, blogand on the page Instagram. Finalist of the Language Heroes stream. On the western slopes of the Pyrenees, between present-day Spain and France, a mysterious people, the Basques, have lived since time immemorial. Their language is very different from the surrounding Romance, and this difference has given rise and continues to give rise to many legends about the Basque. In addition to theories about its origin and family ties, there is also a myth about the insurmountable difficulty of learning this language.

However, learning Basque is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. Thousands of people in the Basque Country have learned the language as adults; and there are more and more foreigners speaking Basque fluently. Want to join their ranks? all the useful materials for learning Basque have been collected, but now I will tell you what Russian speakers should not be afraid of in this language and what, on the contrary, you will have to tinker with.

Dialects vs. literary language

The language taught to both non-native Basque speakers and native speakers in school is called euskara batua, literally "united Basque". This, one might say, is a literary standard artificially created half a century ago, which was conceived as something understandable for a speaker of any dialect.

Easily: creators euskara batua"tidied up" the Basque inflection and removed all dialectal illogicalities from there. For example, in Biscay, the transitive auxiliary verb is conjugated like this: dot-dozu-dau-dogu-dozue-dabe. AT batua all made prettier: all forms look like du+ ending ( dut-duzu-du-dugu-duzue-dute).

Complicated: despite the fact that the vast majority of Basques own euskara batua(and some even speak it and do not speak the dialect), the combined Basque in each region has its own differences. The main difficulty lies in vocabulary: often for one concept in batua multiple words are allowed. For example, a hedgehog in the west of the Basque Country will be called kirikino, in the center - triku, and in the east sagarroi. So, ideally, the Basque learner should choose a variety batua and learn the vocabulary of a certain region.

Phonetics

Easily: most Basque sounds do not cause any problems for native Russian speakers, and the incorrect pronunciation of those sounds that are not in Russian will not interfere with mutual understanding.

Complicated: Basque accent and intonation, if you're aiming to sound like a native speaker. If perfect phonetics is not the most important thing for you, then it is better not to waste precious time on them.

Grammar

Easily: cases! Basque cases (of which there are many in comparison with Russian) like to intimidate, but they, in my opinion, are not very scary. Remembering in which situation which case is used is quite simple. Direction ("to the city") - hiriRA, being inside ("in the city") - hiriAN; "with mom" - amaREKIN, "for Mom" ​​- amaRENTZAT. In addition, each case has a very small number of endings (this is “helped” by the absence of a gender in Basque).

Oddly enough, in the "easy" section, I will also mention Basque verbs. Here you will have to suffer only with the conjugation of auxiliary (and about five other) verbs. Having memorized the forms of the auxiliary verb, you can conjugate any other. As for the verb tenses, then approximately up to the level of B1 it is quite possible to manage with five.

Complicated: ergative. We need to constantly think about which verb is in front of us: transitive or intransitive, and depending on this, choose the case of the subject and the form of the verb. It will take time to automate this process.

Well, verbs, of course. It is not so easy to quickly “collect” the necessary verb forms in your head (“I love you” - maite zaitut, "Do you love me" - maite nauzu).

Vocabulary

Easily: even though Basque is a genetically isolated language, there are a lot of borrowings in it. Borrowings from Latin are sometimes not easy to recognize ( gurutze comes from latin crucem), but modern Spanish words in Basque are clearly visible: for example, the suffix - cion turns into - zio- (información - informazio, and verbs change - r on the - tu (descargar - deskargatu).

In addition, many Basque words have a "transparent" form: they are either compound words from several roots, or words with characteristic suffixes. For example, - gailu means "apparatus". Knowing this and a few basic roots, we can easily guess the meaning of words such as igogailu (igo- "lift up", igogailu- "elevator"), garbigailu (garbity"wash, wash" garbigailu- "washing machine"), lehorgailu (lehortu"dry", lehorgailu- "hair dryer"), etc.

Complicated: whatever one may say, you will have to learn a certain number of words that are not similar to anything, Basque is still an isolate.

Dialects, as I wrote above, also add work on vocabulary.

Summing up

There are many grammatical phenomena in Basque that are unfamiliar to a native speaker of Russian, however, there is not so much cramming in the process of studying: there are not dozens of irregular verbs, or hundreds of hieroglyphs. If you want to learn some unusual language, but do not want to spend too much time on it, perhaps Basque is your choice. Zorte on!

Denis Bannikov

What
EUSKARA
or
Where did the language of the Basque Country come from?

