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Three Basque words for “mint”

Mint is an iconic plant that is distinguished not so much by its appearance but by its exceptional taste and smell. It is therefore not surprising that words for “mint” are capable of remarkable stability across many languages in both form and meaning. Basque has two and possibly three words for “mint”, all of which are of likely Vasconic antecedence. These are as follows:

(1) batan, patan

Azkue lists (B, G) batan, (B-Arratia) patan “mint”

In the onomastics of Euskal Herria, batan and patan are not confined to Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Consider the following:

Batan, a minor place of Ultzama Navarra.

Rio Batan, a stream of Gasteiz, Alava.

Sotiko Batan, a minor place of Zangoza, Navarra.

Batanda, an unidentified stream of Bizkaia.

Batantza, a minor place of Azua, Ganboa, Alava.

Patanbelxa, a stream of Lekunberri, Basse-Navarre.

The fact that patan is present in the hydronymy of Basse-Navarre suggests that initial /p/ rather than /b/ might be original rather than just an isolated irregularity. Orthodox Vascologists like to insist that initial /p/ did not occur in what they call Pre-Basque, but the facts (never of much interest to orthodox Vascologists) show that it did. Iberian initial /p/ generally shifted to /b/ in the modern language, but not always.

Was batan or patan present in Iberian? Quite possibly.

One of the Ampurias lead foil texts (Untermann C.1.24), a roll of persons donating grave goods, includes the following anthroponym:

Tinebetan or Tinepetan (the East Iberian Script does not distinguish between /b/ and /p/).

This would appear to be a bipartite compound comprised to Iberian tine, which corresponds to Basque (BN) thin, (BN-Amikuze) thini “summit, pinnacle”, and betan or petan, which is similar to Basque batan or patan. (For other examples of the first syllable /a/ to /e/ variance, compare Basque sagar “apple” and Iberian segar, and Basque zaldar “boil on skin” and Iberian seldar “tumulus”.)

Does Basque batan or patan have cognates in Vasconic languages further afield?

Possibly. Consider the following:

BATINUS, a river mentioned by Pliny and placed by him on the Adriatic side of Italy (possibly the modern Tordino).

Greek batos “thorn-bush, bramble-bush, wild raspberry”. If this comparison is correct, it would suggest that batan or patan is ultimately a compound.

Could Latin patina “dish, pan” have referred originally to a vessel used for serving mint (or a meal cooked with mint)? There is also Latin patera “dish, saucer, bowl”. These forms might indicate that Basque batan, patan, etc, is an /-n/-r/ stem.

(2) menda

Azkue lists (B, G, AN, L) menda

menda is the most widespread Basque word for “mint” and is effectively universal across all dialects.

menda does indeed derive from Latin menta, mentha “mint”, as do Spanish menta and French menthe, but that is not the whole story. Iberian had a small number of words that were similar to Latin words because Latin borrowed them from Italian Vasconic. In Basque, the Latin form, where it differs from Iberian, is usually preferred. Hence Latin fagus and Iberian bago “beech”. Basque has preserved bago alongside the Latinised fago and the intermediate form, pago. Basque menda is possibly another such case.

There is reason to believe that Iberian had a mente “mint”.

Consider the following toponyms of Roman Iberia, each recorded in more than one classical source:

MENTESA ORETANORUM (Villanueva de la Fuente, Ciudad Real)

MENTESA BASTIA (La Guardia de Jaen, Andalucia)

These seem to be comprised of mente “mint” and the suffix of abundance, -sa.

Mendexa (formerly Mendeja), the coastal village of Bizkaia, seems to have a name that is identical to the two listed above: <*mende-tza “abundance of mint”. (The internal consonant cluster, /nt/, where it is present in Iberian, usually becomes /nd/ in the modern language, though it is still quite frequent in Souletin.)

Latin menta, mentha “mint” is preserved in most modern Romance languages. It is probably a substrate loanword from Italian Vasconic. Greek mintha, minthe “mint” is probably a substrate loanword from Pelasgian. Latin menta, menthacannot be derived from Greek mintha, minthe because the first syllable vowels are different. However, Latin has attempted to falsely Hellenise the word with the substitution of orthographic “th” for “t” (making no difference to pronunciation), which affectation is preserved in French.

Etymological dictionaries will tell you that English mint and German minze derive from Latin menta. That is most improbable. This word is present in all Germanic languages, always with /i/ rather than /e/, and in Old English it is first attested in the 9^th century. The Germanic words are much more likely to be a substrate loanword from German Vasconic. Welsh mintys and Scottish Gaelic miontt are probably from English.

The data suggest that there was a Proto-Vasconic *m=ente, *m=inte “mint”, where m= is the fossilised phytonymic class prefix, m=.

We know that fossilised class-prefixes can be added to or removed from substantive words without fundamental changes to meaning, even in the modern language where understanding of class-prefixes has been lost. We should therefore expect *ente, *inte to carry other phytonymic class-prefixes or be present in freestanding form. Consider the following:

Latin gentiana “gentian” (a plant with a vaguely similar appearance to mint), from an Italian Vasconic *g=ente, where *g= is the fossilised phytonymic class prefix, g=.

(B-Gernika) endalar “sarsaparilla, a small plant similar to ivy” <*ende-lahar, where lahar is Basque lahar “brambles” (usually laar in Bizkaian)

(B-Markina) endeilar “a particular creeping plant” <*ente-ilar, where ilar is Basque ilar “peas, heather, vetch”

Iberian ente, Basque ende is present in the following toponyms:

Enderika, a baserri of Elgezabal, Mungia, Bizkaia <*ende-r-ika (where /r/ is connective) “place where mint or some similar plant grows”.

Enderika, a baserri of Kortezubi, Bizkaia <*ende-r-ika (where /r/ is connective) “place where mint or some similar plant grows”.

Endriga, a nucleated village of Somiedo, Asturias <*ende-r-ika (where /r/ is connective) “place where mint or some similar plant grows”.

Toponyms that carry the suffix, -ika, are always pre-Roman and the substantive component is always Vasconic.

(3) *narbi, *narba

Basque and Iberian clearly had this mysterious word, *narbi, *narba, which survives in toponyms but is missing from the modern language.

Consider the following:

Narbarte, a nucleated village of Navarra <*narbi-arte.

Narvaja, a nucleated village of Araba recorded as Narbaiza in 1025 <*narbi-aisa.

Narbaza, a minor place in Zunzarren, Arriasgoiti, Navarra.

Narbatza Erreka, an affluent of the Urola, Gipuzkoa.

Narp (Pyrenées-Atlantiques), a nucleated village that was recorded as Narb in 1376 <*narbi.

Cabanes de Narbios, Ruisseau de Narbios (Hautes-Pyrenées) (the stream is an affluent of the Adour) <*narbi-os.

Narbusca, a lost village of Catalonia listed on the 17^th century Ortelius Map.

Narbonne, Aude, recorded in classical sources as NARBO and NARBONA.

Narberth, a place in Dyfed, Wales, recorded as Narberd in 1244 <*narbi-arte.

The following persons were recorded as being resident and liable to taxation in Getaria, Gipuzkoa in 1500:

Juan de Narbasca

Martin de Narbasca

Narbasca is presumably a toponym carrying the primaeval Vasconic toponymic suffix, -aska, but where is this place?

