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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Clyde Winters: [QB] LEDAMA the Semitic speakers are of African origin. The origin of the Semitic speakers is very important. The archaeological and textual evidence make it clear that Mesopotamia was the not homeland of the Semitic speakers. This evidence make it clear that the first settlers of this area spoke Sumerian and Ubadian, not Semitic. The first Semites to leave textual evidence are the Akkadians. The Akkadians and the Ethio-Semitic languages have[i][b] shared archaism[/i][/b]. This feature indicates the ancient morphology and grammar of a Semitic language. We can infer that if this was the norm for the most ancient form of Semitic, other Semitic languages possessing this character probably are closely related to the original spoken/written Semitic language. We can further infer that since Ethio-Semitic, possesses these linguistic characteristics, and other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic do not, the later languages must be relatively young in age. The historical evidence support an old presence of Ethio-Semitic in Africa. For example, the Axumite Empire was founded by the Habashan. the habashan are mentioned in a 3rd or 4th century Himyarite inscription from South Arabia, which refers to an alliance between Gadarat King of the Habashan or Habashat. Some of the people of Punt were probably Tigrinya speakers, who call their language habesha, i.e., Abyssinian par excellence. The term Habesh, seems to represent an old name for Abyssinia and may be connected with the Amharic word washa 'cave or cavern', and may refer to the" cave dwellers" who once served as the principal traders along the Ethiopian coast. The ability of the Ethiopians as sailors, is supported by the title bahr nagash, "ruler of the maritime province" or Eritrea. In addition, some of the earliest Sabean/Thamudic inscriptions have been found in Ethiopia, and not South Arabia. For example, Dr. Doresse has found Sabean cursive writing on a sceptre that indicates that the Habashat/Axumite empire had writing. These Habashan are mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions of the 18th Dynasty (1709-1320) in connection to the land of Punt. Given the Egyptian association of the Habashan with Punt, I call the speakers of the Ethio-Semitic languages: Puntites. We have Egyptian evidence of trade missions to Punt as early as PepiII in 2400 BC and Mentuholep IV and IV. The vizier Amenemhat, of Mentuholep IV is said to have established a port near Safaga. the most famous mission to Punt was sent by Queen Hatshepsut, and is recorded at deir el Bahri. Since the Habashan are mentioned in Egyptian documents they were in existence long before the Arabic speakers. Even the Semitic speakers of Africa did not originate in East or Northeast Africa. Up until the 6th Dynasty of Egypt, the Semitic speakers lived in Nubia as cattle herders. [IMG]http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/yam1.jpg[/IMG] The Semitic speakers or Puntites did not live originally in Northeast Africa. They were part of the C-Group Confederacy which included during the reigns of Merenre and Pepi II (according to the account of Herkhuf), Irtjet, Zatju and Wawat. In 2300 BC, the Egyptians forced the Puntites out of Nubia into Northeast Africa. Some of these Puntites migrated across Arabia into Mesopotamia . In Mesopotamia they were called Akkadians. The Akkadians defeated the Sumerians and spread the Semitic language into the Middle East. The C-Group people spoke Niger-congo languages. This ould explain why Diop discovered that at the base of each semetic word we find a Black African, Niger-Congo root. ] [IMG]http://olmec98.net/diop3.jpg[/IMG] This statement was made by Diop in his book The Cultural Unity of Black Africa. See page 113. [IMG]http://olmec98.net/culturalunity1.png[/IMG] . The evidence of shared archaism for Akkadian and Ethio-Semitic indicate that the speakers of these languages probably shared many linguistic features when they separated. It also suggest that thespeakers of these languages probably separated in Africa, since the Ethio-Semitic speakers have long been established in their present home, as supported by the Egyptian inscriptions. The Ethio-Semitic speakers have maintained these features due to the relative stability of these languages. You can find out more about the stability of African languages in my article "Linguistic Continuity and African and Dravidian languages", International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 23 (2), (1996) 