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Euskara maite maite, zabiltz neugaz beti: Basque

© Robert Henderson

"My dear Basque language, be always with me." Thus poet Felipe Arrese ta Beitia encapsulates the reason for the seemingly miraculous survival of this unique,embattled tongue. Unrelated to any other language on earth (an "isolate" in linguistic terms), Basque is a fascinating and extremely rare phenomenon. This, coupled with their Western European location, have led to intense "flake depredation" of the Basque people, wherein pseudoscholars commandeer both people and language to prove their pet theories. Thus, we're advised that Basque is the language of Atlantis, those globe-trotting Lost Tribes of Israel, aliens from outer space, and any number of other fantastic societies. Such schemes are so stereotypical of Basque "scholarship" that legitimate Basque researchers often open with words to the effect that "no airheads need apply."

Surely, where the Basque language is concerned, reality is interesting enough. No defensible theory explains where the Basques came from. One of the most interesting conjectures is that they didn't come from anywhere, that they're direct descendants of the Neolithic culture that painted all those caves in the region. Mere tidbits of linguistic and archaeological evidence support this "what-if," but it's an enticing idea.

Equally interesting are Basque's recent past, present, and future. Though this community, which is called Euskadi and straddles the western Pyrenees between France and Spain, counts something less than 700,000 native speakers, it has cast an unusually long shadow. Historians now accept that Basque whalers and fishermen visited America before Columbus. (Evidently, they kept the news under their berets to avoid competition from larger nations.) Their North Atlantic presence resulted in the development of Basque-Icelandic and Basque-Algonkian pidgins, themselves interesting study. Basques showed up again to influence New World history early in this century. Argentina and the American West boast vibrant Basque shepherd cultures, while the existence of Californian and Chilean wine industries is due at least in part to immigrant Basque wine makers.

Like other minority languages, Basque suffered terribly under the Franco régime, which ruled Spain from 1937 to 1975. The repression galvanised a nationalist movement, some of whose members seek to achieve independence through violence. However, Euskadi now enjoys significant autonomy in the decentralised post-Franco government. Many Basque nationalists have declared this achievement sufficient and condemn continued separatist violence, rendering the question more complex than the straightforward "us against them" Franco-era struggle. To further complicate the matter, Basque terrorism is rare in France, where Basques have no autonomy whatsoever.

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