Asianic Languages

ASIANIC LANGUAGES. The languages described as Asianic were spoken in Asia Minor by non-Hellenic peoples before the arrival of Greek, by which most of them have been slowly ousted or absorbed. The term is purely geographical and comprises a number of ancient languages, of different families and modes of writing whose only common feature is their obscurity. They are mainly (I) recorded in cuneiform, as Sumerian (q.v.), Hittite Cassite, Vannic and Elamite; or (2) languages whose name alone survives, as Pisidian, Lycaonian, Cappadocian, Paphlagonian, Phrygian (an Indo-European language) ; and (3) the speech of the peoples of the coast of Asia Minor, Mysian, Lydian (Maiones), Carian and Lydian (Termiles), recorded by alphabets akin to or derived from the Greek.

Mysian.

According to Herodotus the Mysians were related to the Carians and Lycians, and of their speech we have only three glosses surviving on which no conclusions can be based.

Lydian.—Excavations conducted by the American school, 1910-13, produced numerous inscriptions dating from the 5th and 4th centuries B.c. written in an alphabet closely resembling the Greek, usually from right to left. Mostly funerary inscrip tions, they contain with variations the common formula—"This is the tomb of X son of Y. May he who damages it be punished by the divinity, himself and his family." We have a few short bilingual (Greek and Lydian) inscriptions and one (Lydian Aramaic) dating 455 or 394 or 349 B.c. which, despite many ob scurities, is the basis of our decipherment and interpretation. We have a fairly accurate knowledge of Lydian, although the value of some signs is problematic and the greater part of the vocabulary re mains unknown, while the longest texts available, metrical in scriptions from Sardis, are still a riddle.

Phonetics.—Lydian has the vowels, a, e, o and u; nasalized vowels a, é; an aspirate h, two i's, one plain and one rolled, two series of occlusives, surd and sonor, with an absence of aspirated occlusives. There are accumulations of consonants due perhaps to habits in writing or perhaps indicating a modification of the short vowels, possibly the result of accent.

Grammar.—Nouns seemingly have two genders and three cases in the singular, less certainly in the plural. The nominative masculine and feminine in the singular is -s for roots in -i and -s in others. The oblique case (dative and perhaps locative) is -X and the accusative -n as also probably the oblique plural. Demonstra tives and adjectives have the case forms as the nouns to which they belong. Thus the demonstrative es- is in the masculine feminine nominative es-.'s which becomes ess; in the neuter it is es-d becoming est; thus we have eh' vanas, this tomb, and est mrud, this monument. In all genders the form es X is used in oblique cases. Possession is indicated by an adjective in -1- which can be associated with the oblique case form -X and takes the same case forms as the noun. Thus vanas Atalis, the tomb of Atas. Verbal forms are less clear. Lydian seems to have had a third person singular form in -d and a third person plural form in -ent. The numerals are not known. The post-position -k means `and' as -c in Etruscan. Negative forms are nik . . . nik, neither . . . nor, and a negative or indefinite element /id- combines with the pronoun pis, pid forming napis, rapid somebody, something. The alternative buk means or, and the conditional form is ak in the protasis, sometimes lengthened to skit or by adding it-in to aktin, while fak, then, introduces the leading element in the apodosis. The order of words is subject, verb, object. The exact meaning of individual words is not known save in a few cases such as the words for tomb, monument, court, house, water, fire, priest, divinity, destroy, with a certain number of words explained by glosses.

Carian.—Our knowledge of Carian rests on about 8o small inscriptions recorded in an alphabet containing several signs identi cal with Greek forms. The earliest date from the middle of the 7th century B.C., and three are bilingual, Egypto-Carian. De cipherment is still uncertain, and the meaning of a large number of the signs is conjectural despite the work of Sayce. Herodotus mentions the tradition that the Carians were once the inhabitants of the islands. Sundwall with some probability relates Carian to Lycian. The evidence is, however, based on place-names and on the glosses recorded mainly by Stephen of Byzantium. The ma terial does not enabli; us to verify the association of Carian with Cretan or the relationship of Carians to Mysians and Lydians.

Lycian.—Discoveries made over the last century from 1811 onwards have brought to light abou,. 150 inscriptions dating from the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. written in an alphabet of Greek origin, which come mainly from Limyra, Xanthos, Myra, Pinara and Tlos. Nearly all are funeral inscriptions and uniform in pur port and language except the second part of the long stele of Xanthos and the inscription of Antiphellos which are metrical in an archaic, perhaps different, dialect and much more obscure. A few very short and varying bilingual (Greco-Lycian) inscriptions give some help towards interpretation.

