<<< Gloria - I recall reading that the Gothic community of the Crimea survived linguistically intact into the nineteenth century, when they were 'discovered' by German philologists who went crazy over it (hence the Nazi interest in the area).>>>
I heard some rumours at university that the Nazi historians had been interested in the Gothic archeology during the brief occupation but our Germanics professor (a Jew, by the way) was naturally unwilling to tell more. Sensitive topic, apparently. I loved Gothic classes but we didn't get many, unfortunately. There are quite a few well-published letters and manuscripts that display common linguistic features with High German, Low German, etc. But the 19 c. Gothic? Sorry, no info that I know of.
<<< Is this true? And has the Ostrogothic dialect survived to this day?>>>
Not to my knowledge. That would be fascinating, wouldn't it? As I recall, they had originally moved in directly from Gotland, so there you have a Swedish connection. Unfortunately, they all either died fighting for their mountain principality of Doros or (like other smaller ethnoses) were assimilated by the huge incoming waves of Tatars. BTW, some of those whom I met bear distinct European facial characteristics - blue eyes, sandy hair, non-Turkic facial types. Most of the Kyrym (Crimean) Tatars returning from their exile in Uzbekistan certainly look Turkish, though.
As to Germans, there was a huge farmer population in the Crimea in recent times, since the 19 c. when thousands of families settled in arid areas and turned them into fertile agricultural land, growing wheat, apples, etc. - until the end of WWII when those who didn't leave with the retreating Nazis were deported to the Kazakhstan deserts to die... As well as virtually all Tatars (half died en route) and, oddly, Greeks. The following post-war resettlement of the ethnically cleansed peninsula by waves of peasantry from the Russian North almost ended in famine when poor uneducated folks tried growing in hot areas the only thing they knew - potatoes. Still, hundreds of thousands more Russians and Ukrainians were shipped in. Now, with roughly the same numbers of Moslem Tatars returning to the old villages and demanding their land back, the situation isn't very quiet ...
<<<hasnt the basque* language got the same linguistic roots as finnish and hungarian?>>>
Melf, back in high school I read a very interesting article by a Georgian linguist who basically proved as clearly as 2+2=4 that the Basque and the Georgian is the same ancient language only branching out in different directions due to geographic separation. He produced long lists of identical words - basic words like numerals, parts of body and carriages, verbs, etc. I was completely convinced. This theory is also corroborated by some ancient Georgian legends of expeditions launched westwards in search of new lands. Even in their appearance the Basques and the Georgians look very similar - not to mention their fiery, feisty temperaments and love of wine.
D'Artagnan was of Basque descent, wasn't he?