What reasons are there to posit that *narbi, *narba referred to mint of some similar plant? There are two:

Firstly, Greek narkissos “daffodil”, a probable substrate loanword from Pelasgian. The presence of /k/ rather than /b/ may be attributed to the occasional switch between internal /k/ and /p/ in Vasconic. For instance, Basque zakalatz and zapalatz, both “falcon”, and Basque kolko and Greek kolpos (from Pelasgian), both “bosom”.

Secondly, one of the dozen or so identified Turkic/Vasconic isoglosses actually does mean “mint” on the Turkic side. The nomads who brought Vasconic to Europe evidently had cousins who travelled east into Central Asia and Siberia. The same pattern is true of Indo-European, which brought Tocharian to those latter regions thousands of years later.

Consider the following, all of which mean “mint”:

Kazakh zhalbız

Kyrgyz jalbız

Turkmen narpyz

Uighur yalpiz

Uzbek yalpiz

In Turkic, initial /j/ sometimes reflects a Proto-Turkic /n/ (preserved in the Turkmen reflex), and final /z/ almost always reflects a Proto-Turkic /r/. The above words can therefore plausibly be reconstructed as a Proto-Turkic *narbir or *narpir.

Greek narkissos and the Vasconic/Turkic isoglosses listed above seem to suggest a Proto-Vasconic *narpa, *narpi rather than *narba, *narbi.

Basque lehen, etc, “first, before”

Azkue lists the following:

(L, BN, Z, Salaberry) lehen “first, before”

(R) lein “first”

(B-Lekeitio) leiñ “before”

(B, G, AN, R) len “before”

(B-Markina) leen “before”

(B, G, AN, R) len- “first” (prefix)

It should be pointed out that in the modern language len does mean “first” as well as “before”. In the unified language lehen is used in preference to len (as in the neologism lehendakari “prime minister”).

lehen, etc is the only irregular ordinal number in the modern language. An irregular word for “first” is something that Basque shares with many other languages, including English and Spanish.

Is lehen, etc present in Iberian? One would expect it to be so. Consider the following:

SENILENNIS, an anthroponym recorded in a Roman era inscription written in the Roman Script found at St Gaudens, Haute-Garonne (CIL XIII 125 [555]). If reliable, this would appear to be comprised of Iberian seni “family member” (usually sani further south) and len “first”. The name would indicate a first-born child. The perplexing feature of SENILENNIS is the loss of the medial consonant, which we would expect to be /h/ or the unvoiced velar fricative, /x/. Other Iberian texts recorded in the Central Pyrenean region preserve this phoneme.

The Third Bronze Plate of Botorrita (Zaragoza) is a probable roll of persons assessed as liable to taxation written in a version of the East Iberian Script adapted to Hispano-Celtic use¹. It contains the lexeme, likinos, which might also be liginos or lixinos. In some positions, this word appears to be an anthroponym, in other positions it is rather clearly something different.

Instances of Likinos as an anthroponym are as follows²:

Likinos Wiski kum – “Likinos of Wiski” (< Iberian bis-ki “foaming or frothing”)

Likinos Wersaiso kum – “Likinos of Wersais” (< Iberian ber-sa-is “place of the abundance of scrub”, as in the Basque surname, Berzaiz)

Likinos Ataio kum – “Likinos of Atai” (< Iberian atai “mountain pass”, probably Atea, Zaragoza)

Instances of likinos as something other than an anthroponym are as follows:

Or(din)bilos likinos kwe

likinos kwe Sondi kum

It is easy to assume that the Likinos of this text is the Roman gens, Licinius, but that would be a mistake. The Third Bronze Plate of Botorrita is a pre-Roman text. The anthroponyms recorded on it are overwhelmingly Hispano-Celtic and Iberian and a mixture of the two. Is Likinos Hispano-Celtic? Is it identical to Welsh llychyn “particle of dust”? If likinos were used solely as an anthroponym in the text then that would be a plausible explanation, but it also has a non-anthroponymic use (as per the above two examples).

What is this non-anthroponymic use?

The Third Bronze Plate includes a number of anthroponyms that are followed by kentis kwe “who is the first”: compare Welsh cyntaf “first” and Welsh pwy “who” (Latin qui):

Rusku Wirias kum kentis kwe – “Rusku of Wirias, who is the first-born”

Tritanos kentis kwe – “Tritanos, who is the first-born” (Hispano-Celtic tritu “third” + pleonastic extension)

Kinbria kentis kwe Turi kum – “Kinbria, who is the first-born, of Turi” (Iberian turi “spring”)

Bolora kentis kwe – “Bolora, who is the first-born”

Durenta kentis kwe Ataio kum – “Durenta, who is the first-born, of Atai” (compare Scottish Gaelic duranta “stiff, obstinate”)

Babos kentis kwe Wirias kum – “Babos, who is the first-born, of Wirias”

So, what looks to have happened is that in two cases listed above Iberian lixin “first” has had added to it the Hispano-Celtic masculine nominative singular suffix, -os, and is being used to mean “first-born”. The person who wrote this text was very clearly a native Iberian speaker. That is evidenced by the postposition of Hispano-Celtic kwe “who” and the elision of the verb “to be” (ist). In Latin, qui is prepositioned, and the verb “to be” (est) is spelled out. By contrast, Iberian ne “who” is postpositioned and is used without a substantive verb (at least in the written form). For instance, junstir atu ne “who is about to provide the grave goods” and ari ne junstir “who is about to provide the funerary stele”³(junstir is a verbal noun, not a substantive verb). Hispano-Celtic mimics the Iberian word order. We therefore have an explanation for the two examples listed above:

Ordinbilos lixinos kwe – “Ordinbilos, who is the first-born” (Iberian ordin “person” + bilos “round or curved” + a bipartite Iberian anthroponym of the familiar type)

lixinos kwe Sondi kum – “who is the first-born, from Sondi” (not Sondika, Bizkaia, surely?)

Note also the placing of Hispano-Celtic kum “with” after toponyms. This, again, is the Iberian, not a typical Indo-European, word order. Hispano-Celtic kum bears a superficial resemblance to the Basque commitative suffix, -(r)ekin, which perhaps explains its use here.

Is Hispano-Celtic kwe “who” juxtaposed with any other Iberian words in a similar way? It would seem so. Consider the following:

Abaliu berika⁴ kwe Suaigino kum – “Abaliu, who is a newcomer, of Suaigin” (Iberian abali, abeli “beast”, adapted to Hispano-Celtic use, Iberian berika “newly arrived”; Suaigin, possibly Iberian agin “yew” prefixed with the fossilised dendronymic class prefix, su-)

launi kwe Wirias kum – “who is the fourth-born, from Wirias” (?) (compare Basque (B-Lekeitio-Markina) laun “quarter”)

Turtunas kwe Kasaro kum – “who is Turtunas, of Kasar” (Iberian turtun “plant stalk” (Basque zurten, zurtoin) + Iberian nas “stream”)

niske kwe Bapo kum – “who is the girl from Bapo” (Iberian niske “girl” could be an anthroponym in this context)

Derkinos Ato kum launi kwe – “Derkinos, from Ato, who is the fourth born” (Hispano-Celtic Derkinos: compare possibly Old Irish derc “berry” + typical Hispano-Celtic pleonastic extension)