Phonetics.—Lycian possessed as vowels, a, e, i (marked e), u (marked o), nasalized vowels sonants w and y, a series of occlusives in frequent alternation, like land r, sign in and n whose value is doubtful, two spirants, x and 0, two sibilants s and z and the aspirate h. An equivalence of e, or a is found but not ex plained. A few signs have not been surely identified.

Grammar.—Two genders seem to have existed with a de clension with a nominative, an oblique case in -i (plural and an accusative with nasalization. The possessive of the 1st person is emi or mine. The relative is ti. In the verb the singular third person was, it seems, t or d, and the third person plural was nt and there was a vowel conjugation, the timbre of the vowel varying with the variations of time. The usual negative form is ne, ni. A certain number of words have been elucidated by the bilingual inscriptions so that the meaning of certain phrases can be es tablished with some accuracy, although it is as yet impossible to deal satisfactorily with the larger inscriptions.

Affinities of the Asianic Languages.—As to the relation ship of these languages to one another, all that can be said is that they have certain identical tendencies in pronunciation, in nasalized vowels, which prove nothing, some grammatical coin cidences (accusative in -ii; verb forms for the third person in -t and -nt) which are of little aid. Neither Lydian nor Lycian dis play any certain marks of relationship. Their vocabularies are very different, a fact which does not prevent their having a com mon origin. Too little is known of Carian, which must be omitted, and as regards Lydian and Lycian such facts as we have do not as yet indicate a close affinity. Fundamental resemblances have been found between Lydian and Indo-European, such as case forms, the adjectival concord, the system of relative and demon strative pronouns, the verbal forms for the third person, singular and plural, the negative forms. On the other hand, not one Lydian word has a clear Indo-European origin and the oblique case in X is definitely alien to Indo-European declension though known in Etruscan and the southern Caucasus. Lycian has similar but less numerous points of likeness and many features in it are common in Etruscan (q.v.), such as a large number of proper names, some words and elements of common derivation. If these lan guages are really to be regarded as related and if we may apply to them the term "Asianic family," which is probable, though not proved, their position with regard to Indo-European languages (q.v.) may be that they have retained some features of their corn mon origin but have from early times diverged independently similarly as regards the relationship with Etruscan and the south ern Caucasus, unless the features shared with these languages are accidental. But before this or any other hypothesis can be taken as beyond doubt, more investigations are necessary.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--General:

Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte Bibliography.--General: Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache (1896) ; Hirt, Die Indogermanen, vol. ii.; Autran, in Les Langues du Monde, bibl. (1924) .—Lydian: E. mann, Sardis, vi. 1 (1916) ; Buckler, Sardis, vi. 2 (1924) ; Sommer and Kahle, Kleinasiatische Forschungen, i. p. 18-86, bibl. (1927).—Carian: Sayce, Transact. of the Soc. of Bibl. Archeology, vol. ix. Proceedings of the same Society, vol. xvii. xxvii. xxviii. xxx. ; Sundwall, in Klio, P. 464, bibl. (1911).—Lycian: Kalinka, Tituli Asiae. Minoris, i. (1901) ; Kluge, Die Lykier, bibl. (1910) ; Sundwall, Die einheimischen Namen der Lykier (1913) ; Deeters, in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencykl. (bibl.). (E. BEN.) ASIENTO or ASSIENTO, a Spanish word meaning a farm of the taxes, or contract. The word acquired notoriety on account of the "Asiento Treaty" of 1713. After the establishment of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty in 170o, a French company was formed which received the exclusive privilege of the Spanish-American slave trade. At the peace of Utrecht the British Government claimed the monopoly. The Asiento Treaty (March 16, 1713) cordingly authorized British subjects to introduce 144,00o slaves in the course of 3o years, at the rate of 4,800 per annum and to send one ship of Soo tons per annum, laden with manufactured goods, to the fairs of Porto Bello and La Vera Cruz. This privilege was conveyed by the British Government to the South Sea pany, and formed the solid basis of the fit of speculative fever called the South Sea Bubble (q.v.). Until 1139 the trade in blacks went on without interruption, but amid increasingly angry disputes between the Spanish and the British Governments. The right to send a single trading ship to the fairs of Porto Bello or La Vera Cruz was abused. Under pretence of renewing her provisions the ship was followed by tenders loaded with goods, and thus arose what was in fact a vast contraband trade. The smugglers were guilty of many piratical excesses, and the Spanish revenue officers acted often with violence on mere suspicion. After many disputes, war was declared in 1739. When peace was made at Aix-la Chapelle (q.v.), in 1748, Spain undertook to allow the asiento to be renewed for the four years which were to run when war broke out in 1739. But the renewal for so short a period was not considered advantageous, and by the Treaty of El Retiro of 17 5o, the British Government agreed to the recession of the Asiento Treaty altogether on the payment by Spain of £ i oo,000.

