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BASQUES

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 489 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BASQUES , a See also:

people. inhabiting the three Basque Provinces—Biscay, See also:Alava and Guipfizcoa—and See also:Navarre in See also:Spain, and the See also:arrondissement of See also:Bayonne and See also:Mauleon in See also:France. The number of those who can be considered in any sense pure Basques is probably about 600,000 in See also:Europe, with perhaps See also:ioo,000 emigrants in the Americas, chiefly in the region of La See also:Plata in See also:South See also:America. The word Basques is historically derived from Vascones, which, written Wascones, has also given the name Gascons to a very different See also:race. The Basques See also:call themselves Eskualdunak, i.e. " those who possess the Eskuara," and their See also:country Eskual-Herria. See also:Language.—The See also:original and proper name of the language is Eskuara (euskara, uskara), a word the exact meaning of which has not yet been ascertained, but which probably corresponds with the See also:idea " clearly speaking." The language is highly interesting and stands as yet absolutely isolated from the other See also:tongues of Europe, though from the purely grammatical point of view it recalls the Magyar and'Finnic See also:languages. It is an agglutinative, incorporating and polysynthetic See also:system of speech; in the See also:general See also:series of organized linguistic families it would take an intermediate See also:place between the See also:American on the one See also:side and the Ugro-Altaic or Ugrian on the other. Basque has no graphic system of its own and uses the See also:Roman See also:character, either See also:Spanish or See also:French; a few particular sounds are indicated in See also:modern writings by dotted or accented letters. The See also:alphabet would vary according to the dialects. See also:Prince L. L. See also:Bonaparte See also:counts, on the whole, thirteen See also:simple vowels, See also:thirty-eight simple consonants.

Nasal vowels are found in some dialects as well as " wet " consonants—ty, dy, ny, &c. The doubling of consonants is not allowed and in actual current speech most of the soft consonants are dropped. The See also:

letter r can-not begin a word, so that rationem is written in Basque arrazoin. Declension is replaced by a highly See also:developed postpositional system; first, the definite See also:article itself a (plural ak) is a postposition—zaldi, " See also:horse," zaldia " the horse," zaldiak, " the horses." The declensional suffixes or postpositions, which, just like our prepositions, may be added to one another, are postponed to the article when the noun is definite. The See also:principal suffixes are k, the See also:mark of the plural, and of the singular nominative See also:agent; n, " of " and " in "; i, " to "; z, " by "; ik, " some "; ko, " from," " of " (See also:Lat. a); tik, " from " (Lat. ex); tzat, kotzat, tzako, " for "; See also:kin, gaz, " with "; gatik, " for the See also:sake of"; gana, " towards "; ra, See also:rat, " to," " into," " at," &c. Of these suffixes some are joined to the definite, others to the indefinite noun, or even to both. The See also:personal pronouns, which to a superficial observer appear closely related to those of the Semitic or Hamitic languages, are ni, " I "; hi, " See also:thou "; gu, " we "; zu, " you " in modern times, zu has become a polite See also:form of " thou," and a true plural " you " (i.e. more than one) has been formed by suffixing the pluralizing sign k—zuek. The pronouns of the third See also:person are See also:mere ,demonstratives. There are three: hura or kura, " that "; hau or kau, " this "; on or kori, " this " or "that." Other unexplained forms are found in the verbal inflexions, e.g. d, it, and t, "I" or "me"; d-akus-t, " it see I "=l see it; d-arrai-t, " it follows me." The demonstratives are used as articles: gazt-en-or, " this younger one "; See also:andre-ori, " this See also:lady at some distance." The reflective " self " is expressed by See also:burn, " See also:head." The relative does not exist, and in its place is used as a See also:kind of verbal participle with the ending n: doa, " he goes "; doana, " he who is going "; in the modern Basque, however, by See also:imitation of French or Spanish, the interrogative zero, zoin, is used as a relative. Other interrogatives are nor, " who "; zer, " what "; zembait, " how much," &c. See also:Bat, " one "; batzu, " several "; bakotch, " each "; norhait, " some one "; hanitz or hainitz, " much "; elkar, " both "; are the most See also:common indefinite pronouns. The See also:numeral system is vicesimal; e.g.

