The solving of the mystery of Venetic and Etruscan inscriptions with the help of the Slovene language places before us the still open question regarding the initial formation of Indo-European languages. But before we examine this problem, we must recognize that the Venetic and Etruscan languages have to be included in this group. The Etruscan has till now been denied this right.
How and why did Indo-European languages develop? We can say that they formed from a language widely distributed in central Europe. The reasons are unknown but we can draw some conclusions from the later development of Latin based languages; the internal and external causes creating these languages are known to us. We can infer that Indo-European languages also formed as a result of specific internal and external circumstances. The internal conditions of the time are unknown; however, we have some understanding of the extraordinary influence of the invasion and domination of a warring people from the area of the Caucasus in the Late Stone Age (Neolithic) between 3000 and 2000 B.C. Their Battle-Axe culture imposed itself on the predominantly agricultural indigenous peoples. These new circumstances demanded new, improved communications which meant new languages. The change first unfolded in Europe itself, and then because of migrations spread eastward to Persia and India. The dawning of the Indo-European era was the first major turning point in the historical development of Europe.
There is also the question of the original language in Europe which served as the base for the first Indo-European languages. Among these we must count the Venetic and the Illyrian. I would venture to say that it was the Proto-Slavic language. A number of substantiations are presented later in this book.
In the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), European people already had important material cultures with correspondingly well-developed languages. Among archaeological remains of the Vinca culture-the middle Danubian area during the 6th to 4th millenniums B.C.-the Etruscologist professor Dr. Radivoje Pesic found all letters of the Etruscan alphabet. Obviously their language was already relatively advanced. The Ice Man from the Tyrolean glacier, dating back to 3300 B.C., provides evidence of an important, orderly society existing in that area. Also in the excavations at Abensberg on the Danube in Bavaria there are strong indications of life in well organized settlements. The thousands of flintstone (Feuerstein) mines found there, dating from 5000 B.C., indicate a prosperous culture based on trade with this "steel of the Stone Age" and the production of a variety of tools.
From the symbiosis of the old indigenous cultures and the new Battle-Axe culture, new societies and new languages formed. Around 1500 B.C., the Unetice (Aunjetitz) culture was known in central Europe. Within it the Indo-European components dominated, including the Kurgan or Mound-grave burial. There was a change around 1300 B.C. when the famous Lusatian culture established itself. Within this culture ancient indigenous elements prevailed; it was here that cremation of the dead and the burial of ashes in urns originated. This burial custom marks the beginning of the Urnfield culture, which spread its religious message with great speed through much of Europe.
The important question at this point concerns the bearers of this culture. Who were they? And who were the first people in central Europe, or possibly all of Europe, who outgrew the narrow constraints of tribal community and developed a higher level of social organization? Until the Second World War researchers identified the people of the Urnfield culture as Proto-Illyrians. More recent archaeological and historical data have led them to the conclusion that these people were Proto-Veneti, since it is known that the Illyrians never occupied the region of central Europe.
Numerous settlements of Urnfield people dating from 1200 B.C. were found around Ljubljana, Slovenia. We may conclude that the Veneti moved from this area farther south to Italy, a hypothesis that corresponds with the findings of the Italian scholar, Giuseppe Sergi, who presented evidence that the Veneti came to Italy from the north in the Bronze Age. It was this group of Veneti, inhabiting the territory between the Alps and the upper Adriatic, who founded the Este culture. Through this culture we are today best able to discover their identity and through them the identity of their predecessors.
The Veneti were a Slavic people; that is, they were the earliest known Slavs in the new form of the Indo-European reality. As the Urnfield culture spread, so did the Venetic (Slavic) language. The most authentic components of the ancient Venetic language have been preserved by the Slovenes who are still living in the region of the Este culture.
The aim of this book is to present evidence that will lead to fundamental changes in the contemporary views of European history.
