Basque surnames
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basque surnames on the whole are easily identifiable, reasonably well documented and follow a small number of set patterns. The vast majority of all Basque surnames are not patronymic but refer to the family's etxea, the historically all important family home.
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[edit] History
The earliest documented Basque surnames occur on Aquitanian inscriptions from the time of the Roman conquest of Hispania and Gallia Aquitania. For the most part these can be easily identified with modern or medieval Basque surnames, for example ENNECONIS (the personal name Eneko plus the Latin genitive ending -IS) > Enekoitz.
[edit] Orthography
During the medieval period Basque names were written broadly following the spelling conventions of the official languages of the day, usually Spanish and French.
The main differences lie in the way the relatively large number of Basque sibilants are spelled. These are especially hard to represent using French spelling conventions so on the whole, the French spelling of Basque words in general tends to be harder to reconcile with the modern spellings and the pronunciation. Also, vowel initial Basque surnames from the Northern Basque Country acquired an initial d (French de) in many cases.
Since the introduction of Standard Basque and a common written standard, the number of non-indigenous spelling variants has begun to reduce, especially in the South.
| Modern Standard | Spanish Spelling | French Spelling |
|---|---|---|
| Zubiri | Zubiri | Çubiry |
| Elizalde | Elicalde | Delissalde |
| Etxeberria | Echeverría | Detcheverry |
| Etxepare | Echepare | Detchepare |
| Ezkibel | Ezquibel | Esquibel |
| Intxausti | Inchausti | Ynchausty |
[edit] Conventions
As is the legal convention in Spain, Basques in the South have a double legal surnames, the first being that of the father and the second that of the mother. In the North, Basques legally only have one surname as is the convention in France.
Nonetheless, most Basques can at least recite the surnames of their parents and grandparents generation.
For a while it was popular in some circles to follow a convention of stating one's name that was invented by Sabino Arana in the latter part of the 19th century. He decided that Basque surnames ought to be followed by the ethnonymic suffix -(t)ar. Thus he adopted the habit of giving his name, Sabino Arana Goiri, as Arana ta Goiri'taŕ Sabin. This style was adopted for a while by a number of his fellow PNV/EAJ supporters but has largely fallen out of fashion now.
[edit] Types and composition
The majority of modern Basque surnames fall into two categories:
- a descriptive of the family home. This usually either refers to the relative location of the home or the purpose of the building.
- the first owner of the home. Usually this is a man's name.
Surnames from either category are formed using nouns, adjectives, a number of suffixes and endings such as the absolutive ending -a, the relational suffix -ko and the genitive ending -ren.
The following examples all relate to the location of the family home.
| Surname | Elements | Meaning |
| Arrigorriagakoa | (h)arri "stone" + gorri "red" + aga "place of" | the one of the place of the red stones |
| Aroztegi | (h)arotz "smith" + -tegi "home" | home of the smith |
| Bidarte | bide "way" + arte "between" | between the ways |
| Bolibar | bolu "mill" + ibar "valley" | mill valley |
| Elizondo | eliza "church" + ondo "nearby" | near the church |
| Etxandi | etxe "house" + handi "big" | big house |
| Etxarte | etxe "house" + arte "between" | house between |
| Etxeberri | etxe "house" + berri "new" | new house |
| Goikoetxe | goi "high place" + etxe "house" | the one from the high lying house |
| Ibaiguren | ibai "river" + guren "edge" | river's edge |
| Loiola | lohi "mud" + -ola "place" | muddy place |
| Mendiluze | mendi "mountain" + luze "long" | the long mountain |
| Mikelena | Mikel "Michael" | Michael's |
| Urberoaga | ur "water" + bero "hot" + -aga "place of" | the place of the hot water |
| Zabala | zabal "wide" | the wide one |
| Zubiondo | zubi "bridge" + ondo "nearby" | near the bridge |
[edit] Recognising Basque surnames
Basque surnames are relatively easy to spot through the high frequency of certain elements and endings used in their formation, bearing in mind the spelling variants. Outside the Basque Country, Basque surnames are often found in Spain and France, the former Spanish colonies in parts of South America and the Philippines and parts of the United States such as Idaho where substantial numbers of Basques emigrated to.
| Modern Spelling | Meaning | Older Spellings |
|---|---|---|
| -aga | place of | |
| agirre | pasture | aguirre |
| -alde | side | art |
| -arte | between | |
| aurre(a) | front | |
| berri(a) | new | berry, varri, verría, verry |
| bide(a) | way, path | vida, vide |
| buru | head, end | |
| garai(a) | high | garay |
| goi | high | goy |
| eliza | church | eliç(e), elic(e), eliss |
| -eta | abundance of | |
| etxe(a) | house | ech, eche, etche |
| gorri(a) | red | corri, gourry |
| (h)aritz(a) | oak | áriz |
| (h)arri(a) | stone | |
| mendi(a) | mountain | mendy |
| -ola | hut | |
| -ondo | nearby | onde |
| sagar(ra) | apple | |
| -tegi | home | tegui |
| -(t)za | abundance | |
| zabal(a) | wide | çabal, zábal, zaval |
| -zahar(ra) | old | zar, zaar |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Etxegoien, J. Orhipean: Gure Herria ezagutzen Xamar: 1992, ISBN 84-7681-119-5
- Gorrotxategi, M. Nomenclátor de apellidos vascos/Euskal deituren izendegia Euskaltzaindia: 1998
- Michelena, L. Apellidos vascos (5th edition), Txertoa: 1997
- Trask, L. The History of Basque Routledge: 1997 ISBN 0-415-13116-2