Ultinos ama kwe Wirias kum – “Ultinos, who is the mother, from Wirias” (Ultinos < Iberian ulti, corresponding to Basque olde “free will, spontaneity” + typical Hispano-Celtic pleonastic extension; it is hard to see how a mother can have a name with a masculine suffix, but in German there is das Mädchen and das Weib; perhaps we are witnessing the influence of standard Iberian practice, which is for men and women to have the same anthroponyms)

Does Basque lehen, etc have cognates in other non-Vasconic Dene-Caucasian languages? The only likely candidates that I can find are from the Na Dene languages of North America. Consider the following:

Tlingit tlex’, tlek, Eyak tleki, łĩhG, tikhi; Athabaskan: Kutchin ĩ-łage, Tsetsaut ĩ-łege, Hupa la’, Kiowa Apache ła’ “one”

¹I have filled in the “gaps” left by the imperfections of the East Iberian Script by reference to the same words being recorded in the Roman Script and by comparison with extant languages where all else fails. The East Iberian Script cannot record the /br/ and /tr/ clusters. The Hispano-Celtic texts deal with the latter by placing the /r/ sign after the /ti/ sign but with no /i/ sign after the /r/ sign. However, they deal with the former by placing the /r/ sign after the /bi/ sign and placing a further /i/ sign after that. The Hispano-Celtic texts have only one /r/ sign, which is most unhelpful when representing Iberian words. The texts have two /s/ signs, but it is unclear how the No 2 /s/ sign differs from the No 1 /s/ sign.

²The Third Bronze Plate lists persons in the following order: name + place of residence or origin + kum “with”.

³Lead foil of Orleyl (Untermann F.9.7).

⁴Iberian berika “newcomer” (an adverb) would appear to be equivalent to Hispano-Celtic nowantas (also an adverb), recorded on the First Bronze Plate of Botorrita.

Did Proto-Vasconic have the unvoiced velar fricative, /x/, and if so, how is it reflected in the daughter languages?

The unvoiced velar fricative, /x/, is missing from Basque1, but it does appear to have been present in Iberian, though only in the medial position. In Basque, the Iberian medial /x/ is reflected in Northern Basque dialects as /h/, while in Southern dialects it is usually null, but occasionally is reflected as /g/. Consider the following:

Iberian bixi “grain”, Basque bihi “grain”2

Iberian laxer “pine tree”, Basque leher “pine tree”

Iberian oxan, uxan, uixan “forest”, Basque oihan, oihen “forest”

Iberian saxar “old”, Basque zahar “old”

Comparisons with Pelasgian substrate loanwords in Greek suggest that some Basque and Iberian words proceed from Proto-Vasconic words that exhibited initial /x/ but exhibit no initial consonant in Basque and Iberian. Consider the following:

Greek xele “hoof, talon, claw”, Basque eri “finger”, Iberian eli “finger” (as in the anthroponym, Elibors “five fingers”) < Proto-Vasconic *xeli “finger, claw”; compare North Caucasian (Lezghian) χel “sleeve, branch” (unvoiced uvular fricative).

Greek xerse “mainland, continent, dry land”, Basque ertz “corner, edge, border, shore, bank” < Proto-Vasconic *xers “large bank of earth or stone”. British Vasconic *ers “riverbank”, like Basque ertz, exhibits no initial consonant (as in Erskine, the Scottish town on the south bank of the Clyde <*ers-kan “above the riverbank” or “upper riverbank”).

Greek xoma, xomatos “mound, dam, tomb”, Basque oma “hill” < Proto-Vasconic *xoma “hill, mound”.

Greek xondros “grain, lump”, Basque ondar, undar “sand, beach, remnant, residue”, Iberian under < Proto-Vasconic *xondV-ar “collection of sand or detritus”; compare North Caucasian (Kinalug) ant “earth, ground” (Starostin has reconstructed the proto form with an initial glottal stop).

In two of these four instances it is possible to identify possible cognates in other non-Vasconic Dene-Caucasian languages. One exhibits the initial unvoiced uvular fricative while the other exhibits an initial glottal stop in its proto form, according to Starostin.

The unvoiced velar fricative is very unstable when it occurs initially, so it is likely that most Vasconic languages either dropped it or hardened it to /k/ or /g/.

Words where Pelasgian retained the Proto-Vasconic initial /x/, but other Vasconic languages hardened it to /k/ or /g/ include the following:

Greek xaliks, xalikos “small stone, pebble, gravel, mortar, cement”, Basque gara, garai “high”, Iberian kala, kalai, karai “high” < Proto-Vasconic *xala, *xalai “rocky cliff”; compare North Caucasian (Lezghian) q̇ʷal “rock, cliff” (the meaning has shifted in two directions, from “rocky cliff” to a small stone and from “rocky cliff” to “high”).

Greek xernips, xernibos “water for washing, holy water”, Basque (c) gernu, (B) garnu “urine”, German Vasconic *karnV “urine” (German Harn) < Proto-Vasconic *kernV “urine”.

There are a few words where a class prefix appears to have been added to an initial /x/ in extreme antiquity. The most problematic of these is Basque oihan, oihen “forest”, which is probably cognate with Iberian oxan, uxan, uixan, British Vasconic *oxem, German Vasconic *oxen < Proto-Vasconic *o=xen, *o=xan (the initial vowel shifted from /o/ to /oi/ once /x/ started to weaken); compare Burushaski hun “wood”, North  Caucasian (Archi) χ:ʷan “north slope of a mountain”, (Chechen) ħun “forest”.

1Excepting the modern Spanish influenced pronunciation of orthographic /j/ in some dialects.

2Basque bihi “grain” appears to be cognate with the Italian Vasconic word that gave rise to Latin vicia “vetch”

The Basque fossilised phytonymic class-prefix, g=

Basque has at least four fossilised phytonymic class-prefixes:

zu= usually for trees, but occasionally also for smaller plants.

m= for any kind of plant. This is by far the most widespread phytonymic class-prefix.

an= for smaller plants.

g= for any kind of plant.

These prefixes are present in other Vasconic languages (probably all other Vasconic languages) where they function in the same way that they do in Basque.

The key characteristics of a fossilised class-prefix in Vasconic languages are as follows: (1) speakers no longer recognise the original function of the prefix, and (2) the word can exist with or without the prefix with no significant change in meaning.

The fossilised phytonymic class prefix, g=, is evidenced by the following word pairs:

(B, G, AN, R-Uztarroz) abi “bilberry”

(B-Arratia) gabi “bilberry”

(B, G, AN-Esteribar-Larraun, BN-Salazar, Z, R, Salaberry) astigar, (G) aztigar, (Z) estigar “maple”

(L, BN-Salazar) gastigar, (L, BN-Salazar, R) gaztigar “maple”

(B-Arratia-Mondragon-Oñati, AN, Lacoizqueta) illar “heather”

(BN) gillar “heather”

(B-Arratia-Orozko, G) iñarra , (B-Arratia-Orozko) iñerra “heather”

(B) giñarra “heather”

(c) isats, (AN-Baztan, L) itsats “broom”

(B) gisats “broom”

(AN-Baztan, BN-Salazar, Araquistain, Lacoizqueta) oko “bunch of grapes”

(BN, Salaberry, Sylvain Pouvreau) gokho “bunch of grapes”*

(B-Elorrio) oldei, (B-Arratia-Markina-Orozko-Oñati, G, AN-Baztan, Z, R) oroldi, (AN-Baztan-Lezaka, BN, Salaberry) oroldio, (Z) ooldi “moss”

(Z, R) goroldi, (G, AN-Larraun, L) goroldio, (BN-Aldude-Baigorri, L) gooldio“moss”

These show that variants with and without the prefix can exist side by side in the same dialects, but the meaning is the same. The g= prefix is most prevalent in Eastern dialects but is also to be found in Bizkaian.