34 is hogoi to hamalaur, " twenty and fourteen." The See also:

numbers from one to ten are: 1, bat; 2, bi; 3, hint; 4, lau; 5, bortz or bost; 6, sei; 7, zazpi; 8, zortzi; 9, bederatzi; r0, See also:hamar; 20,. hogoi or hogei; 40, berrogoi (i.e. twice twenty); too, ehun. There is no genuine word for a thousand. The genders in Basque See also:grammar are distinguished only in the verbal forms, in which the See also:sex of the person addressed is indicated by a See also:special suffix; so that eztakit means, " I do not know it "; but to a woman one says also: eztakinat, " I do notknow it, oh woman!" To a See also:man one says: eztakiat (for cztakikat), " I do not know it, oh man!" moreover, certain See also:dialectic varieties have a respectful form: eztakizut, " I do not know it, you respectable one," from which also a childish form is derived, eztakichut, "I do not know it, oh See also:child!" The Basque conjugation appears most complicated, since it incorporates not only the subject pronouns, but, at the same See also:time, the indirect and See also:direct See also:complement. Each transitive form may thus offer twenty-four variations—" he gives it," " he gives it to you," " he gives them to us," &c., &c. Primitively there were two tenses only, an imperfect and a See also:present, which were distinguished in the transitive verb by the place of the personal subject See also:element: dakigu, " we are knowing it " (gu, i.e. we), and ginaki, " we were knowing it "; in the intransitive by a nasalization of the See also:radical: niz, " I am "; nintz, " I was." In modern times a conjectural future has been derived by adding the suffix ke, dakiket, " I will, shall or probably can know it." 'No proper moods are known, but subjunctive or conjunctive forms are formed by adding a final n, as dakusat, " I am looking at it "; dakusadan, " if I see it." No voices appear to have been used in the same radical, so that there are See also:separate transitive and intransitive verbs. In its present See also:state Basque only employs its See also:regular conjugation exceptionally; but it has developed, probably under the See also:influence of neo-Latin, a most extensive conjugation by combining a few See also:auxiliary verbs and what may be called participles, in fact declined nouns: ikusten dut, " I have it in seeing," " I see it "; ikusiko dut, " I have it to be seen," " I will see it," &c. The principal auxiliaries are: izan, " to be "; and ukan, " to have"; but edin, " to can "; eza, " to be able "; See also:egin, " to make "; See also:joan, " to go "; eroan, " to draw," " to move," are also much used in this manner. The syntax is simple, the phrases are See also:short and generally the See also:order of words is: subject, complement, verb. The determining element follows the determined: gizon handia,. " man See also:great the " —the great man; the genitive, however, precedes the nominative—gizonaren etchea, " the man's See also:house." See also:Composition is common and it has caused several juxtaposed words to be combined and contracted, so that they are partially fused with one another—a See also:process called polysyntheticism; odei, " See also:cloud," and ots, " See also:noise," form odots, " See also:thunder"; belar, " forehead," and oin, " See also:foot," give belaun, " See also:knee," front of the foot. The vocabulary is poor; general and synthetic words are often wanting; but particular terms abound. There is no proper See also:term for " See also:sister," but arreba, a man's sister, is distinguished from ahizpa, a woman's sister.

