| Title: | Basque language |
| Original Title: | Langue de Cantabres |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 9 (1765), pp. 267–268 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Julia Malette [University of Michigan] |
| Subject terms: |
History of languages
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.377 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Basque language." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Julia Malette. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2004. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.377>. Trans. of "Langue de Cantabres," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 9. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Basque language." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Julia Malette. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.377 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Langue de Cantabres," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 9:267–268 (Paris, 1765). |
The Basque language: ancient language of the inhabitants of the northern region of Spain before the country came under Roman rule.
Dr. Wallis seems to believe that this was actually the language of the entirety of Spain and that it was the origin of the romance language that gradually became Spanish. Besides the fact that it would be difficult to prove this opinion, it is highly unlikely that such a large country, inhabited by such a diverse population, would have but one language .
Moreover, the ancient Basque still survives in the dry and mountainous Basque regions, in the Asturias province and from the province of Navarra to Bayonne, in a similar manner to the existence of Welsh in the province of Wales; the people only use Basque in speech. For, the inhabitants use Spanish or French for the written word according to which of the two kingdoms they are subjects.
The Basque language , stripped of the Spanish words that it adopted for things whose use was unknown to the Basques of old, does not have one single connection with any other language .
The majority of Basque nouns terminate with an "a" in the singular and "ac" in the plural: as in cerva and cervac , the sky; lurra and lurrac , the Earth; eguzquia , the sun; izarquia , the moon; izarra , a star; odeya , a cloud; sua , fire; ibaya , a stream; urea , a village; echea , a house; ocea , a bed; oguia , bread, ordova , wine, etc.
The Lord's Prayer begins in this manner in Basque: Gure aita cervacan aicena, sanctifica bedi hire icena; ethor bedi hire resuma; eguin bedi hire vorondatea cervan, beccala lurracan ere , etc.