Unlike all other Western European languages, Basque is not part of the Indo-European family and is unrelated to any other known language. | |
ca 800,000 speakers. | |
Basque is spoken either side of the Western Pyrenees: in Spain in the autonomous communities of Euskadi and Navarra, and Pyrénées Atlantiques in France. These territories are collectively known in the language as Euskal Herria, the Basque Country. | |
Basque uses the Latin alphabet, with the exception of c, q, v, w and y, which are only used in loan words. Like Spanish, it also uses ñ. | |
The language dates back to pre-Roman times, but the first written records don't appear until the 10th century AD, as clarification notes on a Latin book of sermons. Although most of the notes were in Spanish, some are in Basque, documenting that both languages co-existed in the area where the book was found. | |
Place names within the Spanish Basque Country have both a Basque and Spanish spelling - for example Gipuzkoa in Basque is Guipúzcoa in Spanish. Some even look completely different: Donostia is the Basque name for San Sebastian. |
Primera lección de euskara.. según la BBC
Basque, Euskara/Euskera
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