In the first part of this book Dr. Josko Savli presents a survey of the prehistory of central Europe. He then takes us on a journey through the remains of the Venetic culture and language, especially in the Alpine region and northern Italy between the Po River and the Alps. Hundreds of names of mountains, valleys, rivers, and villages still exist today in this region and witness the past presence of Veneti -- a nation living on in its descendants, the majority of whom have lost the Venetic language.
In the second part of the book, the mysteries of the Venetic and Etruscan inscriptions are unveiled. These inscriptions belong to the oldest monuments of written language in Europe. Scholars had not been able to decipher them until linguist-academician Matej Bor found in the Slovene language the key to their translation. Although the Venetic inscriptions are more than 2000 years removed from contemporary Slovene, the similarities between the two languages are such that these important cultural monuments can still be understood.
These surprising discoveries have attracted not only admiration and approval from scholars and laymen, but also sharp criticism from those who cannot accept the fact that they made wrong decisions in the area of historiography and archaeological legacy.
The third part of the book was written as an answer to these critics, with the goal of dispelling false theories which have until now surrounded the Veneti and their identity.
We would like to break the barrier of silence which surrounds the Venetic culture and to present the reader with an unobstructed view of the ancient past of Europe, which is to some degree still reflected in the Slovene nation.
The reader will notice that this book was written at a specific time in the history of the Slovenes-before their independence. This is the reason for some sharp polemics, provoked especially in connection with entrenched ideological and historical views. We think the importance of the data presented speaks for itself. We also think that the book transcends all ideological positions. Needless to say, every effort was made to scrupulously avoid nationalistic motives. The principal purpose of this book is to determine those elements of material culture and historical events which link the nations of central Europe with their predecessors, the Veneti, regardless of the different languages involved. We would like to contribute to mutual understanding and recognition among the nations of Europe, to strengthen peace and friendship, especially among the nations living in the Alpine region, once the cultural and national centre of the Veneti.
Ivan Tomazic
Showing posts with label Revue book:veneti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revue book:veneti. Show all posts
January 24, 2010
January 21, 2010
History of Slovenes in Europe
The recently published book Veneti: First Builders of European Community, Tracing the History and Language of Early Ancestors of Slovenes is the most comprehensive study of the early history of Slovenes, and is one of the few works to challenge the heavily flawed history writing of Central Europe.
The three authors, Dr. Jozko Šavli, an economics professor; Matej Bor, a linguist, poet, dramatist; and Ivan Tomazic a Catholic priest, all natives of Slovenia, worked separately researching the history and language of their nation. Later they joined forces and in 1988 published their findings first in the German language, in 1989 in Slovene, in 1991 in Italian, and finally in 1996 in English.
In the course of their research they discovered that the origin of Slovenes or Slovenians was shrouded in a number of improvised theories which had essentially no documentary or historical foundation, that these theories have been disseminated for nationalistic reasons by the dominant history schools of Central Europe since the middle of the last century, and have been accepted as the true account of the history of Slovenes. These makeshift theories were accepted by Slovenes themselves with very few exceptions.
The strongly held assumption that Slovenes were South Slavs, and that they came to their present homeland in the 6th century A.D., was found to be no more than a well-disguised device to "prove" that Slovenes had no indigenous rights of domicile in Central Europe, that they were intruders who had to be controlled, assimilated, and denationalized. The process of forced assimilation has been vigorously imposed for centuries and continues to be carried out by the dominant powers of Central Europe.
Equally unrealistic and hypothetical were the theories concerning the national identity of the ancient Veneti. The official Venetologists have maintained in the majority of cases - for no apparent reason - that the Veneti were an Italic people, although there were also some cautious indications that the Veneti, who came from the north into the area of the northern Adriatic and the Alps during the Bronze Age, could have been of Slavic origin. The latter suggestion was generally dismissed and research regarding the identity of the Veneti came practically to a standstill until the publication of this work.
