its preservation of historical nasals and has the documented forms antzur, ainzter, aintzur and ainzto – was ainz- and thus the reconstructed root was *ani(t)z or *ane(t)z. There are no traces of such a nasal sound in the word haitz "rock" (cf. Roncalese aitz). Alternative theories Basque-Iberism The theory of the Basque-Iberism claims that there is a direct relationship between the Basque language and the Iberian language, meaning either that Basque evolved out of the Iberian language, or that its precursor belonged to the same language family. The first author to suggest this theory was Strabo in the 1st century BC (at a time when the Iberian language was still spoken); he asserted that the Iberians and the Aquitanians were similar physically and that they spoke similar languages and had similar customs. The German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt proposed, in the early 19th Century, a thesis in which he stated that the Basque people were Iberians, following some studies that he had conducted. Others claim there is not a direct connection, including Koldo Mitxelena who claims the similarities between Iberian and Basque are attributed solely to the relationship of vicinity, and not to any kinship.Artetxe Sánchez, Karmele (1999): «Egungo euskoiberismoari buruzko zenbait ohar», Euskonews & Media 54, 1999-11-12. Caucasian origin Some researchers have propounded the similarities between the Basque language and the Caucasian languages, especially the Georgian language. The comparison between the matrilineal and patrilineal DNA of the native peoples from the Basque Country and Georgia has allowed the discovery of significant differences. The hypothesis that related both populations is only based on the typological similarities, which is never a good marker of linguistic kinship. These superficial similarities in the linguistic typologies do not seem to accompany a genetic relation at a population level. The possible relation between Basque and the languages of the Caucasus is denied by authors such as Larry Trask, who stated that the comparisons were wrongly made, given the fact that the Basque language was compared with several Caucasian languages at the same time. Old European These theories are based on the Old European hydronymy, assuming that the first inhabitants of Europe spoke a common tongue or languages of the same language family. This theory is not accepted by most linguists, who believe that, in a territory as large as Europe, more than one language had to be spoken. In January 2003, the Spanish edition of