Basque Toponymy

This article analyzes the Toponyme S Basque S, place names in general, of dwelling (village or house) in particular. The Pyrenean families being indicated by their name of house, these toponyms explain the majority of the Patronyme S of origin Basque.

Classification of the Basque toponyms

One can distinguish the modern names which followed the evolution of the language and remain thus understandable by the Basque, of older characteristics of the Pyrenean surface supposed bascophone, but often delicate toponyms to interpret.

Modern toponyms

Typology

The Basque being an agglutinant language, it is not rare to find toponyms Basque rather long. Generally however, one deals with toponyms made up of two terms:

a radical relating to the vegetation or topography
a collective, locative or qualifier

But one finds also simply Larre “moor”, Mendi “mountain”, Bizkai/Biscay “buttress”…

Vegetation

The vegetation - at least the least common species or requiring a particular soil - proves to be a practical means to identify a place and the use which can be made about it. Many toponyms are based on names of plants.

The vegetable main themes are:

ametz “pyrenean oak/marojo/Tauzin”: Ameztoi ( Amestoy ) “tauzinaie”…
areitz , haritz “oak/roble/Oak”: Hariztoi ( Haristoy ), Harizkun “Oak grove”
arantza “sloe tree/endrino/Sloe”: Aranzadi, Aranzazu “prunelleraie”
astigar , azkar “maple/arce/maple”: Astigarraga
gorosti “holly/acebo/Houx”: Gorostiaga = Gorostidi = Gorostiz (a) = Gorostieta = Gorostarrazu “holly-plantation”
haltz “alder/aliso/Alder”: Haltzu ( has ) ( Halsou ) “Aulnaie”
intxaur (tz) “walnut tree/nogal/Noyer”: Intxauspe “under the walnut trees”
lizar “ash/fresno/Ash”: Lizardi, Lizarrantzu ( Lizarazu, Lichans, Licerasse ), Lizarraga, Lizarreta ( Lejarreta ) “Ash plantation”
sahats “willow/sauce/Willow”: Sahasti “Sauçaie”, Sagaspe “under the willows”
urritz “hazelnut tree/avellano/Hazel tree”: Urrizti, Urrizterrazu “coudraie”
zuhar “elm/olmo/Elm”, Zuhaitz “tree”: Zuhar (ruffle) ( Suhare ), Zuhaizti ( Suhast ), Zuhaizkun ( Suhescun ), Zuhatzu ( Zuazo ) “Elm grove”
zur or zu “Wood/will madera/wood”: often at the beginning of name of trees Zurzuri “poplar is”, or of elements out of wooden Zureria “frame”

shrubs of moors:

ihi “rush/junco/Snap ring”: Idoi, Ihitzeaga ( Iceaga ) “rush bed”, Ihitzarte (a) ( Ihitçart ) “between rush beds”
it h' arre' , txilar “heather/brezo/Heather”: Ilhardoy “heath”
iratze “fern/helecho/Fern”: Iratzabal “wide Fernbrake”
ot h' e' “gorse/aulaga/Gorse”: Othaiz < othe + - iz “moor of Gorse

One associates them with suffixes characterizing the place or the position:

a place: - eta, - aga, - itz, - DOI > - di, - azu …
positioning: - EP “under”, ondo, hegi “vicinity, borders”…
standard of place: ibar “valley”…
qualifier: zabal “wide”…

The collectives, often fossil, do not bring particular information.

Animals

The animals do not characterize a place as specifically as the vegetation. Certain names seem however to refer there:

Artzamendi (mountain with Itxassou) is interpreted locally by hartz mendi “mountain of the Ours '. But it is only about one popular etymology: the name is in fact a pleonastic Toponyme “mount mount” with a first term based on the root ( K ) harr - “stone, rock”.
Otxondo is analyzed like “trimming with the wolf. Is it there too necessary to suspect the toponyms in otso, oxo “wolf” of popular etymology? Probably, because with the Moyen-âge corresponds to them a radical gotso - distinct from the name of anybody otso “wolf”.