According to Bor, the reason for the unproductive status of Venetic research is this: "The Slavic linguists have 'ceded' the Venetic language to western researchers, from among whom there is probably not one who has full command and intimate knowledge of the Old Slavic or the modern Slavic languages, and also of the surviving Slovene dialects which play an extremely important role in this undertaking."
Another area of unresolved study is the question of the proto-language of Central Europe. This problem is essentially straightforward; but, for no valid reason, it was dismissed by linguists. The leading Indo-Europeanists were generally satisfied with the view that the language of pre-Indo-European Europe was unknown, and that there was no need to probe beyond this assumption. This attitude prevails to this day.
However, the findings of Šavli, Bor, and Tomažič turned the existing historical and linguistic image of Europe upside-down, and created a profoundly disturbing new insight into Europe's distant past.
In Part One, Dr. Šavli presents a survey of the prehistory of central Europe. He then takes us on a journey through the remains of the Venetic culture and language, especially to the Alpine region and northern Italy between the Po River and the Alps. According to the authors, the Veneti (not to be confused with the Venetians) were a Proto-Slavic people, and they were the bearers of the Urnfield culture in Central Europe. They settled in Austria, Slovenia, northern Italy, and eastern Switzerland around 1200 B.C. In their original settlement area there are to this day countless Slovene place-names.
The reader will wonder why the connection between the Veneti and Slovene place-names. The answer is simple. According to the authors, the Slovenes are direct descendants of the Veneti. They are even now called the "Windische" by their German neighbours and "Vendek" by the Hungarians, and they still live in the territory of the ancient Venetic Este culture in Slovenia, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. Their language is closely linked to the Venetic language. In reality, most of the terms used by the ancient Veneti in creating the toponyms in the area of the Alps are still used in the modern Slovene language and its numerous dialects.
In Part Two, the mysteries of the Venetic inscriptions are unveiled. These inscriptions belong to the oldest monuments of written language in Europe. Scholars had not been able to decipher them until Matej Bor found in the Slovene language the key to their translation. Although the Venetic inscriptions are more than 2000 years removed from contemporary Slovene, the similarities between the two languages are such that these important cultural monuments can still be understood. Years of Bor's research into the Venetic inscriptions proved not only that the ancient Venetic language was (contrary to official linguistics) Proto-Slavic, but also that in the Slovene language is its continuation.
In Part Three, Ivan Tomazic brings together all components of the so-called Venetic theory: the earliest known people of Central Europe were the Proto-Slavic Veneti; the Slovenes are West Slavs, descendants of the Veneti; the original language of Central Europe before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans was Slavic.
He includes the important study of similarities between the Sanskrit and Slovene languages. The similarities are extensive and could have originated only around 2000 B.C. when the indigenous Slavic language of Central Europe and the language of the newly-arrived Indo-Europeans merged.
The individual segments of the study may seem puzzling or even preposterous at first sight, but one soon discovers that the totality of the so-called Venetic theory is well grounded and is the only plausible explanation for the problems plaguing the research into the indigenous language and the subsequent development of Indo-European languages. It also resolves the question of the ethnic identity of the bearers of the Urnfield culture and their descendants.
The authors maintain the difficulties of history writing in Europe are mainly those of political interference and nationalism. There is throughout the book a strong sense that solutions to all these questions could have been found long ago had there not been intense resistance on the part of those who were creating history to suit their own national agenda of prestige and superiority.
Veneti: First Builders of European Community represents a long overdue effort to review the flawed historic image of Central Europe. One of the aims of this work is to draw attention to the need for unbiased and improved research methods. It has attracted considerable attention and recognition among scholars and laymen in Europe. It has also drawn sharp criticism from those who cannot accept the fact that they made wrong decisions in the area of historiography and linguistic and archaeological legacy.
The authors have gathered an astonishing amount of material, creating an invaluable reference work which belongs in every public and private library and should be read by every student of history, particularly those interested in Central Europe and former Yugoslavia, and especially every person of Slovene descent.
