View source for Proto-Euphratean language

{{Short description|Hypothetical unclassified language of late Neolithic Mesopotamia}}{{Infobox language
| name             = Proto-Euphratean
| familycolor      = unclassified
| ethnicity        = [[Samarra culture]]?
| era              = Early [[Ubaid period]] (5500-4800 BCE)
| fam1             = [[Unclassified language|unclassified]], hypothesized [[Stratum_(linguistics)#Substratum|substratum]]
| states           = 
| region           = southern [[Iraq]]
| glotto           = none
| iso3             = none
}}

'''Proto-Euphratean''' is a hypothetical [[unclassified language]] or languages which was considered by some [[Assyriologists]] (such as [[Samuel Noah Kramer]]) to be the [[Stratum_(linguistics)#Substratum|substratum]] language of the people who introduced farming into Southern [[Iraq]] in the Early [[Ubaid period]] (5300–4700 BC).

[[Igor M. Diakonoff|Igor Dyakonov]] and [[Vladislav Ardzinba]] identified these hypothetical languages with the [[Samarra culture|Samarran culture]].<ref>История древнего Востока, т.2. М. 1988. (in Russian: History of Ancient Orient, Vol. 2. Moscow 1988. Published by the Soviet Academy of Science), chapter III.</ref>

[[Benno Landsberger]] and other Assyriologists argued that by examining the structure of [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] names of occupations, as well as toponyms and [[hydronym]]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 languages|Semitic]] origin.{{Vague|date=December 2024}}

Dyakonov and Ardzinba proposed a different term, "banana languages", based on a characteristic feature of multiple personal names attested in Sumerian texts, namely [[reduplication]] of syllables (as in the English word ''banana''): [[Inanna]], [[Zababa]], Chuwawa/[[Humbaba]], [[Bunene]], [[Pazuzu]], etc found in Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian texts. The same feature was attested in some other unclassified languages, including [[Minoan language|Minoan]]. The same feature is allegedly attested by several names of [[Hyksos]] rulers:{{example needed|date=December 2024}} although the Hyksos tribes were Semitic Canaanites, some of their names, like Bnon, [[Apepi|Apophis]], etc. were apparently non-Semitic in origin.<ref>История древнего Востока, т.2. М. 1988. (in Russian: History of Ancient Orient, Vol. 2. Moscow 1988. Published by the Soviet Academy of Science), p. 229.</ref>

Rubio challenged the [[Stratum_(linguistics)#Substratum|substratum]] 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<ref>{{cite journal|last=Whittaker|first=Gordon|date=2008|title=The Case for Euphratic|journal=Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences|location=Tbilisi|volume=2|issue=3|pages=156–168|url=http://science.org.ge/old/moambe/2-3/Gordon%20Whitteker.pdf|access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref> is that the language of the proto-literary texts from the Late [[Uruk period]] ({{circa|lk=no}} 3350–3100 BC) is an early [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]] that he terms "Euphratic", although this does not have mainstream support.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Literature ==
{{Portal|Asia}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Rubio |first1=Gonzalo |title=On the Alleged "Pre-Sumerian Substratum" |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |date=January 1999 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.2307/1359726|jstor=1359726 |s2cid=163985956 }}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]]'' (JIES). Vol. 36, Nº. 3-4 (FALL/WINTER), 2008: pp. 371-382. {{ISSN|0092-2323}}.
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{{Eurasian languages}}

[[Category:Sumerian language]]
[[Category:Ancient languages]]
[[Category:Unclassified languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Hypothetical languages]]
[[Category:Ubaid period]]