", and "date" (the fruit) do not appear to have a Sumerian or Semitic origin. Igor Dyakonov and

Vladislav Ardzinba Vladislav Ardzinba ( ab, Владислав Арӡынба, ka, ვლადისლავ არძინბა; 14 May 1945 – 4 March 2010) was the first ''de facto'' President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia t ...

proposed a different term, "banana languages", based on a characteristic feature of multiple personal names attested in Sumerian texts, namely

reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...

of syllables (as in the English word ''banana''):

Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...

, Zababa, Chuwawa/

Humbaba In Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Humbaba ( Assyrian spelling), also spelled Huwawa ( Sumerian spelling) and surnamed ''the Terrible'', was a monstrous giant of immemorial age raised by Utu, the Sun / justice / truth god. Humbaba was the guardia ...

, Bunene, etc. The same feature was attested in some other unclassified languages, including

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

. The same feature is allegedly attested by several names of

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

rulers: although the Hyksos tribes were Semitic, some of their names, like Bnon, Apophis, etc. were apparently non-Semitic in origin. Rubio challenged the

hypothesis, arguing that there is evidence of borrowing from more than one language. This theory is now predominant in the field (Piotr Michalowski, Gerd Steiner, etc.). A related proposal by Gordon Whittaker is that the language of the proto-literary texts from the Late

Uruk period The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...

( 3350–3100 BC) is an early

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

that he terms "Euphratic".

References

Literature

*fix * Vanseveren, Sylvia. "A "New" Ancient Indo-European Language? On Assumed Linguistic Contacts between Sumerian and Indo-European "Euphratic"". In: ''The

Journal of Indo-European Studies The ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' (JIES) is a peer-reviewed academic journal of Indo-European studies. The journal publishes papers in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, mythology and linguistics relating to the cultural history of ...

'' (JIES). Vol. 36, Nº. 3-4 (FALL/WINTER), 2008: pp. 371-382. . {{Eurasian languages Sumerian language Unclassified languages of Asia Extinct languages of Asia Hypothetical languages Ubaid period