We find no original words for abstract ideas, and See also:

God is simply " the See also:Lord of the high." The vocabulary, however, varies extremely from place to place and the dialectic varieties are very numerous. They have been summed up by Prince L. L. Bonaparte as eight; these may be reduced to three principal See also:groups: the eastern, comprising the Souletine and the two See also:lower Navarrese; the central formed by the two upper Navarrese, the Guipfzzcoan and the Labourdine; and the western, formed by the Biscayan, spoken too in Alava. These names are See also:drawn from the territorial subdivisions, although the dialects do not exactly correspond with them. See also:Ethnology and See also:Anthropology.—The earliest notices of the See also:geography of Spain, from the 5th See also:century B.C., represent Spain as occupied by a congeries of tribes distinguished mainly as Iberi, Celtiberi and Celts. These had no cohesion together, and unless temporarily See also:united against some See also:foreign foe, were at See also:war with one another and were in See also:constant See also:movement; the ruder tribes being driven northwards by the advancing See also:tide of Mediterranean See also:civilization. The tribes in the south in Baetica had, according to See also:Trogus and See also:Strabo, written See also:laws, poems of See also:ancient date and a literature. Of this nothing has reached us. We have only some See also:inscriptions, legends on coins, marks on pottery and on megalithic monuments, in alphabets slightly differing, and belonging to six See also:geographical districts. These still await an interpreter; but they show that a like general language was once spoken through the whole of Spain, and for a short distance on the See also:northern slope of the See also:Pyrenees. The character of the letters is clearly of See also:Levant origin, but the particular alphabets, to which each may be referred, and their connexion, if any, with the Basque, are still undetermined.

It was See also:

early remarked by the classical scholars among the Basques after the See also:Renaissance that certain names in the ancient toponymy of Spain, though transcribed by See also:Greek and Latin writers, i.e. by foreigners, ignorant of the language, yet See also:bear a strong resemblance to actual place-names in Basque (e.g. Iliberis, Iriberry); and in a few cases (Mondiculeia, Mendigorry; Iluro, Oloron) the site itself shows the See also:reason of the name. See also:Andres de Poza (1587), Larramendi (176o), Juan B. Erro (1806) and others had noted some of these facts, but it was W. von See also:Humboldt (1821) who first aroused the See also:attention of Europe to them. This greater See also:extension of a people speaking a language akin to the Basque throughout Spain, and perhaps in See also:Sicily and See also:Sardinia, has been accepted by the See also:majority of students, though some competent Basque scholars deny it; and the certain connexion of the Basques, either with the See also:Iberians or Celtiberians, whether in race or language, cannot be said to be conclusively proved as See also:long as the so-called Celtiberian inscriptions remain uninterpreted. (See also IBERIANS.) After so many centuries of See also:close contact and interpenetration with other peoples, we can hardly expect to find a pure See also:physical type among the present Basques. All that we can expect is to be able to differentiate them from their neighbours. The earliest See also:notice we have of the Basques, by See also:Einhard (778), speaks of their wonderful agility. The next, the See also:pilgrim of the Codex Calixtinus (12th century), says the Basques are fairer in See also:face ( facie candi-1liores) than the Navarrese. Anthropologists no longer rely solely on craniology, and the measurement of the See also:skull, to distinguish race. The researches of Aranzadi (1889 and 1905) and of Collignon (1899) show them as less See also:fair than northern Europeans, but fairer than any of the See also:southern races; not so tall as the Scandinavians, Teutons or See also:British, but taller than their neighbours of southern races. There is no tendency to See also:prognathism, as in some of the Celts.

The See also:

