The Basques (/bÉ'Ë sks/ or /bæsks/; Basque: euskaldunak
[eus̺kaldunak]; Spanish: vascos [ˈbaskos]; French: basques [bask])
are a Southern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque
language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient
Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous to and primarily
inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country (Basque:
Euskal Herria), a region that is located around the western end of the
Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of
north-central Spain and south-western France.The English word Basque
may be pronounced /bÉ'Ë sk/ or /bæsk/ and derives from the French
Basque (French: [bask]), which is derived from Gascon Basco
(pronounced [ˈbasku]), cognate with Spanish Vasco (pronounced
[ˈbasko]). These, in turn, come from Latin VascŠ(pronounced
[ˈwaskoË ]; plural VascÅ nesâ€"see history section below). The Latin
/w/ generally evolved into the bilabials /b/ and /β̞/ in Gascon and
Spanish, probably under the influence of Basque and its relation
Aquitanian (the Latin /w/ instead evolved into /v/ in French, Italian
and other Romance languages).Several coins from the 2nd and 1st
centuries BC found in the Basque Country bear the inscription
barscunes. The place where they were minted is not certain, but is
thought to be somewhere near Pamplona, in the heartland of the area
that historians believe was inhabited by the Vascones. Some scholars
have suggested a Celtic etymology based on bhar-s-, meaning "summit",
"point" or "leaves", according to which barscunes may have meant "the
mountain people", "the tall ones" or "the proud ones", while others
have posited a relationship to a proto-Indo-European root *bar-
meaning "border", "frontier", "march".In Basque, people call
themselves the euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal-
(i.e. "Basque (language)") and -dun (i.e. "one who has"); euskaldun
literally means a Basque speaker. Not all Basques are Basque-speakers.
Therefore, the neologism euskotar, plural euskotarrak, was coined in
the 19th century to mean a culturally Basque person, whether
Basque-speaking or not. Alfonso Irigoyen posits that the word euskara
is derived from an ancient Basque verb enautsi "to say" (cf. modern
Basque esan) and the suffix -(k)ara ("way (of doing something)"). Thus
euskara would literally mean "way of saying", "way of speaking". One
item of evidence in favour of this hypothesis is found in the Spanish
book Compendio Historial, written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban
de Garibay. He records the name of the Basque language as enusquera.
It may, however, be a writing mistake.
[eus̺kaldunak]; Spanish: vascos [ˈbaskos]; French: basques [bask])
are a Southern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque
language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient
Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous to and primarily
inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country (Basque:
Euskal Herria), a region that is located around the western end of the
Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of
north-central Spain and south-western France.The English word Basque
may be pronounced /bÉ'Ë sk/ or /bæsk/ and derives from the French
Basque (French: [bask]), which is derived from Gascon Basco
(pronounced [ˈbasku]), cognate with Spanish Vasco (pronounced
[ˈbasko]). These, in turn, come from Latin VascŠ(pronounced
[ˈwaskoË ]; plural VascÅ nesâ€"see history section below). The Latin
/w/ generally evolved into the bilabials /b/ and /β̞/ in Gascon and
Spanish, probably under the influence of Basque and its relation
Aquitanian (the Latin /w/ instead evolved into /v/ in French, Italian
and other Romance languages).Several coins from the 2nd and 1st
centuries BC found in the Basque Country bear the inscription
barscunes. The place where they were minted is not certain, but is
thought to be somewhere near Pamplona, in the heartland of the area
that historians believe was inhabited by the Vascones. Some scholars
have suggested a Celtic etymology based on bhar-s-, meaning "summit",
"point" or "leaves", according to which barscunes may have meant "the
mountain people", "the tall ones" or "the proud ones", while others
have posited a relationship to a proto-Indo-European root *bar-
meaning "border", "frontier", "march".In Basque, people call
themselves the euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal-
(i.e. "Basque (language)") and -dun (i.e. "one who has"); euskaldun
literally means a Basque speaker. Not all Basques are Basque-speakers.
Therefore, the neologism euskotar, plural euskotarrak, was coined in
the 19th century to mean a culturally Basque person, whether
Basque-speaking or not. Alfonso Irigoyen posits that the word euskara
is derived from an ancient Basque verb enautsi "to say" (cf. modern
Basque esan) and the suffix -(k)ara ("way (of doing something)"). Thus
euskara would literally mean "way of saying", "way of speaking". One
item of evidence in favour of this hypothesis is found in the Spanish
book Compendio Historial, written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban
de Garibay. He records the name of the Basque language as enusquera.
It may, however, be a writing mistake.
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