Basque ote “gorse” may once have had a variant that exhibited the g= prefix. This might be the substantive component of the toponym, Gotein (Soule) <*g=ote-ain.

Similarly, Basque (Humboldt) uske “millet” might have had a variant that carried the g= prefix. This would explain why Uzkiano (Condado de Treviño) was recorded as Guzkiano in 1025. A fossilised class prefix can be lost and recovered without any significant change in meaning even though speakers have no idea why it is there.

There is also the possibility that Basque (B, G) iz “large reed”, (B, G) itza “clump of reeds” could have had a variant, *g=is, that is present in the following toponyms:

Giscaro (Gers)

Giscos (Gironde)

Guicharousse (Cardesse, Pyrenées-Atlantiques)

Guicharousse (Lacommande, Pyrenées-Atlantiques)

Gisso, a place of the Zaragoza region recorded in 989

*Basque (BN) golko “bunch of grapes” has probably been influenced in its form by Basque kolko “bosom, space between the shirt and the chest”.

Basque kolko, etc “bosom, etc”

Azkue lists the following:

(B, G, AN-Baztan, BN-Salazar) kolko, (Z) kholko, (R) golgo “bosom, space between the shirt and the chest”

(L, BN) golko, (BN, Salaberry) golkho “bosom”

(L) golko “gulf, bay”

kolko, etc is deeply puzzling on account of its very obvious (but perhaps superficial) resemblance to Greek kolpos “bosom, womb, fold of a garment, bay, hollow, depth”.

Is there a possibility that Basque kolko, etc was borrowed directly from Greek through Ampurias? Unlikely. Firstly, Greek loanwords in Basque that came through Ampurias take the Greek nominative singular form: Basque ereinotz “laurel” from Greek erineos “wild fig tree” and Basque zorrotz “sharp, biting, piercing, acute, keen, deep” from Greek toros “piercing, shrill, distinct, sharp”. Secondly, it is hard to account for the medial /lp/ cluster shifting to /lk/. Medial /lp/ is rare in Basque, but it is not cacophonic.

Might Greek kolpos be a Pelasgian substrate loanword? That is a distinct possibility, but there are two difficulties. Firstly, the different medial consonant clusters, and secondly, the closely aligned ranges of meaning. Core words often do have closely aligned meanings over the time depth involved (10,000 years in both directions), but not slightly specialist words.

There is nothing problematic about words for “bosom” also meaning “bay”. Latin sinus has a very similar range of meanings to Greek kolpos. It is not necessarily the case that this meaning shift occurred only in Greek.

Could Basque kolko, etc derive from Greek kolpos through the mediation of Romance? Greek kolpos is the origin of Italian and Spanish golfo, French golfe, English gulf, all of which mean “bay” (usually a very deep bay). Unlikely. The phonetics are against it. Basque (L) kolko “gulf” (referring, presumably, to the Bay of Biscay) might have been influenced in its meaning by French golfe, but that is uncertain. The association of a bay with a bosom might have worked in Basque in exactly the same way that it did in Greek.

Basque kolko, etc does appear to have had a cognate in German Vasconic that has given rise to the following substrate loanwords:

Old English colc “hole”

Old Frisian kolk “pit, hole”

Middle Low German kolk, kulk “water hole, gulf”

Danish kulk “throat”

Note how Middle Low German has shifted the meaning to “gulf”, presumably referring to the North Sea or Baltic. Note too that all these words are attested in a narrow band within the total territory of Germanic that stretches from England across the far north of Germany to Denmark.

Could Basque kolko, etc derive from Germanic? Probably not. The word is missing from neighbouring Romance languages.

Does Basque kolko, etc have cognates in other non-Vasconic Dene-Caucasian languages?

Possibly. Bengtson has proposed the following:

North Caucasian

Lak qalrqala “third stomach”

Akusha q:iq:al “stomach”

Lezghian qurq “inner membrane of the stomach”

Archi χIurχIu “belly stomach”

One might regard these as moderately persuasive.

Kolxis is the Ancient Greek name for the far west of the modern Georgia, which stretches round the bay or gulf at the eastern end of the Black Sea. Kolxis is usually taken to be of Urartian orgin. Urartian is a North Caucasian language. It was spoken in East Anatolia. Vasconic originated in West Anatolia. The common ancestor of Vasconic and North Caucasian was probably spoken in this region some 20,000 years before present.

Basque (BN) golko “bunch of grapes” is a distinct homonym. It is comprised of *g=olko, where g= is a fossilised phytonymic class-prefix, and *olko is a plant of some kind (thought not the grape, which is a quite recent introduction).

Basque aien, aihen “vine branch”

Azkue lists the following:

(B, G, AN) aien, (L, BN, Z) aihen “vine shoot, woody stalk”

Aulestia and White translate aien and aihen as “branch of the grapevine”.

Looking at aien and aihen, two issues immediately spring to one’s attention. Firstly, the word appears to be native, but it denotes something that is a comparatively recent development. The modern vine that bears grapes may have been unknown in Iberia before the Roman occupation. So what did the word mean prior to the introduction of viticulture in Euskal Herria? Could it have referred to some other vine-like climbing plant, such as bryony? Secondly, there is the status of the medial /h/ in Northern dialects. Does this reflect an earlier consonant (the unvoiced velar fricative, /x/, or lenis /n/, perhaps) or is it purely secondary?

aien and aihen is a rarity in the toponymy of Euskal Herria, but it is present in slightly adjusted forms:

aian as opposed to aien

Aiantz, a minor place of Longuida, Aoiz, Navarra <*aian-s “abundance of vine branches or some similar climbing plant”.

Aiantegi, a minor place of Ondategi, Zigoitia, Alava <*ain-tegi “place of vine branches or some similar climbing plant”.

The importance of aian as opposed to aien will become apparent very shortly.

meian as opposed to aien

<*m=eian, where m= is the fossilised phytonymic class prefix, m=.

Meana, Alava, which was recorded as Meiana in the 1025 Cartulario de San Millan, and as Meiana in the 1025 Reja de San Millan <*m=eian “vine branch or some similar climbing plant”.

San Pedro de Meianeta, a place, presumably somewhere in the Upper Aragon region, attested in a 989 record of a gift of land to the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña by the local king <*m=eian-eta “place where vine branches or some similar climbing plant grow”.

While the primary element in these toponyms is likely to be identical to the modern aien and aihen, this might refer to a climbing plant other than the vine, especially if the toponym is ancient (all four toponyms that I have cited look to me to be pre-Roman).

Note that the 11^th century Alavese attestations exhibit no medial /h/. Aspiration reached a high water mark in this region in the 11^th century, but it is completely missing from these toponyms. It is the case that sometimes /h/ is present in 11^thcentury Alavese toponyms where it is missing in modern Northern dialects, and it is also sometimes absent in Alava where it is present in modern Northern dialects. So, the Reja de San Millan records hascar where modern Northern dialects have azkar “maple”, but meian where modern Northern dialects have aihen. The medial /h/ of aihen does appear from this evidence to be secondary, though there is some residual doubt about that which I will address elsewhere in this post.