"AS IF," THE PHILOSOPHY OF.

The expression was coined by Hans Vaihinger and applied to his own system of philosophy, according to which all human knowledge, all explana tions in the realm of science, philosophy, law, religion, etc. are merely so many fictions or assumptions which tell us that the things or events, etc., referred to are or behave "as if" they had such or such a character, or "as if" they had been produced in such and such a way. Thus, for instance, in physics the con ceptions of ether, electric fluid, etc., are merely fictions which facilitate our grasp of the transmission of certain forms of energy "as if" there were such a medium as ether, or an electric fluid, etc. In law a company is treated "as if" it were a person. In morals and religion certain imperatives of conduct are conceived "as if" there were a God, a hereafter, and rewards and punish ments, etc. Vaihinger does not regard these fictions as deliberate fictions or mere make-beliefs. His contention rather is that human knowledge, be it pursued never so earnestly, is at best only a series of fictions, or "as ifs," by which man with his finite capac ities endeavours to make the world intelligible to himself so as to feel at home in it.

The philosophy of "as if" traces its descent from Kant, through Lange (the historian of materialism) and Nietzsche. Kant, by limiting human knowledge to phenomena, that is, to things as they appear to man, not as they are in themselves, and by regard ing human knowledge as moulded by certain a priori forms innate in the human mind, obviously, if unintentionally, gave an impulse to the philosophy of "as if." Nietzsche promptly pointed out that other beings than man may have other a priori forms of appre hending reality, and that the human forms of apprehension instead of revealing the true nature of reality may only conceal it in order to make human existence tolerable. The whole philosophy of "as if" may be regarded as one expression of the sceptical and agnostic tendencies of the age, of which pragmatism and hominism are other expressions.

See H. Vaihinger, The Philosophy of "As if" (English trans., 1926) .

'ASIR,

a district of West Arabia between 1 7 ° 31' and 21 ° N. and 4o° 3o' and 45° E.; bounded north by Hejaz, east by Nejd, south by Yemen and west by the Red Sea. Apart from Rub' Al Khali no district of Arabia is less known to Europeans who have only visited Sabia and a few places near the coast. It consists of a maritime plain with an average width of 25m., rising gradually to the foot of a mountain range, whose eastern flank falls to a high land plateau merging gradually with the steppes of Nejd. It is about 23om. long and 18om. broad. Its mountains contain a num ber of fertile valleys and coffee is cultivated on its mountain slopes as in Yemen. Kunfuda, Jizan and Maidi are the most important of many petty ports on the Red sea, and Sabia is the lowland capital (and residence of the Idrisi ruler), as Abha (or Ibha) is that of the highlands. Wadis Bisha, Ranya and Turaba, each with a considerable population, are the principal valleys of the eastern plateau, while Khamis Mushait and Wadi Shahran are among the most notable in the highlands. The population is a hardy race of mountaineers with a tendency towards Wahhabi fanaticism, while the principal element in the east is the Qahtan tribe centring on Ranya. The Turkish occupation of 'Asir was never very effective beyond the coast, though Turkish expeditions penetrated the coun try frequently between 1814 and 1837 and garrisons have been maintained in a desultory fashion at Abha and Khamis Mushait. The Idrisi dynasty of Sabia and Abu Arish is of comparatively recent advent to the country, its founder, Said Ahmad, having established himself in the latter part of the 19th century with a doctrine akin to that of the Sanusis of North Africa. Under Said Mohammed 'Asir first acquired political importance, his rebellion in 191I against the Turks having with Italian assistance achieved a measure of success. From 1915 he was in treaty relations with Great Britain and in 192o occupied Hudaida after the departure of the temporary British garrison. In 192o the Wahhabis occupied Ibha and all upland 'Asir, while Imam Yahya recovered Hudaida in 192I. The following year Said Mohammed died and his son, 'Ali, proving incapable of maintaining his position, fled the coun try in 1925. His uncle, Hasan, in 1926 placed his remaining terri tory under a Wahhabi protectorate by formal treaty, under which he was appointed governor of the province for life. The Farisan islands off the coast belong to 'Asir and have recently come into prominence owing to the grant by the Idrisi in 1926 of an oil-pros pecting concession to a member of the Shell group. No startling results have yet been achieved. Of late years there has been much unrest on the southern boundary of 'Asir which is in dispute with the Imam, but the steady extension of Ibn Sa'ud's effective admin istration of the province has exercised a calming effect on the tribes of the border.