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             [Note:  All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]

 

HIDDEN MEANINGS IN ENGLISH *
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Introduction

 

          Discovering the hidden sentences in words and names is similar to doing a crossword puzzle in two very different languages. Almost all English words, and many English names, contain such hidden sentences, written in a form of shorthand and using a language similar to Basque and a vowel-interlocking formula (see Nyland (2001)

 

(V)CV1-V1CV2-V2CV3-V3CV4-V4C etc.

 

          Note that each vowel after the first, optional vowel, the 'V' is repeated. This is emphasized by numbering each repeated vowel. That is to say that, if two 'Basque' roots/morphemes - ORE and ETO - were combined by this system they would appear in the interlocked form 'ORETO' . Since 'ORE' means balance, hour or mole, and 'ETO' means to come, origin or inborn, we might assign a tentative meaning to the new word e.g. 'inborn balance' or 'the hour has come'. (For comments re choice among possible meanings see below).

 

          The same formulation reflects the construction of the Sanskrit vocabulary as well as all the Romance languages, including Latin. But there are differences in detail. In the formation of Latin words, as many vowels as possible were retained, most words generally adhering to the VCVCV structure. However, in English, many more of the vowels disappeared and the CVC structure was promoted as shown in names (Bonner, Duncan, Hudson, Robson, Somner etc.) and in words (cellar, doctor, hawser, master, pillow, tartan etc.). And, distinguishing the language from Latin, the pronunciation of the alphabet changed.

 

          As a general rule, the more vowels disappeared, the more time consuming the job of restoring the hidden sentence becomes. In the following pages the process of bringing out the hidden sentence will be explained, starting with the simplest, in which no vowels were discarded. If the spelling of name or word was changed over time, it becomes more difficult, or it may not be possible to recover the hidden meaning. However, quite often the change in the word's spelling becomes obvious when decoding (e.g. 'recidivist' came from 'recidivist' below). Occasionally more than one possible meaning appears in which case both should be reported and/or earlier spellings researched.

 

          The meaning of English words will usually help to guide the decoding process. However, most English names do not have an obvious meaning, which makes the decoding more time consuming. In general, every consonant represents a full word, and the more consonants in a word or name, the longer the hidden sentence is and the more likely it is that it can be recovered.

 

PROBLEMS IN DETERMINATION OF MEANINGS

 

          Where the meaning of the word being translated from the VCV shorthand can be checked by context, it is important that it be checked again in completing the entire translation. Forced, unnatural or inappropriate results should be suspect. In this case, we may have a CV syllable which is never part of the VCV list and must be translated directly with the use of the dictionary.

 

          Where we have one word only, we face a problem, which is common in handling language. Consider if one is given the task of finding a meaning for the letters D U C K. We could say the meaning was an aquatic bird, a quick downward movement, a score at Cricket, an avoidance of an issue etc.

 

          So by its very nature, the meaning will often seem less than precise. Spoken language tends to rely on physical context e.g. Australian 'wagga' can mean a specific species of bird (a magpie) or birds (magpies), or in some context, 'birds' generally. Written language on the other hand is more exact but has been subject to spelling change through loss or change of letters e.g. the name 'couper' from French 'le cupera' is now spelt as 'cooper', ‘cowper’ and even 'coup'. 

 

          We have to be careful here, because some names and words look very much alike but translate very differently, e.g. Millar and Miller below. Nevertheless, with practice and context, meaning can usually be interpreted.

 

          As is well known, in the Indo-European languages the vowels are generally unstable i.e. they change frequently within the root (e.g. sing, sang, sung), or with popular use, over time. In the Basque language on the other hand, the vowels are extremely stable with only few, mostly forced, exceptions (e.g. Euskera to Euskara, etor to ator) while the consonants are sometimes quite unstable, F = B,  Y and J = I,  Q and C = K,  H is often omitted, D is sometimes T (e.g. in idi to itxi, udikan to utikan), S, Z and X (pronounced 'sh') are often confused in word development.

 

          Basque has no C, Q, V, W and Y, although some have sneaked into the names and some words; the word Basque, should itself be spelled Bask.

 

          The first syllable in most English words originates from a Basque-like VCV with the first vowel removed. This appears to have been the basic rule. Only if the desired VCV was not available would a Basque word starting with CV be recruited; common in Greek and the Germanic languages, but uncommon in English.

