Jaungoikoa

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Jaungoikoa or Jainko is the Basque word for "God".

It is unclear whether jainko is derived from Jaungoikoa or the other way round. It has been suggested that Christian missionaries created "Jaungoikoa" as a folk etymology ("The Lord of above") for jainko. In modern Basque, the grammatical form would be goiko jauna. Current usage has "Jaungoikoa" for the Christian God and "jainko" for generic gods.

It has been suggested that Basque Jainko through Gascon is the origin of the English phrase "By Jingo!".

The guide of the way of Saint James included in the Codex Calixtinus by the medieval pilgrim Aymericus Picaudus mentions that the Basque word for "God" was Urcia, the old word for "sky".

Jaungoikoa eta Lege-zaharra ("God and Old Law") is the motto of the Basque nationalistic Christian party EAJ-PNV.