profile is often very See also:fine; the See also:carriage is remarkably upright. Neither markedly brachycephalous nor dolichocephal©us, the skull has yet certain peculiarities. In the See also:conjunction of the whole physical qualities, says Collignon, there is a Basque type, differing from all those he has studied in Europe and northern See also:Africa. There are See also:differences of type among themselves, yet, when they emigrate to South America, French and Spanish Basques are known simply as Basques, distinct from all other races. On the origin of the Basques, the See also:chief theories are:—(1) that they are descended from the tribes whom the Greeks and Latins called Iberi; (2) that they belong to some of the fairer See also:Berber tribes (" Eurafrican," Herve) and through the ancient Libyans, from a people depicted on the See also:Egyptian monuments; (3) the See also:Atlantic theory, that they belong to a lost Atlantic See also:continent, whose inhabitants were represented by the See also:Guanches of the See also:Canary Islands, and by a fair race on the western See also:coast of Africa; (4) that they are an indigenous race, who have never had any greater extension than their present quarters. The remains of prehistoric races hitherto discovered in Spain throw little See also:light on the subject, but some skulls found in south-eastern Spain in the See also:age of See also:metal resemble the Basque skulls of Zaraus. The megalithic remains, the dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs and See also:stone circles are said to resemble more closely those of northern Africa than the larger remains of See also:Brittany and of the British Isles. See also:Aristotle tells us that the Iberi fixed obelisks See also:round the See also:tomb of each See also:warrior in number equal to the enemies he had slain (Polit. vii. c. 2. 6), but See also:proof is wanting that these Iberi were Basques. Iberian inscriptions 'have been found on the so-called toros de guisando, See also:rude stone bulls or boars, on other monuments of northern Spain and in ancient sepulchres; some of these figures, e.g. at the Cerro de los See also:Santos in See also:Murcia, recall the physical type of the modern Basques, but they are associated with others of very varied types. Of the See also:religion of the Basques anterior to See also:Christianity, little is certainly known.

The few notices we have point to a See also:

worship of the elements, the See also:sun, the See also:moon and the See also:morning See also:star, and to a belief in the See also:immortality of the unburnt and unburied See also:body. The See also:custom of the See also:couvade, attributed by Strabo to the See also:Cantabri, is unknown among the modern Basques. As elsewhere, the See also:Romans assimilated Basque See also:local deities to their own See also:pantheon, thus we find Deo Baicorrixo (Baigorry) and Herauscorrlsehe in Latin inscriptions. But the name which the Basques them-selves give to the Deity is Jaincoa, Jaungoikoa, which may mean lord or See also:master, Lord of the high; but in the See also:dialect of, Roncal, Goikoa means " the moon," and Jaungoikokoa would mean " Lord of the moon." The term faun, lord or master, Etcheko See also:fauna, the lord or master of the house, is applied to every householder. There is no aid to be got from folk-tales; none can be considered exclusively Basque and the literature is altogether too modern. The first See also:book printed in Basque, the Linguae Vas= conum Primitiae, the poems of See also:Bernard d'Echepare, is dated 1545. The See also:work which is considered the See also:standard of the language is the See also:Protestant See also:translation of the New Testament made by See also:Jean de Licarrague, under the auspices of Jeanne d'See also:Albret, and printed at La Rochelle in 1571. The pastorales are open-See also:air dramas, like the moralities and mysteries of the See also:middle ages. They are derived from French materials; but a dancing-See also:chorus, invariably introduced, and other parts of the mice-en-See also:seine, point to possibly earlier traditions. No MS. hitherto discovered is earlier than the 18th century. The greater See also:part of the other literature is religious and translated. It is only recently that a real literature has been attempted in Basque with any success.

In spite of this modernity in literature there are other matters which show how strong the conservatism of the Basques really is. Thus, in dealing with the language, the only true measure of the antiquity of the race, we find that all cutting See also:

