Glasilo 6 - SUMMER 2014 (PART 2)
Ainu Couple with ash-blond hair and grey eyes (1934)
The Ancient Wendish Social Organization and Their Chiefs
I was particularly impressed when I discovered in the Ainu language the Wendish term supan/zupan.
Who would have thought that words could remain almost unaltered over a period of some 30 thousand years? Well, they did. We still call the head of a community or a village, or a mayor, supan/jupan or zupan. In modern Wendish, zupan, is a leader of a community, and he was, as far back as the Ice Age, a chief, a leader. The Ainu know him as supane - guru, verbatim, a superior man, a leader, a chief. In Ainu, supane means to rule, to govern, to be the head of. Esapane in Ainu means to govern; to lead; to act as chief or head.
The Ainu call their supan's wife su(pane)mat/somat. The Ainu mat is the equivalent of the Wendish mat, mother. This term seems to imply that a woman was at times elected by a community to serve as their leader. Considering the meaning of this word, i.e., mother, and the high status of Wendish women throughout history in general, this is more likely to have been originally the name of an elected female chief, not only a chief's wife.
Our supan/jupan/zupan (all the 3 sibilants, s, j, and z, are used in the spellings of this word in various Wendish dialects) turns up not only in the Ainu language. One finds this term also in Japanese. Taking into account that the sounds b and p are hard to distinguish, in modern Japanese saiban means justice; judge; trial; hearing. A zupan, as a clan's leader, was originally obviously also the local judge. A Wendish clan used to be called zupa. Its German cognate is die Sippe, obviously borrowed from Wends.
The family name Supan is today quite widespread throughout Germany, Austria and Slovenia, as are many other Wendish names. In Polish and Czech, the syllable pan in supan means sir, master, gentleman. In Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, a Ban was a governor of a province. He used to have also the supreme judicial powers which he exercised up to the beginning of the 20th century. In France, family names like Joupin/Joupin/Soupen/Supin/Chopin have, no doubt, the same origin, reminding us of the Wendish-speaking Gauls and their ancient Indo-European social hierarchy
I noticed that the Inca emperor, taken prisoner by Francisco Pizarro's men, was referred to by his people as Sapa Inca. This word was translated for the Spanish as meaning "the special one, one and only". It too referred to a special person, a leader and a king. This "sapa" is no doubt also related to Wendish "supan", to the Ainu "sopone" and "sapane". It is also a cognate of the Japanese saiban.
The "sapa" of Inkas, could have arrived in the Andes in the 4th millennium B.C. We know that there must have been direct contacts between the Ainu of Japan and South America in the 4th and 3rd millennium B.C. because, at that point in time identical designs of ceramics turn up in both these regions.
Even Mayans seem to have used this term for their leaders. There was their oligarch, Ah Xiu Xupan ( "x" was pronounced as "sh") who was the last leader of the League of Mayapan/Luub Mayapan (987 - 1461). At his time the League's capital was Chichen Itza. Xupan ruled from 1441 to 1461.
Another term dealing with an ancient judicial and governmental organization existed in the Ainu language, the Wendish ukaz, an official order, a law, namely ukashpaotte, laws; regulations. In Ainu, ukaspaotte-uwesere means to command; to order. Uwesere, where r replaced the Wendish l, is the cognate of obwesal/obwezno, he undertook; he was obliged to; he was bound to.
And who would have thought that the terms used today for writing and reading existed already in the Ice Age? In Ainu, chitakte stood for to divine; to be made to speak, as dictated by gods. This sounds very much like Wendish chitaite, read! This suggests that some of these ancient Ice Age hunters had a certain way of writing and reading. A skill then regarded by the majority as a supernatural skill.
They also knew how to count, and they counted the same way as did ancient Celts and do in present France, by 20s. In Ainu, ipishki means a number, while in modern Wendish, (on) PISHE means, he is writing. The Ainu used upish for a number; to add up; to add together, but also for appointed; to be fulfilled. In Wendish, wpishe/pishe means to make a note of; to write.
And learning was always useful. In Ainu eyakaipakashnu means to learn. In Wendish today, nyey pokajem means I point out to her; I show how her how it is done.