The five Bronze Plates of Botorrita

Of the five Bronze Plates of Botorrita, the first, third, fourth and fifth are inscribed in the modified East Iberian Script and are written in a Hispano-Celtic language, while the second is written in Latin (and is presumably a lot later than the other four).

These texts include many anthroponyms and toponyms. While most of the anthroponyms are Hispano-Celtic, almost all of the toponyms are Iberian.

The standard practice at Botorrita was the put the name of the person first, then the name of the home village, and then the name of the person’s father. The name of the person and the name of the father are both in the nominative singular, whereas in Latin texts the name of the father is in the genitive singular and is followed by “F” (filius). In this respect, the Hispano-Celtic practice differs from Latin but is consistent with the Iberian practice, where the name of the father is unmarked. The name of the home village is followed by kum “with” (as in Latin cum, con and Scottish Gaelic con “with”). However, in Scottish Gaelic, as in Latin, con is always a preposition. In these Hispano-Celtic texts kum is always a postposition. This is one of several ways in which the structure of Hispano-Celtic was influenced by Iberian. Hispano-Celtic kum does bear a superficial resemblance to the Basque commitative suffix, -(r)ekin, and it is likely that the scribes who wrote these tests were native Vascophones (a separate post will be required to explain why this is so). Hispano-Celtic bintis or bindis is probably equivalent to Latin magistratus “official, civil servant, clerk” (compare Scottish Gaelic binn “sentence, decision, verdict”).

The First Bronze Plate of Botorrita records 16 anthroponyms, of which the following four embed the toponym, Aian, which is identical to the primary element of Aiantz and Aiantegi, both toponyms of Navarra (see above):

6.      Tritu Aian kum Ablos Bintis

10.    Letondu Aian kum Melmunos Bintis

11.    Useisu or Ukseisu Aian kum Tauro Bintis

12.    Ablo Aian kum Tauro Bintis

“Tritu with Aian son of Ablos, official”, etc.

Note that 11 and 12 are probably brothers. They come from the same village and their fathers have the same name.

The Second Bronze Plate of Botorrita, which is written in Latin, records anthroponyms in a similar way. The peculiar (to a Roman) use of cum is retained, but the name of the father is marked for the genitive singular and is followed by “F”. It is possible that Aian appears once in this text:

4.      SEGILUS ANNI CUM LUBI F(ilius) MAGISTRATUS

“Segilos, with Anni, son of Lubbos, official.”

One has to wonder if Aian and Anni are the same place. Latin had probably lost most of its diphthongs by the classical period. Latin orthographic “ae” has flattened to /e/ in all the daughter languages. Aian (with a triphthong or a triphthong reduced to a diphthong by a j-glide) would sound very alien to most Latin speakers. One wonders if Aian and ANNI might be the modern Añon de Moncayo (Zaragoza).

The five Bronze Plates of Botorrita date from the first and second centuries BC. They are of considerable antiquity, yet there is no indication of a medial /h/ or any other medial consonant in the toponym, Aian.

Catalonia and the Spanish Levant

aiun, as distinct from aien, aian and meian, was used occasionally as an Iberian anthroponymic compound element. Consider the following (both attested in the East Iberian Script):

Aiunesker <*aiun-esker “vine branch or some similar climbing plant/left”, recorded at Azaila (Teruel).

Aiunildun <*aiun-il(d)un “vine branch or some similar climbing plant/dark”, recorded at Badalona (Catalonia).

aiun is also present in toponyms. Consider the following:

AIUNGI, the ancient name of Alcaudete (Jaen), recorded in a contemporaneous funerary inscription written in Latin using the Roman Script <*aiun-gi “place where vine branches or some other climbing plant grow”.

Note the absence of any medial consonant.

British Vasconic

There is a possibility that this word was present in British Vasconic. Consider the following:

Ehen, a river of Cumberland that flows into the Irish Sea, which was recorded as Ehgena in 1160 and Egene in 1203. This is a very peculiar hydronym because it is unclear from the ancient attestations what the medial consonant was. It is not known if British Vasconic had either /h/ or /x/ (the unvoiced velar fricative). The modern pronunciation is “Ein”.

Strachan, a village of Kincardineshire, Scotland, which was recorded as Stratheyhan in 1153. strath- is likely to be Scottish Gaelic srath “valley”, Anglicised to strath (compare Welsh ystrad). The second element, -eyhan, is probably a hydronym (maybe the Water of Feugh).

Did British Vasconic follow a similar practice to Northern Basque dialects by inserting an aspirate or unvoiced velar fricative to break a diphthong or triphthong?

Further afield

Is there a connection between Basque aien, aihen and Greek oinos, Latin vinum, Albanian venë, Arabic and Amharic wain, Hebrew yayin, Assyrian inu, all meaning “wine”? It would seem unlikely, because aien, aihen must have referred to a plant other than the vine prior to the introduction of viticulture. Also, these words point to an initial /w/ which aien, aihen lacks. A Proto-Vasconic initial /w/ is reflected in Basque as either /b/ or null, resulting in such pairs as urki/burki “birch tree” and uztarri/buztarri “yoke”. Could *meian (see above) be an initial /b/ variant of aien, aihen? It is likely that the vine in its early history of cultivation looked very similar to bryony. So it is quite possible that Pelasgian adapted a word meaning “bryony” to mean “vine” at some early stage, just as Basque did, and that the meaning shifted to “wine” prior to the passage of this word into Greek, Latin, Albanian and Semitic. Note that none of these words exhibits a medial consonant.

Basque nardai, etc “kind of wooden stick”

Azkue lists the following:

(AN, Araquistain) nardai “piece of rough chain fitted to the pole of a cart to drag wooden logs”

(B, G) nardai, (B-Markina) nardei “stick, usually made of ash, attached to the pole of a sled to pull stones and logs”

(B-Arratia-Zeanuri) nardai “pole placed above the hold of a cart to stabilise it”

(B) nardaka, (AN, Araquistain, B-Markina) nardeka “pole of a sled smaller than a nardai, pole of a plough”

(B) nardaka “handle of a plough”

These words refer to a stick of some kind, usually a wooden stick. The modern meanings are very specialised, but they might have been broader prior to the invention of sleds and ploughs.

(AN-Baztan, L) narda “disgust” is a distinct homonym.

Basque nardai, etc, appears to have played little part in the onomastics of Euskal Herria. The following are among the few exceptions:

Nardabaltza, a minor place of Berezao, Oñati, Gipuzkoa ((B) baltz “black”).

Nardagaizto, mountain peak of Aloña, Oñati, Gipuzkoa (gaitz “difficult” + diminutive -to).

Nardazar, a mountain peak of Zañartu, Oñati, Gipuzkoa (za(ha)r “old”).

It is not entirely clear if these incorporate the word for a wooden stick or the word for disgust, but the adjectives seem to be more appropriate to the former than to the latter. A black stick, a difficult little stick and an old stick are more intelligible than a black disgust, a difficult little disgust and an old disgust.

An Iberian *nardV evidently existed. Ptolemy records a NARDINION in the Asturia region.