Topography & constructions

The topographic main themes are:

(K) harr - “stone”: Arrhegi < harr- + hegi “borders rock”, Harluzeaga ( Arluciaga ) “place of the long rock”, Harrieta ( Harriet, Arette ) “with the stones”, Harbide “way of the stones”, (used as material in Harretxe , Harzubi …)
haitz or aitz “stone, rock”: Aitzgorri “red rock”, Haizpuru (a) (Aizpurua, Azpuru (a), Aspuru) = Haitz buru “limit of the rock”, aizpe ( winder ) “low of cliff”
haran , ibar “valley”: Haranbeltz “valley black”, Haranburu ( Haramboure ) = Ibarburu ( Ibarboure ) “bottom of valley”
based -, oihan , “forest, wood”: Basaburu, Oihanburu ( Oyhamboure …) “limit of wood”, Oihartzun ( Oiartzun, Oyharsun, Oyarzun ) “field of the forest”
bide “way”: Bidarte (Bidart), Bidegain “way of the top”
larre, lar- “moor”: Larralde “in edge of moor”, Larressore < Larresoro “field in the moor”, Larrun ( Rhune < Larr-hun, Laruns ) “place of moor”
mendi “mountain”: Mendibil “round mount”, Mendiluze “mount lengthened”

ur “water”: Uhalde “(with) side (of) water”, Uhart E “between 2 brooks”
ithur “source, fountain”: Ithurralde “beside the fountain”, Ithurbide “way of the source”, Iturrebaso “wood of the source”
aintzi marais': Antxarte “between marsh”
lohi “mud”: Lohiola ( Loyola ) “cants quagmire”, Lohitzun ( Lohitçun ) “marsh”

eliza “church”: Elizetxe “house of the church”
ol h' a' “cants; forge”: Olazabal “vast domain with huts”
gaztelu “extremely”: Gaztelubide “way of the castle”
zubi “bridge”: of zu wood and ibi ford, passage of river, Zubiburu “head of bridge”

They are found associated with:

rental: alde “beside”, arte “enters, intermediate”, - hegi “borders”, buru, guren “end”, gibel “behind”…
standard of place: bide “way”…
adjectival: beltz “black”, bil “round”, luze “long”, zabal “wide”, zorrotz “acute”…
augmentative: - atz …

Recent houses

The recent houses are often called “house” + qualifier:

etxe , etxa- “house”: Etxegarai = Etxegoihen = Goihenetxe = Goikoetxea “house of in top”, Etxe gorri ( Etchegorry ) “house (decorated in) red”, Etxarri ( Etcharry ) < Etxe sarhi ( has), Javierre < Etxaberri = etxe berri ( Echavarria, Etcheverry ) “new house”…

jauregi , salha “castle”, “noble house”: Jauregi berri ( Jaureguiberry ) “new castle”, Salhagoiti “house of in top”…
herri “village”: Herriberry “new village”, Euskal Herria “Basque Country”
iri , huri “field” > “borough”: Iriarte ( Iriart ) “intermediate field”…

with like determinants:

rental: behere, barne, barren “low”, arte “intermediate”, goihen, goiti, parked “high”…
place: mendi “mountain”, sarhi …
adjectival: berri “new”, zahar “old”…

The order of determination is hesitant:

barren-etxe = etxebarne “house of the bottom”
Ibarretxe “house of the valley” but Etxemendi ( Etchemendy ) “house of the mountain”

Trades, industries

The workshops of craftsmen are often announced by - tegi :

Hargindegi (a) ( Harguindeguy ) “workshop of mason”
Aroztegi (a) ( Harozteguy, Aroztegui, Arostegui ) “forging mill”

To note that the Basques were not called “carpenter” (zurgin) but “house of the carpenter” (zurgindegi). To also note the name:

Arrozpide (a) “way of the forging mill” (perhaps included/understood like foreign “way from abroad” by confusion with arrotz ).

Names of anybody

One always allots a name of house to the newcomers. But this name can refer to the occupant, with his first name, its origin or its trade:

1) names in - ena, - enea (C-W communication - nea is a residue of variation).

Martikorena “house of Marticot”,
Xoantokorena , Juantorena , “house of Small-Jean” ,
Ponetbeltxenea 'house of “black beret”
Musdehalsuenea “house of Mister de Halsou” .
Martinharginaenea “house of Martin the mason”
Dantzarienea ( Dancharia, Dantxarinea …) “house of the dancer”
Arotzena ( Arocena, Arozena, Arotxena …), Arotzetxe (Arrotsétché) “house of the blacksmith”

2) names in - tegi

Lopetegi, Jaimetegi … “house of Lupe , Jaime …”
Arlandea, Silbendea, Manexunde (a) “house of Roland ( Arrolan ), of Sylvain , Maneixun (Jeannot)…”

Names of saints

Certain villages owe their name to the parochial saint. In the Basque Country, one allots to the title gift “lord to them”, from where names:

Donostia < Gift Sostia < Gift Sebastiao “Saint-Sebastien”
Donoztiri < Gift Ezteben iri “field of (the parish) Saint-Etienne”.
Donibane < gift Iban : Midsummer's Day.

