Zacharie Mayani (Russia, 1899 – 1982)

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national reposito ...

BnF Data
/ref> was a French writer and author of Russian Jewish descent.

Education and publications

He was educated at

Paris University , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, where he received his doctorate in 1935. He was also a student in the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admissi ...

. Pedagogue, journalist, specialist in antiquities, also author of a Hebrew textbook for Russian speakers and activist of the Zionist revisionist movement. His book ''Les Etrusques commencent a parler'' (''The Etruscans Begin to Speak'') put forth a thesis with exuberant reconstructions that the

Etruscan language Etruscan () was the language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria (modern Tuscany, western Umbria, northern Latium, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy and Campania). Etruscan influenced Latin but was event ...

of antiquity had links to the modern

Albanian language Albanian (endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europe ...

. This connection is dismissed by most scholars as "wildly speculative". Comparative linguistics have long demonstrated that Albanian is a unique branch of the

Indo-European languages 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, ...

, whereas the consensus among linguists and etruscologists is that Etruscan was a pre–Indo-European language. In ''Les Hyksos et le monde de la Bible'' (Paris: Payot, 1956) he also emphasized a connection between the

Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and ...

, the

Kenites According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites ( or ; he, ''Qēinī'') were a nomadic tribe in the ancient Levant. The Kenites were coppersmiths and metalworkers. According to some scholars, they are descendants of Cain, Harris, Stephen L., Underst ...

and the

Habiru Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Cr ...

. Zachari also supported that

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ites went into

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

Illyria In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...

, and even Italy.

Bibliography

*''L'arbre sacré et le rite de l'alliance chez les anciens sémites'' (1935) *''Les Hyksos et le monde de la Bible'' (1956) *''Les Etrusques commencent a parler'', Collection Signes des Temps XI (1961)Paris, Arthaud, 1961; English translation by Patrick Evans, ''The Etruscans Begin to Speak'', Simon and Schuster, 1962, ASIN B004PB3RKK, ASIN B0013WGB8O, ASIN B0020CBVIG, ASIN B0028QD1AA, ASIN B000LEDICC, ASIN B001OLZGU8.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayani, Zecharia 1890s births French non-fiction writers Year of death missing French male non-fiction writers Russian people of Jewish descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France