 

          In creation of English words it is fortunately infrequent to find many consonants clustered together, such as appears in Sanskrit (Samskrta, with 5 contiguous C's) or Dutch (angstschreeuw, with 8 contiguous C's). In English three consonants together are common e.g. conclude, country, destroy, irksome, naughty, puzzle etc. but four C's is rarer, e.g. instruct, minstrel etc. In decoding such words, the vowel-interlocking rule can be applied as usual, but the number of letter combinations that need to be tried increases considerably.

 

          It is interesting to note that, although almost one quarter of all VCV's have no meanings attached, these unused syllables are only rarely found in the English vocabulary unless the word is misspelled or was altered over time.

 

PROCEDURE

 

1) The vowel interlocking formula (shown above).


          This formula was worked out by the author during his research into translating the Ogam inscriptions of Scotland and Ireland. He discovered that the language of Ogam was Basque. The Basques are a people genetically closely related to the Irish and Scots, especially as shown in their high frequency of Rh-negative blood, 25 - 32%, the only peoples in the world with those high percentages. The formula's accuracy was then tested and confirmed on a large number of Indo-European languages from Sanskrit to Greek, Latin and Spanish, and Germanic languages such as Dutch, German, and Yiddish, which see. In the majority of English words, the first vowel was removed. This in contrast to Basque, this has about half of its vocabulary starting with a vowel.

 

2) The VCV word list.


          This list was created by the author by listing all 400 VCVs (ABA, ABE, ABI, ABO, ABU, EBA etc) and then listing the meanings associated with these VCVs as shown in the VCV list. Some 100 of these 400 VCV's have no meanings attached and are believed to have been reserved for future expansion of the language. Many of these word groups are related, such as for instance ABA which is used for words connected to the 'manger scene'. Some VCVs have only one meaning such as IHO (thunder) but some, like R and RR collect a very large variety of meanings. The RR is treated as single R for decoding, but not for translating. The VCV wordlist is only an aid and the Basque dictionary must be consulted for words that more accurately describe the situation.

 

3) The Basque Dictionary.


          The excellent Basque-English dictionary by Gorka Aulestia (University of Nevada Press) is used as the standard source. To speed up the work it is often desirable to have his companion English-Basque dictionary also. (Do not buy the one volume B-E and E-B dictionary, which is for school use only and inadequate for decoding.)

 

STEPS IN THE DECODING PROCESS

 

          The simplest way to explain the decoding process appears to be through a combination of basic rules and the use of examples. The least complicated English words for decoding are the ones in which the full VCVs are intact, as in the first examples that follow. From there the examples will get more complicated as more vowels are removed. Occasionally, non-interlocking words have been combined into one, e.g. 'inoculate' (see below) which is one little problem of many that must be watched out for. Make sure that matching words only be taken from interlocking pairs. In the case of a double vowel (diphthong), an 'h' has often been eliminated. This is quite common in Basque also e.g. the word 'custom' is both oitura and ohitura.

 

The steps are:

 

          1) Arrange the letters of the word to be analyzed as VCVCVCV, placing dots where vowels or an 'h' were eliminated. Then replace C and Q with K, V with B or F, W is ignored and Y with I or J.


          2) Break up the sequence so obtained into VCV-VCV-VCV-VCV etc. in which the vowels of either side of the hyphen are the same.


          3) Using the VCV word list (or the dictionary), arrange the appropriate words under each VCV. (There is usually no need to list words that are obviously unrelated to the meaning at hand.) The result of this can be that a list of possible words for e.g. ONE, representing several different meanings, may be quite different from another list with the same VCV, depending on the words to be decoded. For name decoding, all or most words supplied in the VCV word list are used, although character traits are often involved.


             4) Select those words which make a sentence most closely describing the words to be decoded.

 

EXAMPLES:

 

          In the following examples, only a few of the possible meanings of each VCV are shown. For a more complete list, see VCV dictionary.

 

Words with the VCVs intact (i.e., no vowel removal)

 

adore, ado – ore

ado

ore

to dress, food

to grab

courage

always

to cheer up

dog

to worship

hour

 

ado    ado    adoratu    to worship
ore    ore   
oren       hour


"The hour of worship".

