What would the Basque Nation be called?

January 24, 2005 7:05 PM

BasqueFilter: If the Basque Nation was ever established, what would it be called? Is there an official title or name for it? Extra points for the name in both English and Euskaran.
posted by cosmonik to Society & Culture (12 answers total)

Euskadi

(they're way ahead of you) : >
posted by amberglow at 7:07 PM on January 24, 2005

Gure lurrak 20.664 km² okupatzen ditu, Pirinioetako mendebaldeko erpinean Bizkaiko golkoan. Euskal Herriak zazpi "herrialde" ditu, Europako bi estatutako antolamendu politiko eta administratiboen arabera banatuta: Espainiakoan, Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa eta Nafarroa ; Frantziakoan, berriz, Lapurdi, Zuberoa eta Nafarroa Beherea .

Hm. I did not know that.
posted by psmealey at 7:13 PM on January 24, 2005

Response by poster: amberglow - thanks for the 2 minute response time :)

I was aware of Euskadi, but was more thinking in terms of an autonomous, sovereign nation (as opposed to a community of Spain).

Would still be Euskadi? Or something else?

psmealey - it is indeed a multi-lingual administrative division.
posted by cosmonik at 7:18 PM on January 24, 2005

i thought Euskadi was the official name for the autonomous region--why wouldn't it become the name of the country? It certainly wouldn't be Vasco or any derivation of the Spanish name, no?
posted by amberglow at 7:20 PM on January 24, 2005

Response by poster: Yes, Euskadi is for name for the autonomous region in Spain...I was thinking if Spanish and French Basque communities were to unite in a nation (insert flight-of-fancy warning), what would they call the nation? Is there a Euskaran word for 'Shangri-La', a promised land, or something similar that symbolises a united sovereign nation?

I just read 'The Basque name of the Basque Country is Euskal Herria' from here, and while that seems at odds with the others, it is the only site that deals in both French and Spanish Basque unity, as opposed to purely Spanish. Then again, it may just be a Euskaran transliteration for 'Basque Country'.

The general consensus seems to run with Euskadi. Thanks again, amberglow!
posted by cosmonik at 7:27 PM on January 24, 2005

The Basque language is a source of endless fascination for me. In my school years, I had no less than two flatmates of Basque descent; one when I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago, and later when I was studying at Sciences Po in Paris. I really got a kick out of listening to these folks speaking to their parents on that phone, it sounded like no other language I have ever heard.

/ot
posted by psmealey at 7:31 PM on January 24, 2005

Response by poster: I'd like to get languagehat fired up on Euskaran, pick his brain and see what falls out. IANALinguist, but supposedly it defies easy classification within Indo-European languages and causes all kinds of headaches for language buffs.

/further ot
posted by cosmonik at 7:34 PM on January 24, 2005

t supposedly it defies easy classification within Indo-European languages

It's not only unrelated genetically to I-E -- but neither are Hungarian or Finnish or Turkish or Maltese -- it's not related to any known language.
posted by Utilitaritron at 8:07 PM on January 24, 2005

Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History of the World is a great read.
posted by judith at 9:51 PM on January 24, 2005

The President of el País Vasco (called "Lehendakari" in Basque), Ibarrexte, is a member of PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco) a separatist party. I've been reading the Plan Ibarrexte (in Spanish), which is PNV's proposed revision of the Statute that governs the País Vasco. It clearly defines Euskal Herria as "el pueblo vasco" which means the Basque people. The region is called "Comunidad de Euskadi" in the text or Euskadi Community.
posted by sic at 12:25 AM on January 25, 2005

I studied Tibetan (modern not classical) for 2 years, and my instructor told us that Tibetan and Basque were either the only two or two of the very few languages to use "egophoric voice". You'll have to get one of the resident linguists to explain it; it's a strange idea to my Indo-european mind, and it took the better part of the first year for me & the other students to comprehend... In the case of Tibetan, though, it described how verbs were used in relation to the speaker; in Tibetan there are like 4 to 6 ways you can say "I am" ( & any other verb) and depending on which voice you use (by changing verb form but not tense), you implied different meanings about you and where or how you "are". (P.S. this has nothing to do with religion or mysticism, just how their language developed way before Buddhism).
posted by ibeji at 7:17 AM on January 25, 2005

it defies easy classification within Indo-European languages

What Utilitaritron said. And because it's unrelated to anything around it, it's inspired all manner of kookiness; the late linguist Larry Trask loved trashing the kooks (follow the links here).
posted by languagehat at 9:21 AM on January 25, 2005