THE MYSTERY OF THE BASQUES

 

Euskera, the Basque language, is a non Indo-European tongue spoken by a population popurlarly known as the mystery people of Europe.

The origing of the language is as obscure as that of its speakers. Both have been the subject of various theories of origin ranging from Biblical to cosmic, none of which are probable.

Valentin de Zubiaurre. 1953. "Basque family"

For centuries the Basque language survived as a completely oral phenomenon. Today it does nor posses an agaka, or alphabet, of purely Basque origin but rather has borrowed one from the modern languages spoken in nearby areas.

In 1967 The Desert Research Institute of the University of Nevada established a Basque  Studies Program. From its inception, one of the top priorities of the program was the creation of a Basque-English dictionary. 

Photo: L.Zabala

If he need was clear, the task was complex. The first Basque dictionary (Larramendi´s Diccionario trilingüe del Castellano, Basquence y Latín) was published in 1745, but there was never been a Basque-English one.