34-52. We must conclude that the Semitic languages originated in Africa. The Semitic languages are divided into four groups: North-east Semitic, Northwest Semitic, Southeast Semitic and Southwest Semitic. The Ethiopian Semitic languages belong to the Southeast Semitic subgroup. In ancient times modern Ethiopia and Somalia was called Punt. As a result I call the Semitic languages of Ethiopia: Puntite languages. In the Sumerian texts these Puntites may have been called Meluhhaites. The Puntites lived in the Eastern desert of Egypt and Arabia for many years and on the Horn of Africa. The earliest representatives of this group are depicted on the Ivory label of King Dan (Udimu) of the first Dynasty of Kemit. During the neolithic subpluvial the Red Sea area recieved more rainfall. This area was blanketed with vegetation and the people grew ensete, barley and dates. They also grazed sheep, goats and cattle. Arabia at this time was a vast savannah with marshes and lakes. What is now known as the Rub al-Khali or Empty Quarter, today, an arid mountainous area, was then well watered. The Cushitic speaking people of Ethiopia also appear to have had some representatives in Arabia during this period .The people of Punt lived in an area stretching from the Eastern desert of Egypt, eastward to the Red Sea, and Central Africa.These people spoke Puntite/ Semitic languages. This group of Africoids lived in the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea Hills. Whereas most Africans are clean shaven the Puntites preferred to wear beards. The boats of these Easterners are found engraved at prehistoric sites in Mesopotamia. In the Egyptian records the standard of the Easterners was the Set animal. The Egyptian traditions tell us that there was a struggle between Set and Horus which took place in Nubia. This story indicates that in ancient times Semitic-speaking people formerly lived in Nubia; this explains the Egyptian identification of Punt or Pwene as "the land of the gods". (Ullendorf 1973) The Egyptians called the people of Punt Kenbetu. In the ancient literature of Kemit (Egypt) and Mesopotamia, Punt was recognized as a sea power. From ports along the Red Sea, the people of Punt traded with of Kemit, Arabia, West Asia and Mesopotamia. Modern Ethiopia is part of the land known to the Egyptians "the lands of the gods". The inhabitants of Punt, on the other hand called their country Arwe. It was from here that the Semitic speaking nations moved northward into Arabia and Mesopotamia. The Kemites allude to the Arwe Kingdom in a short story which tells how a good natured serpent of great size speaks to a ship wrecked Egyptian whose life he saved: "I am the Prince of Punt...But it shall happen when[thou] art parted from this place ,that never shalt thou behold this island more, for it will become water...."(Doresse 1971, p.17) This "good natured serpent" may refer to the King-Serpent that ruled Punt according to Ethiopian traditions. The ships of Punt were very large, as early as 2500 B.C., they had ships with 60 oars. In the records of Sumer-Akkad there are frequent passages referring to the large boats of Punt, which they called Meluhha . The ships of Meluhha made many voyages to Mesopotamia. Meluhha, included the area from Nubia eastward to the coast of the Red Sea. This view is supported by the discovery of C-Group pottery usually associated with Nubia, found in excavated sites in Eritrea. (Zayed 1981, p.142) The Meluhhaites were known as the "black men" to the Sumerians .The Akkadians called them "the Meluhhaites, the men of the Black land". They sold many products including metals and precious stones to the people of Mesopotamia.(Kramer 1978, pp. 76-80) There were many Egyptian contacts with Punt. According to Herodotus, the Kemite Pharoah Sestrotris carried his conquest as far as the Red Sea, where he erected a stele at Deire. We have evidence of Egyptian expeditions to Punt sent by Pepi II in 2400 B.C.,and Mentuholep IV to bring back rare products from ancient Punt. Under Mentuholep V, the vizier Amenemhet established a port near Safaga to insure regular trade with Punt. The most famous voyage to Punt was undertaken by Queen Hatshepsut (c. 1520-1484), details of her mission are depicted on the walls of her temple at Deir el Bahri. (Gardiner 1978, p.78) Many ports in modern Ethiopia have been used for millennia. The inscriptions of Tuthmosis III refer to such places as Outculit, Hamasu and Tekaru; these names suggest the modern Ethiopian cities of Adulis, Hamasu and Tigre. (Doresse 1971, p.17) The Egyptians/Kemites made it clear that Punt controlled both