"The book is worth ten times its selling price (a personal opinion). It is a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of the Slovene people and the restoration of Slovenian integrity with respect to understanding European history and pre-history.
"It is more than clear that we can no longer accept the 'Slovenians crawled out of the swamps and over the Carpathian Mountains to settle in Slovenia in the sixth century' theory - and good riddance to it! It has never been very flattering, and it is refreshing to see such clear evidence to the contrary. I recommend the book highly!" says Linda Lenassi Tomlin, President of the Canadian Chapter of The Slovenian Genealogy Society of America.
VENETI: FIRST BUILDERS OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY is in English, published by Editiones Veneti, Vienna 1996; translated and printed in Canada, hardbound, 534 pages, 150 illustrations, index, USA and Australia 29.00 USD, Canada 34.00 CND. Postage included. Quantity discounts are available. For more information, or to order this important new publication write to:
Anton Škerbinc, Site 1, Box 17, R.R. 1, Boswell, B.C. VOB 1AO Canada
or Ivan Tomazic, Bennogasse 21, A -1080 Wien, Austria
The three authors, Dr. Jozko Šavli, an economics professor; Matej Bor, a linguist, poet, dramatist; and Ivan Tomazic a Catholic priest, all natives of Slovenia, worked separately researching the history and language of their nation. Later they joined forces and in 1988 published their findings first in the German language, in 1989 in Slovene, in 1991 in Italian, and finally in 1996 in English.
In the course of their research they discovered that the origin of Slovenes or Slovenians was shrouded in a number of improvised theories which had essentially no documentary or historical foundation, that these theories have been disseminated for nationalistic reasons by the dominant history schools of Central Europe since the middle of the last century, and have been accepted as the true account of the history of Slovenes. These makeshift theories were accepted by Slovenes themselves with very few exceptions.
The strongly held assumption that Slovenes were South Slavs, and that they came to their present homeland in the 6th century A.D., was found to be no more than a well-disguised device to "prove" that Slovenes had no indigenous rights of domicile in Central Europe, that they were intruders who had to be controlled, assimilated, and denationalized. The process of forced assimilation has been vigorously imposed for centuries and continues to be carried out by the dominant powers of Central Europe.
Equally unrealistic and hypothetical were the theories concerning the national identity of the ancient Veneti. The official Venetologists have maintained in the majority of cases - for no apparent reason - that the Veneti were an Italic people, although there were also some cautious indications that the Veneti, who came from the north into the area of the northern Adriatic and the Alps during the Bronze Age, could have been of Slavic origin. The latter suggestion was generally dismissed and research regarding the identity of the Veneti came practically to a standstill until the publication of this work.
According to Bor, the reason for the unproductive status of Venetic research is this: "The Slavic linguists have 'ceded' the Venetic language to western researchers, from among whom there is probably not one who has full command and intimate knowledge of the Old Slavic or the modern Slavic languages, and also of the surviving Slovene dialects which play an extremely important role in this undertaking."
Another area of unresolved study is the question of the proto-language of Central Europe. This problem is essentially straightforward; but, for no valid reason, it was dismissed by linguists. The leading Indo-Europeanists were generally satisfied with the view that the language of pre-Indo-European Europe was unknown, and that there was no need to probe beyond this assumption. This attitude prevails to this day.
However, the findings of Šavli, Bor, and Tomažič turned the existing historical and linguistic image of Europe upside-down, and created a profoundly disturbing new insight into Europe's distant past.
In Part One, Dr. Šavli presents a survey of the prehistory of central Europe. He then takes us on a journey through the remains of the Venetic culture and language, especially to the Alpine region and northern Italy between the Po River and the Alps. According to the authors, the Veneti (not to be confused with the Venetians) were a Proto-Slavic people, and they were the bearers of the Urnfield culture in Central Europe. They settled in Austria, Slovenia, northern Italy, and eastern Switzerland around 1200 B.C. In their original settlement area there are to this day countless Slovene place-names.