*nardV may possibly also be present in Narthoux (Tarn, France) <*narda-os.

Does Basque nardai, etc, have cognates in other Vasconic languages further afield?

Probably. Consider Greek nartheks, narthekos “reed, cane, rod”, a likely Pelasgian loanword.

Sacred cows of orthodox Vascology (6): Basque aizkora “axe”

By “sacred cows of orthodox Vascology” I mean a series of rather eccentric attempts to give native Basque words non-Basque origins that have grown into core articles of faith. Elsewhere, I have looked at Basque abere “beast”, Basque azeri “fox”, Basque leka “pod”, Basque luki “fox” and Basque solo and soro. In each case I have shown the claims of orthodox Vascology to be false and have demonstrated that these words are native Basque. Also belonging to this list is the insistence by orthodox Vascologists that Basque aizkora, etc “axe” derives from a putative Latin *asciula “little axe”.

Azkue lists the following:

(B, G, AN, R) aizkora “axe”

(L, BN, Z) haizkora “axe”

(B-Arratia-Gernika-Orozko) azkora “axe”

(Z, R-Uztarroz) axkora “axe”

Unlike other words in this set that vary greatly across the dialects, aizkora, etc is more-or-less uniform save for the addition of initial /h/ in Northern dialects and an occasional preference for /a/ rather than /ai/ in far Western and far Eastern dialects.

By “this set”, I mean that there are several organonyms (words for tools) that carry as their first element, aiz-, aitz-, ainz-, az-, ax-. The main ones in addition to aizkora, etc are as follows:

(Sylvain Pouvreau) azkon “arrow”

(AN) aizkona “wooden peg”

aizto, (BN-Garazi) “machete”, (R-Uztarroz) “knife”

(AN, R-Uztarroz) ainzto “knife”¹

(AN-Baztan-Lezaka, BN-Salazar, R) aiztur “shears”

(L, BN, Z) haiztur “shears”

(G, AN-Baztan, BN, Z, Salaberry) aitzur “hoe”

(BN, Z) aintzur “hoe”¹

(L) haintzur “hoe”1

(BN) haitzur “pickaxe”

(Z) haitzür “pickaxe”

(B, G, R) atxur “pickaxe”

The traditional analysis holds that aiz-, haiz-, aitz-, haitz-, az-, ax- is Basque aitz, haitz, atx “stone”, and that the second elements are adjectives describing the nature of the stone. Proponents of this analysis maintain that tools were once made of stone and Basque, being such an ancient language, preserves a word for “stone” in compound organonyms. This is wrong, for three reasons. One. Some of these tools never were made wholly or partly of stone. Two. The second elements make little sense if this analysis is applied. Thirdly, aiz-, etc might also be a fossilised class prefix for organonyms, as we shall see. It is quite possible that it does mean “stone”, but if it is a class prefix it can be carried by any organonym whether or not the tool in question is made of stone. The fact that /a/ exists alongside /ai/ in regions where atx is preferred to aitz does suggest at least a popular association with aitz, haitz, atx “stone”.

Modern orthodox Vascologists maintain that Basque aizkora, etc derives from an unrecorded Latin *asciula, being a diminutive of Latin ascia “axe, mason’s trowel”. They usually hold that Latin ascia is the antecedent of French hache, Spanish hacha “axe”. This is phonetically highly improbable, and is not supported by historical linguists who specialise in Romance.

Probably the most powerful reason for doubting Latin origin is that aizkora, etc is subject to component metathesis, an ancient practice that is productive in Iberian but is unknown in the modern language.

Compare Basque aizkora, etc “axe” and (G) guraiza, guraizak, (G-Andoain, AN-Goizueta) guraizeak “scissors”. What has happened here is that aiz- and -kora have been switched the opposite way round.

So what is -kora?

A key characteristic of a class-prefix it that the noun that carries it can exist with or without it and retain the same (or very similar) meaning (the axe and the scissors are both bladed tools).

Basque (B, G) gorro “axe head, head of the hoe” is the likely second (substantive) element.

Basque guraiza, etc is simply aizkora switched the other way round. This is a practice that occurs only in relation to native words, as far as I know.

Iberian koro or koro, which probably corresponds to Basque gorro, has occasional use as an anthroponymic compound element, most famously in the name of the ethnic leader from Cantabria mentioned by Dio Cassius, COROCOTTA.

gorro became -kora through association with Basque gora “high, above”.

In much the same way, the second element of azkon “arrow” was associated with Iberian kon “high”, when in reality it is a variant of igoin, (R, Z) “knife handle”, (BN-Salazar, Sylvain Pouvreau) “fruit stalk”, (Z) higuin “handle of an axe or hoe”². (Sylvain Pouvreau) azkon should therefore be compared with (AN) aizkona “wooden peg” (wooden, not stone)³.

Cleary, therefore, aiz-, etc is a fossilised class-prefix. Even if it does mean “stone”, this does not imply that the tools in question ever were made of stone. Does it mean “stone”? Possibly. It could also be a pan-Vasconic word for a cutting tool. Consider the following:

North Caucasian

Chechen urs “knife”

Ingush urs “chisel”

Andian isir “scissors”

Lak ħis učin “to cut, clip, trim”

Does Basque gorro, Iberian koro, koro have cognates in other non-Vasconic Dene-Caucasian languages? Consider the following:

North Caucasian

Avar ḳerelo “big knife, hatchet”

Akhvakh ḳeru “big knife, hatchet”

Lezghian ḳir “hook, stick with a hook, fang”

Tabasaran ḳir “fang”

Rutul ḳiruw “hatchet, small axe”

Tsakhur ḳera “hatchet, small axe”

Kryz ḳir “hook, stick with a hook, fang”

Budukh ḳir “hook, stick with a hook, fang”

Archi ḳiri “hatchet, small axe”

Sino-Tibetan

Tibetan gri “knife”

This word is one of a score or so apparent Basque/Turkic isoglosses. Consider the following: Turkish kürek “shovel” (present in most Turkic languages).

¹Michelena and Trask say that aitz, haitz, atx has a concealed nasal. Bengtson says he can find no evidence of it. Well, there is some evidence for it, and it is to be found in two of these fossilised class-prefix words where the component might not mean “stone” (see above). However, (B, Z, R) atx is closer to the Iberian antecedent (as) and the probable Proto-Vasconic form (aS). The diphthong is a Basque innovation, as is the initial aspirant.

²Basque igoin, higuin may be compared with Latin cuneus “wedge”, a probable Italian Vasconic loanword.

³Also to be considered here is (G-Ordizia) arbaiza “shears for shearing long-haired cattle”, which is a compound comprising (G) arba “branch not stripped of twigs and leaves” and aiz-, etc, subject to component metathesis. Note the unlikelihood of long-haired cattle ever having been sheared with a tool made of stone.

