Mr Grumpy

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Further to my recent Blog on Spanish Regional Languages, my ignorance prompted me to take a closer look and find out about the history, background and meaning behind some of the major regional languages spoken in Spain. The next language in my quest is the Basque language :

Cleary one of the most distinctive and enigmatic languages of the world, The Basque language (Known as Euskara in their own language, Euskadi in Castillian) is the mother tongue of approximately one fifth of Basque population – which is approx 625,000 out of about 3,000,000, However, out of this number about 566,000 live in the Spanish part of the Basque country with the remainder in the French part. Taking Basque as a second language aswell, it is estimated that over 1 Million people speak the language in total.

In order to confuse us outsiders even more, there are apparently also 6 recognized Basque dialects: Bizkain, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and Lower Navarrese, Lapurdian, and Zuberoan (in France).

Origins

A law was passed in Huesca in 1349 that essentially outlawed and penalized the use of Arabic, Hebrew and Vacuence (Latin for “Basque”)

Given that the Basque Country is clearly part of Spain and Europe you would expect that linguists would classify the language as Indo-European, however they class it as a totally isolated language as it can not be compared to any other language and as such it’s origins can not be clearly traced. It is believed to be an ancient language that was around long before the other Indo-European languages took shape as opposed to be a “new” Language.

When the outsider first hears the language, or sees it written, it appears to be an unintelligible collection of K’s, X’s and Z’s … I have found a Basque poem by Joseba Sarrionandia that I have posted blow along with it’s English translation to show the effect...

Esklabu erremintaria

Sartaldeko oihanetan gatibaturik erromara ekarri zinduten, esklabua, erremintari ofizioa eman zizuten eta kateak egiten dituzu. Labetik ateratzen duzun burdin goria nahieran molda zenezake, ezpatak egin ditzakezu zure herritarrek kateak hauts deitzaten, baina zuk, esklabu horrek, kateak egiten dituzu, kate gehiago.

Some useful Vocab