I was not surprised when I saw that the Wendish term kot/kotan, place, village, town, existed also in Ainu. I have traced this word wherever Wends had ever settled. One finds it in Afghanistan, India, Japan, North America, Africa and Central and South America. In Roman times, the Veneti/Wendi also knew this word, and used it even for a place of burial, kotets, a small corner/place.
Another ubiquitous Wendish word is tla, the ground, the soil. Ainu used the word for clay, soil. This word turns up in many native languages in North America. The Azteks called the place they had originally come from Aztlan, the land/place of white herons, most likely Japan. This ancient Wendish word was changed to das (t)Land, when German evolved in the last 1,500 years.
A baby in Ainu is hachako. It reminds one of the odd Wendish term hcherka, a daughter.
If one looks at the Ainu term hainakani, a metal wire, one is reminded of the Wendish nakowani, made of metal. Akkadians in Mezopotamia used the same word: kowan, worked in metal. Like Wends, Akkadians also called tin by the unusual name of kositer.
Even the Ainu term yaikane, lead, metal, reminds one of the Wendish word yekleno, made of steel.
I was particularly impressed when I discovered in the Ainu language the Wendish term supan/zupan.
Who would have thought that words could remain almost unaltered over a period of some 30 thousand years? Well, they did. We still call the head of a community or a village, or a mayor, supan/jupan or zupan. In modern Wendish, zupan, is a leader of a community, and he was, as far back as the Ice Age, a chief, a leader. The Ainu know him as supane - guru, verbatim, a superior man, a leader, a chief. In Ainu, supane means to rule, to govern, to be the head of. Esapane in Ainu means to govern; to lead; to act as chief or head.
The Ainu call their supan's wife su(pane)mat/somat. The Ainu mat is the equivalent of the Wendish mat, mother. This term seems to imply that a woman was at times elected by a community to serve as their leader. Considering the meaning of this word, i.e., mother, and the high status of Wendish women throughout history in general, this is more likely to have been originally the name of an elected female chief, not only a chief's wife.
Our supan/jupan/zupan (all the 3 sibilants, s, j, and z, are used in the spellings of this word in various Wendish dialects) turns up not only in the Ainu language. One finds this term also in Japanese. Taking into account that the sounds b and p are hard to distinguish, in modern Japanese saiban means justice; judge; trial; hearing. A zupan, as a clan's leader, was originally obviously also the local judge. A Wendish clan used to be called zupa. Its German cognate is die Sippe, obviously borrowed from Wends.
The family name Supan is today quite widespread throughout Germany, Austria and Slovenia, as are many other Wendish names. In Polish and Czech, the syllable pan in supan means sir, master, gentleman. In Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, a Ban was a governor of a province. He used to have also the supreme judicial powers which he exercised up to the beginning of the 20th century. In France, family names like Joupin/Joupin/Soupen/Supin/Chopin have, no doubt, the same origin, reminding us of the Wendish-speaking Gauls and their ancient Indo-European social hierarchy
I noticed that the Inca emperor, taken prisoner by Francisco Pizarro's men, was referred to by his people as Sapa Inca. This word was translated for the Spanish as meaning "the special one, one and only". It too referred to a special person, a leader and a king. This "sapa" is no doubt also related to Wendish "supan", to the Ainu "sopone" and "sapane". It is also a cognate of the Japanese saiban.
The "sapa" of Inkas, could have arrived in the Andes in the 4th millennium B.C. We know that there must have been direct contacts between the Ainu of Japan and South America in the 4th and 3rd millennium B.C. because, at that point in time identical designs of ceramics turn up in both these regions.
Even Mayans seem to have used this term for their leaders. There was their oligarch, Ah Xiu Xupan ( "x" was pronounced as "sh") who was the last leader of the League of Mayapan/Luub Mayapan (987 - 1461). At his time the League's capital was Chichen Itza. Xupan ruled from 1441 to 1461.
Another term dealing with an ancient judicial and governmental organization existed in the Ainu language, the Wendish ukaz, an official order, a law, namely ukashpaotte, laws; regulations. In Ainu, ukaspaotte-uwesere means to command; to order. Uwesere, where r replaced the Wendish l, is the cognate of obwesal/obwezno, he undertook; he was obliged to; he was bound to.