Mélioratifs

The Gascon mélioratifs Betbeder (betj bedè), Bonlòc were adapted out of Basque:

Bista eder “beautiful sight”
Leku ona “good place”

In the same way the modern villas often post names like:

Gure xokoa “our corner (soft)”
Bakean “in peace”
Hemen ongi “here (one is) well”
Haurrendako “for the children”
Izengabea “the without-name”, etc

Names of rivers

As it is seen, the Basques can allot names specific to multiple places which however resemble each other. There does not exist such a variety for the rivers.

Beside the fossil hydronymes, the alive names allotted to the brooks are:

is simple hydronymes: Haran “valley”, Urhabia, Urrobi “hole of water”, Ibai river (in the past bai > Baigorri , Baiona ), Xurrut “brook”, Lats “small brook”…
is a name of the place characteristic of the vicinity of the course of the brook: Arbelua/Arberoue “salte quarry”, of field-eko erreka “brook of…”

Old names

Basque prehistory

The age of the wandering hunters - paleolithic Toponymy of origin

Certain toponyms are very old and take their roots at the time of the wandering hunters (paleolithic). These ancestral toponyms are especially related on the relief or hydrology.

It is in particular the case of the root “hones, rock”: Basque ( K ) harr -, Armenian khar , Irish carraig etc One finds it in France at the origin of toponyms as various as:

Carcassonne, Carqueiranne, Garmendia, Garazi (and Gréciette ), Caralp, Aravis, Arize, Ars-in-D, Artzamendi …

In the direction of “stony river”, one owes him the names of the the Garonne , Charente or Cher .

Its Basque derivative ( kʰ ) rear-EP " under the roches" > " pâturages" is a topic of most widespread of European toponymy, under the alternatives:

karpe ( Carpates, assemble Carpetanos, Cerbère …),
kalpe ( Calpe, Calvi …),
alp ( the Alps, Albi , Albania …) or

arpe ( Arbailles ).

Among the other roots of great diffusion ascribable to the linguistic bottom Euskal, one can quote:

* kan “top”: Arcangues < Arkhangoiz (a), Cannes, Cagnes, Canet

* bun , munho “hillock”: Bunus < Bunoz, Munich (Bavaria; popular etymology by “monks”), Monaco < *Monoecu-, Monein …

ibar * ' rivière' > “valley”: Ibérie, Èbre, Ebron (Aragon, Provence), Ibar (Montenegro), Ebrach, Ibra (Germany), Ybbs (Austria)… and its derivative

ibai “river” > “bay”: Baía/Bahia (Brazil), Wey, Wye (England, Wales), Bayonne < *Baiun (a) , Baigorri , etc

Valley of Aran: of aran, valley.

Elisabeth Hamel & Theo Vennemann, in their article: “ the Basque was the primitive language of the continent ”, support that in Germany, the toponyms in Ibar “Vallée” are reinterpreted in eber “Sanglier”. Others remain faithful to the explanation by Celtic the eburos “If”.

Agriculture - Neolithic Influences

The Neolithic supported the exchanges between the east and the west of the the Mediterranean.

The concept Sumérien uru “quoted” finds in iri, irun , southernmost huri “field” > “city” so important for Basque toponymy (ancient cf toponyms):

Irun, Iruña/Pamplona (with a wetting due to the Basque variation), Oloron < Iluro (with L Latin = R Basque).

The Bronze Age - sorothaptic Influences

The Basque Country knew at the age of metals a strong influence Sorothaptique (first Indo-European speakers), as testify to it many the Harrespil S (small cromlechs) which developed on our tops there is 3 000 years). It is probably with these movements that the arrival of certain words is due as erreka (Slavic rêka ) which supplants the Pyrenean word lats (a) “brook”.

The age of iron - Celtic Influences

A little later the Basque Country knew the age of iron. It is of this time that date the duality Arotz/Arrotz which at the same time means “blacksmith” & “foreigner”.

Although the Celts forwarded by the Pyrenees to settle in the south of the Èbre and in the west of the Iberian peninsula, they left only few traces of their passage except in the valley of the the Garonne.