sides of the Red Sea. (Budge 1959, p.53, n.1) In the Kemite inscription the Hymn of Ra, we read "The land of Punt is established [to give] the perfumes which thou smellest with thy nostrils" (Budge 1959, p.149). Stuart Munro-Hay noted that: "One extremely interesting Egyptian record from an 18th Dynasty tomb at Thebes actually shows Puntite trading boats or rafts with triangular sails ( Save -Soderbergh 1946, p.24) for transporting the products of Punt, indicating that the commerce was not exclusively Egyptian- carried, and that local Red Sea peoples were already seafaring...." In modern Ethiopia there were three great empires Punt-Arwe, the Da'mot or Di'amat Kingdom and Axum. The first kingdom of Ethiopia was founded by the Habesha or Habeshat who were first mentioned in the Egyptian inscriptions of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, in connection with the Land of Punt. The Punt empire was made up of people speaking diverse languages.[b] The culture bearers may have been the Tigrinya speakers who call their language Habesha, i.e., Abyssinian par excellence. (Doresse 1971)[/b] The term Habesha seems to represent an old name for Abyssinia (the ancient name for modern-day Ethiopia) and may be connected with the Amharic word washa "a cave or cavern". The Puntite languages are characterized by a basic vocabulary, a system of roots and vowel patterns and the formation of derived verbs by prefixes. The South Arabian languages: Sabaean, Minaean and Hadramautic, are slightly different from modern South Arabic, but analogous to the Ethiopian languages. This represents the influence of the Jectanid tribes on South Arabic. It is clear that the Proto-Puntite speakers lived in Africa. Wolf Leslau (1951,1957) has made it clear that Ethiopic and South Arabic form a dialectical unity. Dialectical unity means that two or more languages form a unified dialect. According to Haupt, in 1878, Akkadian , Minaean and Ethiopic all belong to the same group of Semitic languages, even though they are separated in time and by great geographical distance. This is surprising considering the fact that Ethiopic and Akkadian are separated by many hundreds of years. The best example of this unity is the presence of shared archaicism (Leslau 1951). The linguistic feature of shared archaicism is the appearance of the vowel after the first consonant of the imperfect (Hertzron & Bender 1976, p.23). For example, one of the most outstanding features of Puntite, is the presence of a vowel following the first consonant in the verb form known as the imperfect, e.g.,[b] yi quattul [/b](using the hypothetical verb consonants[b] q-t-l, yi [/b]is the person marking prefix) or[b] yi k'ett[/b] 'he kills'. In Southwest Semitic the form of the perfect is[b] yu qtul-u [/b]. Here we have the same hypothetical q-t-l form, but there is no vowel following the first consonant of the verb root. This results from the fact that in Black African languages we rarely, if at all find words formed with double consonants. The fact that Southeast Semitic has shared archaicism with Puntite shows that at the time the Akkadians and Ethiopic speakers separated these groups had dialectical unity. The lack of this trait in Arabic and Hebrew shows that they have been influenced by the Indo-European speakers who invaded Palestine and Arabia between 1300 B.C. and 900 B.C. Semitic verb root Akkadian Ethiopic/S. Arabian [list] [*]kl 'to be dark' ekelu Soqotri okil 'to cover' mr 'to see' amaru Geez ammara;Tigre amara br 'to catch' baru Soqotri b'r dgh 'remove' daqu Geez dagba 'to perforate' kdn 'to protect' kidin Tigre kadna [/list] Clearly Black African language forms the base of most Semitic words. Diop (1978,p.113) recognized that in relation to Arabic words, once the first consonant was suppressed, there is often an African root. This phenomenon was also recognized by Wiener (1922, v.III) who believed that many African words were of Arabic origin. The Cushitic substratum has strongly influenced the phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary of the Puntite languages. [list] [*]Cushitic English Semitic Saho la wild cow *la-at Samoli la id. id. [/list] This supports the view of I.M. Diakonoff that the Semitic speakers and A-Group lived in close proximity in ancient times. The evidence discussed above makes it clear that Arabia, which was occupied in Neolithic times by the Anu, was probably not the original homeland of the Semitic speakers. Modern Ethiopians originated in Africa, not Arabia. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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