And who would have thought that the terms used today for writing and reading existed already in the Ice Age? In Ainu, chitakte stood for to divine; to be made to speak, as dictated by gods. This sounds very much like Wendish chitaite, read! This suggests that some of these ancient Ice Age hunters had a certain way of writing and reading. A skill then regarded by the majority as a supernatural skill.
They also knew how to count, and they counted the same way as did ancient Celts and do in present France, by 20s. In Ainu, ipishki means a number, while in modern Wendish, (on) PISHE means, he is writing. The Ainu used upish for a number; to add up; to add together, but also for appointed; to be fulfilled. In Wendish, wpishe/pishe means to make a note of; to write.
And learning was always useful. In Ainu eyakaipakashnu means to learn. In Wendish today, nyey pokajem means I point out to her; I show how her how it is done.
I was not surprised when I saw that the Wendish term kot/kotan, place, village, town, existed also in Ainu. I have traced this word wherever Wends had ever settled. One finds it in Afghanistan, India, Japan, North America, Africa and Central and South America. In Roman times, the Veneti/Wendi also knew this word, and used it even for a place of burial, kotets, a small corner/place.
Another ubiquitous Wendish word is tla, the ground, the soil. Ainu used the word for clay, soil. This word turns up in many native languages in North America. The Azteks called the place they had originally come from Aztlan, the land/place of white herons, most likely Japan. This ancient Wendish word was changed to das (t)Land, when German evolved in the last 1,500 years.
A baby in Ainu is hachako. It reminds one of the odd Wendish term hcherka, a daughter.
If one looks at the Ainu term hainakani, a metal wire, one is reminded of the Wendish nakowani, made of metal. Akkadians in Mezopotamia used the same word: kowan, worked in metal. Like Wends, Akkadians also called tin by the unusual name of kositer.
Even the Ainu term yaikane, lead, metal, reminds one of the Wendish word yekleno, made of steel.
As I mentioned, in my research, aimed at establishing a linguistic connection between the Caucasian native Japanese population, the Ainu, and Wends, I relied entirely on the 4th edition of an Anglican priest's, Dr. John Batchelor's rather comprehensive Ainu-English-Japanese and English-Ainu Dictionary and Grammar, published in Tokyo in 1938. This is actually the only Ainu dictionary ever compiled. Part of this work was published already in in 1889 and 1905, when a small Ainu community in the farthest northern islands still managed to retain a somewhat independent traditional life-style.
In the Ainu language, one is at times reminded also of later Latin and Germanic expressions. In some instances, they use the verbal indefinite endings like -ere, or -ire. The Ice Age Wendish contains already the entire basic Indo-European vocabulary which was later integrated into the modern Indo-European languages. That is the reason you will find on my website, in the expanded, more comprehensive, Wendish in Ainu list, also some words and forms which are today an integral part of Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages.
In Ainu, some pronouns are the same as in Wendish. For instance, this/that is tan in Ainu, as in present Wendish dialects in Germany, but they also use ta and to, with the same meaning, in use today in southern Wendish dialects. Wendish sin, son, shows up in Ainu as sion, a little boy. Some words, like far away/far off, are closely related in all 3 languages, Wendish: tuina/tuyina; Ainu: tuina. In Japanese is its cognate, töi. In modern Japanese more than half the words have Chinese roots.
At first blush, a hill/mountain, nupuri in Japanese, and nobori in Ainu, seem to have nothing in common with Wendish. However, if you pronounce these words quickly you will most likely detect a resemblance to the Wendish phrase, na gori, on the mountain.
In the Ainu language, one is at times reminded also of later Latin and Germanic expressions. In some instances, they use the verbal indefinite endings like -ere, or -ire. The Ice Age Wendish contains already the entire basic Indo-European vocabulary which was later integrated into the modern Indo-European languages. That is the reason you will find on my website, in the expanded, more comprehensive, Wendish in Ainu list, also some words and forms which are today an integral part of Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages.
In Ainu, some pronouns are the same as in Wendish. For instance, this/that is tan in Ainu, as in present Wendish dialects in Germany, but they also use ta and to, with the same meaning, in use today in southern Wendish dialects. Wendish sin, son, shows up in Ainu as sion, a little boy. Some words, like far away/far off, are closely related in all 3 languages, Wendish: tuina/tuyina; Ainu: tuina. In Japanese is its cognate, töi. In modern Japanese more than half the words have Chinese roots.
