ruta turística de arrigorriaga el secreto de las piedras rojas
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- Euskara
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- Mythology
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- Battle of Padura
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- General Assembly
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- Carlist Wars
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- Economy
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- Emigration
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- Basque Sports
Euskera, the enigmatic language of an age-old people
The origins of the Basque language, known as Euskera, remain a mystery. Since the 16th century, when the first rigorous analyses of the roots of Basque were carried out, many theories have been put forward. Four of those theories have earned considerable credence amongst linguists and researchers in the scientific world.
The first of these, known as the “Basque – Iberian” theory, was predominant throughout the 19th century. It maintained that Basque and Iberian were a single language. A second hypothesis, popular at the turn of the century, pointed out a number of similarities between Euskera and Berber. However, later studies proved that there are not enough parallels between the two languages to defend the theory of a common root.
The third theory relates Basque with Caucasian languages, and still enjoys the support of many linguists. Koldo Mitxelena, from Guipuzcoa, found certain similarities between Basque and the languages of the Caucasus, for example in the verbs, the plural forms of the persons and several words connected with livestock and farming. The fourth theory, which commands just as much respect, suggests that Euskera is a pre-Indo-European language.
Popular acceptance
These and other theories have been put forward over the centuries, and have all earned a some degree of popular acceptance. Until well into the 20th century, many people believed that Euskera was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by Noah’s nephew Tubal after the events of the Tower of Babel, or that it was the language spoken in Heaven.
The only thing we can say for sure today is that the Basque language is a linguistic and historical mystery which remains unsolved.
To date few written records have been found in Basque, but an important discovery was made in the Spring of 2006 on a site at Iruña-Veleia, about 10 kilometres from Vitoria-Gasteiz. The inscriptions found there pre-date by 600 years the earliest writings in Euskera previously known: a number of glosses in the margin of a Latin text discovered in the monastery of San Millán de Cogolla in La Rioja which date from the 11th century. At the same time they serve as proof that the people of these lands spoke Basque even before the Romans arrived here.
Historical references from the 10th and 11th centuries indicate that Basque, which was then known as “lingua navarrorum” or “lingua vasconica”, was spoken over a much greater area than it is today. It could be heard to the north as far as the river Garonne in Bordeaux, to the east as far as of Aragon, to the south throughout La Rioja and to the west in parts of Castile.
From the late 11th century onwards, Euskera began to lose ground due especially to the arrival of other languages. The language is currently undergoing a process of recuperation, greatly aided by the unification in the nineteen-sixties of the many different dialects to create a single language called “Batua”, which translates as “united”.
Along with the efforts made by public and private bodies, this means that today Euskera is spoken by around 700,000 people in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and by a further 100,000 elsewhere, which all goes to show that the ancient tongue of the Basques is still a living language today.