The reader will wonder why the connection between the Veneti and Slovene place-names. The answer is simple. According to the authors, the Slovenes are direct descendants of the Veneti. They are even now called the "Windische" by their German neighbours and "Vendek" by the Hungarians, and they still live in the territory of the ancient Venetic Este culture in Slovenia, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. Their language is closely linked to the Venetic language. In reality, most of the terms used by the ancient Veneti in creating the toponyms in the area of the Alps are still used in the modern Slovene language and its numerous dialects.
In Part Two, the mysteries of the Venetic inscriptions are unveiled. These inscriptions belong to the oldest monuments of written language in Europe. Scholars had not been able to decipher them until Matej Bor found in the Slovene language the key to their translation. Although the Venetic inscriptions are more than 2000 years removed from contemporary Slovene, the similarities between the two languages are such that these important cultural monuments can still be understood. Years of Bor's research into the Venetic inscriptions proved not only that the ancient Venetic language was (contrary to official linguistics) Proto-Slavic, but also that in the Slovene language is its continuation.
In Part Three, Ivan Tomazic brings together all components of the so-called Venetic theory: the earliest known people of Central Europe were the Proto-Slavic Veneti; the Slovenes are West Slavs, descendants of the Veneti; the original language of Central Europe before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans was Slavic.
He includes the important study of similarities between the Sanskrit and Slovene languages. The similarities are extensive and could have originated only around 2000 B.C. when the indigenous Slavic language of Central Europe and the language of the newly-arrived Indo-Europeans merged.
The individual segments of the study may seem puzzling or even preposterous at first sight, but one soon discovers that the totality of the so-called Venetic theory is well grounded and is the only plausible explanation for the problems plaguing the research into the indigenous language and the subsequent development of Indo-European languages. It also resolves the question of the ethnic identity of the bearers of the Urnfield culture and their descendants.
The authors maintain the difficulties of history writing in Europe are mainly those of political interference and nationalism. There is throughout the book a strong sense that solutions to all these questions could have been found long ago had there not been intense resistance on the part of those who were creating history to suit their own national agenda of prestige and superiority.
Veneti: First Builders of European Community represents a long overdue effort to review the flawed historic image of Central Europe. One of the aims of this work is to draw attention to the need for unbiased and improved research methods. It has attracted considerable attention and recognition among scholars and laymen in Europe. It has also drawn sharp criticism from those who cannot accept the fact that they made wrong decisions in the area of historiography and linguistic and archaeological legacy.
The authors have gathered an astonishing amount of material, creating an invaluable reference work which belongs in every public and private library and should be read by every student of history, particularly those interested in Central Europe and former Yugoslavia, and especially every person of Slovene descent.
"The book is worth ten times its selling price (a personal opinion). It is a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of the Slovene people and the restoration of Slovenian integrity with respect to understanding European history and pre-history.
"It is more than clear that we can no longer accept the 'Slovenians crawled out of the swamps and over the Carpathian Mountains to settle in Slovenia in the sixth century' theory - and good riddance to it! It has never been very flattering, and it is refreshing to see such clear evidence to the contrary. I recommend the book highly!" says Linda Lenassi Tomlin, President of the Canadian Chapter of The Slovenian Genealogy Society of America.
VENETI: FIRST BUILDERS OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY is in English, published by Editiones Veneti, Vienna 1996; translated and printed in Canada, hardbound, 534 pages, 150 illustrations, index, USA and Australia 29.00 USD, Canada 34.00 CND. Postage included. Quantity discounts are available. For more information, or to order this important new publication write to:
Anton Škerbinc, Site 1, Box 17, R.R. 1, Boswell, B.C. VOB 1AO Canada
or Ivan Tomazic, Bennogasse 21, A -1080 Wien, Austria
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