At first blush, a hill/mountain, nupuri in Japanese, and nobori in Ainu, seem to have nothing in common with Wendish. However, if you pronounce these words quickly you will most likely detect a resemblance to the Wendish phrase, na gori, on the mountain.
I find another word fascinating, hand, te in Ainu and Japanese, t(ats)e in Wendish, where it is now only used jocularly and also means a paw. In Babylonian Wendish, tatse still stood for a hand and a foot.
In Ainu, mother is ma or mat, as in Wendish mater or mat. From, od, in Wendish is o in Ainu, as well as in Welsh.
Wendish shopirit se, to be puffed up, to give oneself airs, has a tween in Ainu, shipirasa, to spread out of itself.
I wonder whether there might not be a very ancient, but logical connection between the Wendish term pot, path, and the Ainu pet, river. Pot being the pot/pet, the river, its origins reaching back to the earliest times in human history when rivers and other waters were the only paths that men - whose habitats on riverbanks and sea and ocean coasts were surrounded by impenetrable and dangerous jungles and forests – could use to get easily from one place to another, when rivers were to them what paths and roads are to us today.
Anyone interested in further research into Ainu's relationship with Japanese and Wednish should consider acquiring professor Basil Hall Chamberlain's Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xvi pt. iii. It contains a vocabulary of the most ancient Japanese words.
One of the great differences between the Ainu and the Japanese languages is that Japanese abhors passives, while Ainu use them wherever they can. As in Japanese, Wendish in Ainu is obviously mixed with another language, because there are also vowels inserted between the original consonants, and rs are often substituted by ls, etc.
I was anxiously searching the Ainu dictionary for their term for a sword, which is meich both in Japanese and in Wendish. Meich was the word which had led me 30 years ago to my linguistic investigation of a possible ancient link of Wends with Japan. My suspicion that there may have been at least two waves of Wendish migration into their islands seemed confirmed when I found that the Ainu call a sword emush. Emush sounds very much like the Wendish a nosh/noj, a knife. Ainu had arrived in Japan sometime prior to 20,000 B.C. and seem not to have been acquainted with swords yet. However, those Wends that had arrived after the Ice Age, already farmers and warriors, would have brought with them their name for their new weapon.
In Ainu, mother is ma or mat, as in Wendish mater or mat. From, od, in Wendish is o in Ainu, as well as in Welsh.
Wendish shopirit se, to be puffed up, to give oneself airs, has a tween in Ainu, shipirasa, to spread out of itself.
I wonder whether there might not be a very ancient, but logical connection between the Wendish term pot, path, and the Ainu pet, river. Pot being the pot/pet, the river, its origins reaching back to the earliest times in human history when rivers and other waters were the only paths that men - whose habitats on riverbanks and sea and ocean coasts were surrounded by impenetrable and dangerous jungles and forests – could use to get easily from one place to another, when rivers were to them what paths and roads are to us today.
Anyone interested in further research into Ainu's relationship with Japanese and Wednish should consider acquiring professor Basil Hall Chamberlain's Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xvi pt. iii. It contains a vocabulary of the most ancient Japanese words.
One of the great differences between the Ainu and the Japanese languages is that Japanese abhors passives, while Ainu use them wherever they can. As in Japanese, Wendish in Ainu is obviously mixed with another language, because there are also vowels inserted between the original consonants, and rs are often substituted by ls, etc.
I was anxiously searching the Ainu dictionary for their term for a sword, which is meich both in Japanese and in Wendish. Meich was the word which had led me 30 years ago to my linguistic investigation of a possible ancient link of Wends with Japan. My suspicion that there may have been at least two waves of Wendish migration into their islands seemed confirmed when I found that the Ainu call a sword emush. Emush sounds very much like the Wendish a nosh/noj, a knife. Ainu had arrived in Japan sometime prior to 20,000 B.C. and seem not to have been acquainted with swords yet. However, those Wends that had arrived after the Ice Age, already farmers and warriors, would have brought with them their name for their new weapon.