Name Zecharia Mayani Role Writer | Education University of Paris | |
Books The Etruscans begin to speak | ||
Zacharie Mayani (1899 – ?) was a French writer and author of a number of books.
Education and publications
He was educated at Paris University, where he received his doctorate. He was also a student in the École du Louvre.
His book Les Etrusques commencent a parler (The Etruscans Begin to Speak) put forth a thesis with exuberant reconstructions that the Etruscan language of antiquity had links to the modern Albanian language. This connection is dismissed by most scholars as "wildly speculative". Comparative linguistics have long demonstrated that Albanian is a unique branch of the Indo-European languages, whereas the classification of Etruscan remains uncertain.
The Albanian régime of Enver Hoxha embraced this theory for propaganda reasons, and extended it to include the ancient Pelasgians. Mainstream scholars have paid Mayani's arguments little serious attention. He also in Les Hyksos et le monde de la Bible (Paris:Payoy,1956) emphasized a connection between the Hebrews, the Kenites and the Habiru. Zachari also supported that Canaanites went into Asia Minor, Illyria, and even Italy.