Sacred cows of orthodox Vascology (5): Basque soro and solo

Azkue lists the following:

(B) solo “field prepared for sowing”

(G) soro “field”

(AN-Irun, L) soro “meadow”

(L, Z) sorho “meadow”

(AN-Baztan) soro, (BN) sorho “the second and further cuttings of grass”

(Z, Althabe) sorribelhar “aconite”

(Ms-Lond) sorrikera “larkspur”

(L) sorropil “lawn”

(G) zoru “ground, storey”

It is an article of faith for orthodox Vascologists that Basque solo and soro, etc derive from Latin solum “ground, floor, bottom, soil, land, country”. Bengtson has pointed out quite correctly that Latin solum actually was borrowed by Basque and is reflected as (G) zoru “ground, storey”, not as solo or soro, etc. Bengtson has noted that Basque zoru has a similar range of meanings to Latin solum, as do Spanish suelo and French sol, but that Basque solo and soro, etc have quite different meanings. Bengtson also points out that solo and soro, etc, if they derive from Latin solum, should exhibit the laminal rather than the apical /s/ and final /u/ rather than/o/. Basque zoru does both of those. Basque solo and soro, etc do neither. None of these issues trouble orthodox Vascologists, it goes without saying.

My analysis goes three stages further than Bengtson. Firstly, cognates of Basque solo were probably present in other Vasconic languages. Consider the following:

Soulom (Hautes-Pyrenées), which was recorded as Solon in 995-1175, probably derives its name from Iberian solo.

SOLYMOS MONS <*Solo-uma, a mountain of Lycia recorded in classical sources, the modern Güllük Dag, which may be from Western Anatolian Vasconic.

Secondly, Latin solum has no plausible Indo-European etymology. That means that it is likely to be a substrate loanword. If so, Latin solum derives from an Italian Vasconic cognate of Basque solo, which explains the similarity of form.

Thirdly, connecting solo and soro, etc is probably not justified. One. solo refers to a field that has been prepared for sowing. It refers to naked soil with no plants. soro, etc, by contrast, always refers to vegetation in some way, either as an expanse of grass or as an actual plant. Two. There is the problem of medial /r/. Orthodox Vascologists says that solopreserves the Latin lenis medial /l/, while soro, etc, has shifted this to lenis /r/. This argument falls down on two points. First. How often is Latin medial lenis /l/ treated like this in Bizkaian? Second. The medial /r/ of soro, etc is sometimes actually fortis: sorribelhar, sorrikera and sorropil all exhibit fortis medial /r/. Orthodox Vascologists do not provide an explanation as to why this is so.

A cognate of Basque soro, etc is possibly present in French Vasconic: the village of Suerre (Cote d’Or), which was recorded as de Sorro in 1140 to 1145; and in Western Anatolian Vasconic: SOROUDA <*SoRo-ada, a settlement in Lycia (South-West Anatolia).

Note that SOLYMOS and SOROUDA are very close to each other, suggesting that the medial /l/ words and medial /r/ words are quite separate.

Bengtson argues that Basque solo has cognates in North Caucasian. I agree with him. None of the following is objectionable in the slightest:

Ingush čil “ashes, dust”

Avar š:aláj “silt, slime”

Lak š:aIlu “earth, ground”

Lezghian č:il “earth, floor”

Tabasaran žil “earth, floor”

Agul žil “earth, floor”

Rutul ǯil “earth, floor”

Tsakhur ǯil “earth, floor”

Note the absence of any reference to vegetation in these words.

The Lead Foil of Castellon

The Lead Foil of Castellon is an ancient Iberian text written in the East Iberian Script that was found at Pujol de Gasset, Castellon de la Plana, Valencia. Like so many Iberian lead foil texts, it is a roll of donors of grave goods. Most of these rolls are addressed to the neitin (undertaker) by members of the funeral society. Others, such as this one, are addressed to the funeral society by non-members asking for permission to have their gifts placed in the tomb of the deceased. The foil was usually placed in the tomb along with the gifts, which is why so many survive compared to other kinds of text.

The East Iberian Script is problematic for a number of reasons, one of which is the failure to distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants. If the word is not attested anywhere in the Roman Script, a comparison with Basque is the only way of knowing. Fortunately, at Castellon some of the signs have been altered to show whether the consonant is voiced or unvoiced. So, where the di/ti sign has three upwards prongs, it represents di, and where it has four upwards prongs, it represents ti. Similarly, where the de/te sign has one cross bar it represents de, and where it has two cross bars it represents te.

Below is my transcription as I believe the scribe intended:

Mabardi aikis Abarjei kide Sinepetin Urkegerere auruni(n) beikeai aste beikeaie Egarju Atunju Botuei baideski Egus(j)u Sosinbiur(j)u Borberonju Kosoju baideski Berigar sen se Ultiteger aikase Argitiker aikas Balkebiur ai(ka)s baides Bañegar se

Translating these texts is often problematic, because they tend to be very formulaic and are usually written in a kind of shorthand with grammatical suffixes truncated or missing. This is a point that has been noted by the heterodox Vascologist, Dr Antonio Arnaiz Villena. They might even contain abbreviations, as do Latin texts.

Below is my proposed translation. Proper names are in bold.

“Mabardi, family head, member of the Abarjei funeral society, Sinepetin and Urkegerere, have the heir leave his gift for the deceased, have the priest leave his gift for the deceased, Egarju, Atunju, Botuei, with permission, Egusju, Sosinbiurju, Borberonju, Kosoju, with permission, Berigar, the unnamed one, Ultiteger, family head, Argitiker, family head, Balkebiur, family head, permission, but not Bañegar.”

I will explain the structure of the text first. Then I will look in detail at the anthroponyms.

Mabardi is the person being addressed. His title is aikis “family man”, while other persons further down the text are described as aikas “family head”.

I looked at Iberian ai and gas in an earlier post: http://euskerarenjatorria.eus/?p=37612&lang=en

I took the view when I wrote that post that the word was more likely to be gas than kas, but that may be mistaken. A different ka/ga sign is used in this text in Iberian gar “flame”, which we know from a Roman Script attestation was GAR. However, Iberian shifts around from initial /g/ to initial /k/ almost randomly, so either may be correct. GAR is from the anthroponym, GARGORIS, which also incorporates Iberian gori “red”, that is recorded as CORI or CORRI elsewhere. Similarly, I now lean to the view that it is Mabardi and not Mabarti. This is because Iberian tiker, which we know from a Roman Script attestation was TICER, uses a different di/ti sign.

So, the person being addressed is Mabardi. He is a kide (member) of the funeral society known as Abarjei, which is a combination of Iberian abar “branch” and jei “ceremony”. Funeral processions may have been led by persons holding aloft sacred boughs. Compare Basque (c) abar “branch” and Basque (Z) jei “festival”.

Sinepetin would appear to be the heir of the deceased (aurunin) and Urkegerere would appear to be the priest (aste) conducting the ceremony. Iberian aurunin (literally “best child”) appears to mean “heir”, and if so is equivalent to Latin heres, heredis.

Iberian kide “member (of a club), citizen (of a town)”, Basque (c) kide “colleague, companion”.

Iberian aste “priest”, Basque (AN-Baztan-Esteribar-Larraun, L-Ainhoa, BN) azti “magician”, Latin astus “cleverness, cunning” (from Italian Vasconic).

Iberian aur “child (including adult child)”, Basque (G, AN-Baztan, L, BN-Salazar, R) aur, (L, BN, Z) haur “infant”.

Iberian un “good”, Basque (AN) un, (BN) hun “good”.