 

ebony, ebo – oni

ebo

oni

develop

acceptable

create

useful, luck

evolution

consent

       

  eb.  ebo  eboluzionatu   to develop, create
        .ni  oni  
onizan         something useful       
               "Create something useful".

 

evade, eba – ade

eba

ade

thief, fraud, swindler

to prepare

hide-out, to cut

rude

remnant

temple

 

eba    eba    ebasle         swindler
ade    ade   
adeigabeko    rude
"Rude swindler".

 

enumerate, enu - ume - era – ate

enu

ume

era

ate

useless

child

education

protection

inertia

offspring

sample

door to door

sedentary

give birth

patience

main entrance

stay at home

to adopt

exercise

member

 

enu    enu    enulkeria       sedentary/stay at home
ume    ume   
ume             offspring/birth
era    era   
erakuskari      sample
ate    ate   
atez-ate        door to door


  "Go door to door to sample the offspring at home".

 

obese, obe – ese

obe

ese

to improve

to sit

well-meaning

chair

guilty

to object

to prefer

to argue

 

obe    obe    obetsi         to prefer
ese    obe   
eseri          to sit


"(He/she) prefers to sit".

 

inanity, ina - ani – iti

ina

ani

iti

hail

animal

to allow

agitation

many

to denounce

to open

to increase

to stop

to shake

often

faithful

 

ina    ina    inarrospen      agitation
ani    ani   
aniztu           to increase
iti    iti   
itxi            to denounce


  "Denounce the increase in agitation".

 

inoculate, ino - oku - ula – ate

ino

oku

ula

ate

somehow

fertile field, N.A.

to receive

to get

any place

'ku

to welcome

protection

time to time

immunity

 

result

sometimes

 

 

calm

   

ino    ino    inoiz edobehin      from time to time
    oku    'ku   
kutsagaiztasun      immunity
    ula    ula   
ulatu               to receive
    ate    ate   
aterpe              shelter/protection


"From time to time receive immunity for protection".

 

                (This word should really be two words because the vowel interlocking is interrupted: ino'kulate).

 

 

WORDS MISSING ONE VOWEL

 

cupola, .ku - upo - ola, first vowel is missing.

try: aku

upo

ola

to rent

stave

cabin

acoustics

barrel shaped

canopy

try: eku

 

plank

equator, worried

 

just like this

try: iku

 

 

watchful, to visit

 

 

scenic

 

 

try: oku

 

 

fertile field

 

 

try: uku

 

 

falsify, smelly

 

 

 

.ku    iku    ikusgarri     scenic
upo    upo   
upohol        barrel shaped
ola    ola   
olana         canopy


"Scenic barrel-shaped canopy".

 

delegate, .de - ele - ega – ate

try: ade

ele

ega

ate

temple, announce

story

escape

outside

courteous, prepare

gossip

anxiety

knock at the door

try: ede

flattering

to make thirsty

remark

esteem, history

 

to favor

to get

to be pleased

 

 

consequence

exaggerate, mislead

 

 

 

try: ide

 

 

 

companion

 

 

 

to open

 

 

 

to compare, swap

 

 

 

try: ode

 

 

 

cloud, horizon

 

 

 

try: ude

 

 

 

summer house

 

 

 

 

.de    ide    idetu        to compare, to swap
ele    ele   
ele          story
ega    ega   
egarritu     to make someone thirsty
ate    ate    aterapen      consequence


"The consequence of swapping stories is that one gets thirsty".

 

energy, ene - er. - .gi

ene

try: era

try: agi

my

profit, available

I wish, I hope

attract me

method, sample

powerful

always

suffer, storm

to order

before

to motivate

promise

in me

attack, to scatter

threat

 

try: ere

try: egi

 

scatter, wasteland

to create, action

 

occasion

possible, undone

 

try: eri

try: igi

 

sickness, recovery

harvest

 

compare, fight

sickle

 

strong, skillful

 

 

try: ero

try: ogi

 

risky, transport

bread, crust, maid

 

insanity, comfort

baker, easygoing

 

try: eru

try: ugi

 

mistake. producing

N.A.

 

abundant

 

 

ene    ene    -enetan           always
er.    era   
eragin            to motivate
.gi    agi   
aginbidedun       powerfully