instruments are of stone; that the See also:week has only three days. There are also other survivals now fast disappearing. Instead of the plough, the Basques used the Jaya, a two-pronged short-handled See also:steel digging See also:fork, admirably adapted to small properties, where labour is abundant. They alone of the peoples of western Europe have preserved specimens of almost every class of See also:dance known to See also:primitive races. These are (1) See also:animal (or possibly totem) dances, in which men personate animals, the bear, the See also:fox, the horse, &c.; (a) dances to represent See also:agriculture and the vintage performed with See also:wine-skins; (3) the simple arts, such as See also:weaving, where the dancers, each holding a long coloured ribbon, dance round a See also:pole on which is gradually formed a See also:pattern like a Scotch See also:tartan; (4) war-dances, as the See also:sword-dance and others; (•5) religious dances in procession before the See also:Host and before the See also:altar; (6) ceremonial dances in which both sexes take part at the beginning and end of a festival, and to welcome distinguished people. How large a part these played in the See also:life of the people, and the valpe attached to them, may be seen in the vehement See also:defence of the religious dances by See also:Father Larramendi, S.J., in his Corografia de Guipu'zcoa, and by the large sums paid for the See also:privilege of dancing the first See also:Saul Basque on the See also:stage at the close of a Pastorale. The old Basque house is the product of a See also:land where stone and See also:timber were almost equally abundant. The front-work is of See also:wood with carved beams; the balconies and huge over-See also:hanging roof recall the Swiss chalet, but the side and back walls are of stone often heavily buttressed. The See also:cattle occupy the ground-See also:floor, and the first See also:storey is reached often by an outside See also:staircase. The carven tombstones with. their ornaments resemble those of See also:Celtic countries, and are found also at See also:Bologna in See also:Italy. In customs, in institutions, in See also:administration, in See also:civil and See also:political life there is no one thing that we can say is peculiarly and exclusively Basque; but their whole system taken together marks them off from other people and especially from their neighbours.

Character.—The most marked features in the Basque character are an intense self-respect, a See also:

pride of race and an obstinate conservatism. Much has been written in ridicule of the claim of all Basques to be See also:noble, but it was a fact both in the laws oS Spain, in the fueros and in practice. Every Basque freeholder (vecino) could prove himself noble and thus eligible to any See also:office. They are not a See also:town race; a Basque See also:village consists of a few houses; the See also:population lives in scattered habitations. They do not fear solitude, and this makes them excellent emigrants and missionaries. They are splendid See also:seamen, and were early renowned as See also:whale fishermen in the See also:Bay of See also:Biscay. They were the first to establish the See also:cod-See also:fishery off the coast of Newfound-land. They took their full part in the colonization of America. Basque names abound in the older colonial families, and Basque See also:newspapers have been published in Buenos-Aires and in Los Angeles, See also:California. As soldiers they are splendid marchers; they retain the tenacity and See also:power of endurance which the Romans remarked in the Iberians and Celtiberians. They are better in defence than in attack. The failure to take See also:Bilbao was the turning-point in both Carlist See also:wars.

In civil institutions and in the tenures of See also:

property the legal position of See also:women was very high. The eldest See also:born, whether boy or girl, inherited the ancestral property, and this not only among the higher classes but among the peasantry also. In the fueros an insult done to a woman, or in the presence of a woman, is punished more severely than a similar offence among men. This did not prevent women from working as hard as, or even harder than, the men. All authors speak of the robust See also:appearance of the women-rowers on the Bidassoa, and of those who loaded and unloaded the See also:ships in Bilbao. Institutions.—In their municipal institutions they kept the old Roman term respublica for the civitds and the territory belonging to it. All municipal See also:officers were elective in some form or other, and there is hardly any mode of See also:election, from universal See also:suffrage to nomination by a single person chosen by See also:lot, that the Basques have not tried. The municipalities sent deputies to the juntas or parliaments of each See also:province. These assemblies took place originally in the open air, as in other parts of the Pyrenees, under trees, the most celebrated of which is the See also:oak of Guernica in Biscay, or under copses, as the Bilzaar in the French Pays Basque. The See also:cortes of Navarre met at See also:Pamplona. Delegates from the juntas met annually to consider the common interests of the three provinces. Besides the separate municipalities and the juntas, there were often associations and assemblies of three or five towns, or of three or four valleys, to preserve the special privilege or for the special needs of each.

Hence was formed a See also:

habit of self-See also:government, the practice of legislative, judicial and administrative functions, which resulted gradually in a See also:
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BASQUE PROVINCES (Provincias Vascongadas) 		[next]
BASRA (written also BUSRA, BASSORA and BASSORA)

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