Iberian superlative -in, Basque superlative -en (on the Santa Perpetua de Mogoda Funerary Stele the final /n/ of unin is spelled out). Note how in Iberian the suffix is deflected on to the qualifying adjective, and that unlike Basque, Iberian does not appear to use the partitive with the superlative.

beikeai and beikeaie are verbal constructs. The verb stem around which the constructs have been built is Iberian e-ke-n “to leave”, which can be either transitive or intransitive. In the phrase, are dake “he leaves once again”, e-ke-n is intransitive. Where it means to leave an object in a tomb, as it does here, then e-ke-n is transitive. Initial /b/ marks the third person imperative, a concept thoroughly difficult and alien to speakers of Indo-European languages like English and Spanish. The final part of the construct indicates a benefactive object. So, “have him leave it (the grave good) for him (the deceased)”. The final /e/ attached to the second instance of beikeai is mysterious. Perhaps it has a copulative function: “Have the heir leave it for him and have the priest leave it for him”. In Basque, bekie means “have him be to them” and beoe means “have him have it to them”.

Basque ken, khen, kendu, khendu “to leave” <*e-ke-n.

Another three donors, Egarju, Atunju and Botuei are then listed, followed by baideski “with permission”. The funereal society has given them permission to leave grave goods, despite their not being members.

Basque (L, BN, Z) baitetsi “to approve”, comprised of bai “yes”, connective /t/ and -etsi as in (L, BN, Z) sin-etsi “to believe”.

Iberian adverbial -ki, as in Basque.

In other texts, Iberian baides appears without the -ki suffix, and with the No 2 S-sign instead of the No 1 S-sign used at Castellon.

Another four donors, Egus(j)u, Sosinbiur(j)u, Borberonju and Kosoju, are then listed, followed by baideski “with permission”. Iberian ju is probably a hereditary compound element in these names, suggesting that many of these donors belong to the same family.

Another four names, Berigar, Ultiteger, Argitiker and Balkebiur, are then listed, followed by baides, this time without adverbial -ki. Ultiteger, Argitiker and Balkebiur are stated to be aikas “family head”. Why aikas should exhibit final /e/ in one case but not the others is unclear. sen se likely means “no name”. This will be a donor whose name the scribe does not know, a John Doe or Richard Roe.

Iberian sen “name”, Basque (c) izen (B) uzen “name”.

Iberian se “negative particle”, Basque (c) ez, (B) ze “no, not”. Trask indulges in some speculation as to why Bizkaian has this seemingly anomalous form. He may or may not be right. What is clear is that both Iberian (at least the Iberian spoken in Castellon) and the Nakh branch of North Caucasian agree with the archaic Bizkaian form. Compare Chechen, Ingush and Batsbi ca “not”.

Finally, Mabardi is requested not to place the object donated by Bañegar in the tomb.

The anthroponyms in the text are as follows:

Mabardi < mabar + di; Basque (c) nabar¹ “grey, multi-coloured”, (R-Bidangoz) ti “pig” (?).

Sinepetin < sine + petin; Basque (BN-Salazar, Z, R) zi, (Z-Garazi, R-Bidangoz) zii “acorn”, (BN) pitin, (Z) pitiña “young goat, kid”.

Urkegerere < urke + gere + ere; Basque (c) urki² “birch tree”, gerri (c) “waist”, (B) “part of a tree trunk”, erre, (c) “burn”, (BN-Salazar) “reach of the hand”.

Egarju < egar + ju³; Basque (c) egarri “thirst”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Atunju < atun + ju; Basque (G) aitona “grandfather”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Botuei < botu + ei; Basque (L, Z) botu “the first bud on the trees”, (G, AN, L) ei “pigsty”.

Egusju < egus + ju; Basque (c) eguzki “sun”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Sosinbiurju < sosin + biur + ju; Basque (c) zuzen “straight”, (L, BN) biur “bent”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Borberonju < bor⁴ + beron⁵ + ju; (c) zil-bor “umbilicus” (c) beron “lead”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Kosoju < koso⁶ + ju; (BN) khotxo, (Z) kotxo “male quadruped”, (B-Basauri) uitxa “whimbrel”.

Berigar < ber + igar or beri + gar; Basque berro (B, L) “scrub”, (L) “hedge, brambles”, (L, BN, Z) berho “hedge, enclosed field”, (B, G, AN) igar “dry”, (c) berri “new”, (c) gar “flame”.

Ultiteger < ulti + teger⁷; Basque (L-Getaria, Oihenart) olde “will, taste, plan, imagination”, (BN, Salaberry, Sylvain Pouvreau) udagara “otter” <*ur-dagar.

Argitiker < argi + tiker; Basque (c) argi “light”, (B, G-Bidania-Orio-Tolosa) txikar “little”.

Balkebiur < balke⁸ + biur; Basque balke (BN-Salazar) “vetch”, (AN) itsabalki “Melilotus officinalis”, (L, BN) biur“bent”.

Bañegar < ban⁹ + egar; Basque (B-Gernika) naparban “smallpox pimple”, (B) orban “spot, scar”, (c) egarri “thirst”.

¹In Iberian, initial /m/ and initial /n/ are almost interchangeable. That is why mabar appears as nabar on the Lead Foil of Ampurias. Basque prefers nabar to *mabar, probably because *mabar is slightly cacophonic in Basque.

²Iberian urke or urki can also refer to a vessel: Basque (AN, L) orkoi, (L) ortkoi, (L, Z) orkei, (BN) orkai, orke, (AN) urkoi, (L) ulkoi “form, mold, shoe block”; Greek hurxe “earthen vessel” (from Pelasgian), Latin urceus “pitcher, ewer” (from Italian Vasconic). (The Basque reflexes are disparate and hard to analyse. Several hint at an earlier final /n/. This is perhaps a result of contamination with Iberian kon “high”.) As an anthroponymic compound element and in the names of lesser places, urke or urki is more likely to mean “birch tree”, but in the names of oppida it is more probable that it refers to a kind of vessel: an enclosure surrounded by high earthen banks resembles a vessel.

³I comment on this word here: http://euskerarenjatorria.eus/?p=40759&lang=en

⁴This word usually exhibits final lenis /r/, but in this instance it exhibits final fortis /r/. Perhaps /r/ is strengthened by the following /b/.

⁵In Basque this word exhibits lenis medial /r/, in Iberian fortis medial /r/. Many orthodox Vascologists insist that grades of /r/ are immutable, but interchange they can, even within Basque itself. Iberian beron perhaps derives from the ethnonym, BERONICENSES, a people located in the south-west of Sardinia who mined lead in prehistoric times.

⁶Iberian koso is a frequent epithet for native Iberian deities. For instance, SEMNOCOSUS <*seme-no koso.

⁷Iberian teger (tager is also recorded) seems to refer to a carnivorous mammal of some kind, an otter being one of that category that lives in the water (hence u(r)-dagar-a). Compare Greek tigris “tiger” (from Pelasgian).

⁸Iberian balke, balki very likely means “gold”. Pliny stated that the native word for gold ore nuggets was balux, balucis. Melilotus officinalis has a bright yellow flower. Vetch has a pink flower. However, there is also (B-Arratia-Orozko-Txorierri) balekio “weed that grows in wheat or flax crops”. Weeds that grow in cereal crops often have very bright flowers, some of which are yellow.

⁹Iberian ban can mean “thing” and can also be used as a demonstrative. The original meaning seems to have been “spot” or “drop”. Compare the use of Turkish tane “berry” or “grain”.