The Basque language presents some recent loans like landa “moor”, and much of words common to the Basque and the Celtique like:

* bsq. hartz = celt. arth “bear” (at the origin of the name of king “Arthur”) Indo-European word,

* souletin tusuri “demon” = Gallic dūsius “to be malfaisant” ≈ English dizzy “thoughtless”

* bsq. andere “lady” = celt. will andera “young woman”, “Génisse”,

* bsq. mando mule (pony into Gallic)

* bsq. mutʰur “end” = v.irl. moth “male member”, etc

These loans are as well explained by former common influences (first Indo-Europeans, Civilization of the megaliths, etc) why by a geographical proximity of long life (500 years). andere lady (woman into Gallic)

hartz bear (art into Celtic, at the origin of the name of king “Arthur”)
mando mule (pony into Gallic)
motor bike foreskin (rod)
tusuri demon

They recall us that the words are often older than civilizations to which one allot them. -->

Ancient toponyms

The demographic expansion produced place names like Iri berri “field new”. With its alternative Irun berri , it constitutes one of the most widespread names of protohistoric city in the aquitano-Iberian surface:

Auch ( Elimberrum, Eliberris ), Lombez ( Ilumberris , Gers), Irunberri/Lumbier (Navarre), Lombers (Tarn), Elna/Elne ( Illiberri ), Elvira ( Iliberri ), Granada/Grenade ( Illiberis ; Andalusia)…

In the south-west of the surface bascophone, it is the alternative Huri barri ( Ullibarri ) which prevails. It is noted that the R soft Basque corresponds to the L Latin.

The suffix - iz (A), - itz (A) forms today many domain names on the basis:

of a toponym: Aldama/Aldamiz, Etxano/Etxaniz, Garro/Garroitz, Orba/Orbaiz (eta) …
of a plant: Zalgiz (a) ( Sauguis ), Biarritz < *Be (R) arritz …
or another singularity: Ustaritz < *Uztarritz “field of the pile”…

It is attested as of Antiquity in the toponym Iturissa in the north of Pampelune. More in the south, Tarazona is old a Turiazu also based on Iturri “fountain”.

Vitoria-Gasteiz) in the ancient city Suessatium (*zuhaitz (one) - ate) that the distances quoted by the Roman sources place a little more at the East, in Kutzemendi (Arkaia). --> It is on the other hand more difficult to recognize the town of Oiartzun (Gipuzkoa) in the antique Oeasso so much the C-W communication is approximate.

The suffix Basque - OZ (A), Gascon - bone () \ - òç (A) and Aragonese - ués constituted of many names of village in the surface vasconne:

Uztarroz “place of the pile”, Mendoza “place of the mount”, Garros, Garrotxa “place of the mount”, Biscarrués = Biscarrosse “place of the hillock”…

In the celtized areas, new toponyms include Basque roots. Thus Conimbriga (Coimbra Portugal) would come from the Basque goin and the Celt briga which mean the same thing exactly.

The romanisation

The suffix - bone also formed of domain names aquitano-Romans vis-a-vis the Gallo-Roman names in - acu m:

Baliros "field of Valerius".

Conversely, the suffix - acum combines with names Aquitanique S like:

Séméac "field of Semeno " , a derivative of sows = “wire”.

In addition to-Pyrenees, the Latin suffix - anu S becomes - ao :

Amillao < Aemilianus “field of Emile '.

A certain confusion settles between the suffixes - ano Romance and of the local names in - ann .

Another suffix, - áin , made it possible to form domain names on the basis of name of their founder, mainly in Navarre and Soule:

Belascoáin “field of Belazko ”, Ansoáin “field of Santso ”, Garindein “field of Galindo ”…

Germanic toponyms

Biarritz < beariz (1150) < *viaric < *wia-reiks (Iglezias)

Medieval toponyms

The place yielded by the Roman administration was partly occupied by the Visigoths. They left the Germanic word saal > French room “house noble”. The suffixes - eng (custom) > - enx do not relate to the Basque Country: Libarrenx is a graphic imagination for Iribarren .

French side, medieval documentation brings in general only little of new information on the names of village. All more will note one:

the great instability of the C-Ws communication of the name Louhossoa ( Lourhousane in 1595, Lahaussoa in 1683, Louhossiüa in 1690)
that Hasparren is old a Ahaitz-barren (a) > Ahaizparren (a) ( Ahezbarrene in 1247), opposing the popular etymology haritz barne .

In the southernmost part of the Basque Country on the other hand, the names of village raised in 1025 in the reja of San Millán are very instructive.

One notes there:

the abundance of the aspirations (up to 3 in Harhahia , modern Araia ) in an area which since gave up them.
the use of G to mark the palatisation ( ng > ñ, lg > L, modern Gogate Ochate )
the presence of suffixes - zaha (MOD. - tza ), - ahin
of domain names in ( G ) gana : Lopeggana, Licingana …
that Apellaniz was old a Apinganiz , etc

These old Basque names stress that part of the linguistic inheritance of the time irréversiblement is irréversiblement lost.

See too

Toponymy
French Toponymy
strange Place names
Basque
the Basque people

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