Jump to content

Basques

Frae Wikipedia, the free beuk o knawledge
(Reguidit frae Basque fowk)
Basques
Euskaldunak

1st row: Arista - Sancho III - Elcano - Loyola - Urdaneta - Oñate - Francesco Saverio
2nt row: Bolívar - Zumalakarregi - Gardoqui- Garat - Iraola - Arana - Errázuriz
3rd row: Garrastazu - Ravel - Evita - Atano VII - Basterretxea - Guevara -Mariano
4t row: Etxenike - Garamendi - Ibarretxe - Eyharts - Chao - Fernandez - Arteta
Tot population
approx. 2.6 million in Spain an Fraunce
Regions wi signeeficant populations
 Spain2,359,400[1]
       Basque Kintra1,850,500[1]
                    Álava279,000
                    Biscay1,160,000
                    Gipuzkoa684,000
       Navarre508,900[1]
 Fraunce230,200[1]
          Labourd225,000
          Lawer Navarre40,000
          Soule20,000
 Argentinae3.5 million[2][3]
 Chile1.7 - 4.5 million[4][5]

[6] [7]

[8]
 Cuba1.5 million[9]
 Braziluncertain
 Ecuadoruncertain
 Mexicouncertain
 Philippinesuncertain
 Colombie60,000[10]
 Unitit Statesuncertain
 Uruguay102.200
 Costa Rica9,800[11]
 Venezuela5,500[12]
 Bolivieuncertain
 Peruuncertain
Leids

Basque - few monoglots
Spaingie - 1,525,000 monoglots
French - 150,000 monoglots
Basque-Spaingie - 600,000 speakers

Basque-French - 76,000 speakers
Releegion
Roman Catholicism, Atheism, Agnosticism

The Basques (Basque: euskaldunak, Spaingie: vascos, French: basques) as an ethnic group primarily inhabit an aurie traditionally kent as the Basque Kintra (Basque: Euskal Herria), a region that is locatit aroond the wastren end o the Pyrenees on the coast o the Bay o Biscay an straddles pairts o north-eastren Spain an sooth-wastren Fraunce.

The Basques are kent in the local leids as:

  • Euskaldunak ("Basque speakers", uised loosely tae descrive aw ethnic Basques), euskal herritarrak ("natives o the Basque Kintra") or euskotarrak ("natives of the Basque Kintra", an aften mentioned but rarely uised neologism) in Basque
  • Vascos in Spaingie
  • Basques in French
  • Bascos in Gascon

Etymology o the wird Basque

[eedit | eedit soorce]

The wird Basque comes frae French Basque (pronooncit /bask/), which itsel comes frae Gascon Basco (pronooncit /ˈbasku/) an Spainyie Vasco (pronounced /ˈbasko/). These, in turn, come frae Liatin Vasco (pronounced /wasko/), plural Vascones. The Laitin labial-velar approximant /w/ generally evolvit intae the bilabials /b/ and /β̞/ in Gascon an Spaingie, likely unner the influence o Basque an Aquitanian, a leid kin wi auld Basque an spoken in Gascony in Antiquity (seimilarly the Laitin /w/ evolvit intae /v/ in French, Italian an ither leids).

Barscunes coin, Roman period

Several coins frae the 1st an 2nt centuries BC foond in the Basque Kintra bear the inscription barscunes. The place whaur they wur mintit isnae certain but is thocht tae be somewhaur near Pamplona in the hertland o the aurie that historians believe wis inhabitit bi the Vascones. Some scholars hae suggestit a Celtic etymology based on bhar-s-, meanin "summit", "point" or "leaves", accordin tae whilk barscunes mey hae meant "the muntain fowk", "the muckle anes" or "the proud anes", while ithers hae positit a relationship tae a proto-Indo-European ruit *bar- meanin "border", "frontier", "mairch".[13]

In Basque, Basques caw thairsels euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal- (i.e. "Basque (eid)") an -dun (i.e. "ane who haes"); euskaldun literally means a Basque speaker. No aw Basques is Basque-speakers, an no aw Basque speakers is Basques; ootlanders wha hae learned Basque can be cried euskaldunak an aw. For that raison, the neologism euskotar, plural euskotarrak, wis coined in the 19t century tae mean an ethnically Basque body whether Basque-speakin or no. Thir Basque wirds are aw derivit frae euskara, the Basque name for the Basque leid.

Alfonso Irigoyen claimit that the wird euskara comes frae an auncient Basque verb enautsi "tae say" (cf. modren Basque esan) and the suffix -(k)ara ("way (o doin something)"). Thus euskara wad literally mean "way o sayin", "way o speakin". Ane item o evidence in favour o this hypothesis is foond in the Spainyie beuk Compendio Historial, written in 1571 bi the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay, wha records the name o the Basque leid as "enusquera". It mey be housomeivver a writin mistake.

In the 19t century, the Basque naitionalist activist Sabino Arana positit an oreeginal ruit euzko whilk, he thocht, came frae eguzkiko ("o the sun" on the assumption o an oreeginal solar religion). On the basis o this putative ruit Arana proposed the name Euzkadi for an independent Basque naition, componed bi seiven basque historical territories. Arana's neologism Euzkadi, in the regularised spellin Euskadi, is still widely uised in baith Basque an Spainyie, syne it is nou the offeecial name o the Autonomous Commonty o the Basque Kintra.

It haes been suggestit that the ruit o eusk- mey be linkit tae the Aquitanian tribe o the Ausci an aw.

References

[eedit | eedit soorce]
  1. a b c d IV. Inkesta Soziolinguistikoa Gobierno Vasco, Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco 2008, ISBN 978-84-457-2775-1
  2. "::: Euskonews & Media ::: Kosmopolita ::: Los nuevos vascos (I de II)". Euskonews.com. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  3. "La inmigración vasca en la Argentina". Juandegaray.org.ar. Archived frae the original on 12 Januar 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  4. Mikel Soro/ (1 December 1997). "Diariovasco". Diariovasco. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  5. "entrevista al Presidente de la Cámara vasca". Deia.com. 22 Mey 2008. Archived frae the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  6. vascos Ainara Madariaga: Autora del estudio "Imaginarios vascos desde Chile La construcción de imaginarios vascos en Chile durante el siglo XX".
  7. "Basques au Chili". Euskonews.com. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  8. Contacto Interlingüístico e intercultural en el mundo hispano. Instituto valenciano de lenguas y culturas, University of Valencia, citation: "Un 20% de la población chilena tiene su origen en el País Vasco".
  9. "Vascos en Cuba" (PDF). Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  10. "Vascos en Colombia". Archived frae the original (PDF) on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  11. Joshua Project. "Ethnic groups - Costa Rica". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  12. Joshua Project. "Ethnic groups - Venezuela". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  13. "Vascones - el nombre (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)". Euskomedia.org. Retrieved 22 August 2010.