This work came into being, one might say, by accident.
Just like the vast majority of readers, I have nothing to do with the language of the Basque Country, Euskara Batua, as they themselves call it; didn't study it, and don't speak it. I have never been specifically interested in foreign languages, and have no linguistic or philological education. My knowledge is limited to the French special school, and several years of studying (or rather, forgetting) this language at the institute. Then, mostly through songs (like many of my peers), I acquired the most general knowledge of English.
We learned the language "by ear", and incomprehensible, illegible words were replaced by phonetically similar gibberish. There was no Internet then, and there were no texts attached to "proprietary" discs either. Yes, and these discs were rare. I will clarify - we are talking about "vinyl" and the beginning of the 80s of the last century.
I remember on the Pink Floyd record, at the beginning of the famous composition “Another Brick In The Wall”, among the noise of a helicopter propeller, we suddenly heard: “Bill! I'm here! Get up, there is a thing!”. Of course, there was something else. But the effect of something elusively phonetically very close made a strong impression. By the way, I'm still so naive and don't know what is pronounced in that place. Maybe someday I'll find out...
We also thought that the Duke of Buckingham, the character of The Three Musketeers, in English is written "BACKINGAME", that is, "BACK TO GAME".
Yes, it's so funny and naive. In a word - no tricks, I have no secrets. "Zero level". So why did I undertake to write about the language of the Basque Country?
Since childhood, I have been curious that some words in languages ​​are similar to each other, but mean different things. And others are completely different, although they mean the same thing. Gradually, for myself, I discovered certain patterns in this similarity and dissimilarity. And I wanted to go further, to the next regularity. That is, for a long time and intuitively I reached the axioms known to professional linguists.
But in this work, I deliberately retained this naive, "childish" approach. For the language of Euskara, indeed, defies any explanation. If you use only the "correct professional method."
I will not use special terms - "ergative", "agglunative", "subject-object-predicate" and the like. I read about them, understood their meaning, but it would be funny if I began to manipulate them, trying to give my thoughts some kind of "scholarship". We will not delve into the wilds of cases, declensions, changes in the verb form from the time of its use, and so on. I want to apologize right away for giving here foreign words without articles; and in Russian words, instead of the prefix "bes-", I write "bez-", according to the old canon.
So, we are interested in the fundamental principle of the language - the word.
Or, as the Basque phrase would be built - The Word Interests Us. Beautiful. Of course, and the letters of which it consists. And the meanings, the translation of these words - how it froze, fixed today.

WHAT ARE WE ALLOWED TO KNOW?

That's what official science tells us today.
The origin of the Basque language is unknown; most likely, it does not belong to the Indo-European group, it appeared before all possible languages ​​​​known today (!) , more ... (different thousand-year numbers are called here); the language is considered isolated, not similar to any of the known ones; there are traces of borrowings from Latin, Arabic, Celtic, French, Aquitaine. All theories of origin are recognized as untenable (since put forward by amateurs); everything that you will be told about the Basque language, apart from the official version, is complete nonsense; and more, and more, and more...
That is, all moves are blocked. “We ourselves do not know this, but do not try to find out either, for any theory of yours necessarily turns out to be wrong…”
Such a rather cold retort. Curious, right?

CURTSY

So, I am an amateur. I hasten to admit this, so as not to bring lightning on my head from all sides.
I stand in front of the formidable fortress of the Affirmed Unshakable Knowledge, and I marvel at its power and greatness. Is it possible to oppose something to this monolith, if before me so many copies had already been hopelessly broken against its wall. And a certain historical analogy involuntarily comes to mind.
“It is known that our Earth is a flat expanse. This firmament rests on three elephants, and they, in turn, stand on a large tortoise. And all this is surrounded on all sides by water-ocean.
Above there is a vault of heaven, on which the heavenly bodies are located. Some of them are bigger - they shine brighter. Others are smaller, they shine weaker. Behind the vault of heaven is a special substance - ether, which fills all the limits. And, finally, the Sun goes around the Earth, rising from one edge of the firmament, and leaving at the end of the day after the other.
Do you have something to object?
Ah, you are again talking about the fact that the Earth may have the shape of a ball. So I thought! But by whom is it proven? What speaks in favor of this fact? After all, if (let's assume such a heresy for a moment) - if it were so - then on the back of the ball people would walk upside down. And how could they manage to stay on the surface, and not fall down?! And how would the water stay on the firmament? All rivers, seas and oceans would drain from the Earth, a universal drought would come, and life would immediately stop!
Isn't that logical? And if so, then all attempts to object to something are just amateurishness. If you persist in your dilettantism, then…” This is followed by arguments in the style of Abdurahman ibn Khottab, the old man Hottabych from the popular children's book of the same name.
Oddly enough, in subsequent years, much of this "amateurism" was still officially recognized.

AN ATTEMPT TO DOUBT

That the origin of the Basque language has no no explanations - suggests that an explanation may be in front of us.
The secret of the most inventive trick turns out to be
simple. Moreover - and this is very important! - it turns out to be the only possible one. But only after they reveal it to you.
Who came up with this trick? In my opinion, the two oldest, most sophisticated inventors: Time and Circumstances.
I will also try to explain everything as simply as possible. Just like I saw it myself. I will try to show something that does not require any special knowledge to understand. To show what is visible, if not at first sight, and not from the first minute, then, after some reflection, it is necessary.
I'm not saying prove it. It seems to me that it is impossible to finally prove something in our world. For, at the top of any proof is the notorious "last question". Which, in turn, requires the following proof, which, probably, is definitively indisputable.
And so on to infinity.
Do we believe that the universe came into being as a result of the Big Bang?
But who or what predetermined the Big Bang itself? What was the fuse, and what was the detonator? Who set the time of the explosion? And why? Questions that cannot be answered, but only translated into the plane of faith. Or disbelief.
Although - if you know the exact answers to them - you probably know EVERYTHING. And then there is no secret for you in the origin of the language of the Basque Country. Yes, and all other languages. Hallelujah!
Yes, but what is "HALLELUJA", "HALLELUJA"? Where did it come from and what does this “ancient religious chant” mean? How is it translated into Russian? Of course, you know this too. Well, I still have to break my head over this.
By the way - in my work I will rely on primacy of the oral form over the written- which cannot but please respected linguists. Although I did not write it for the sake of "recognition", "entering the scientific community", or "sensational discoveries". I want us to use it to look at familiar things with a new, unbiased look.
Remember: the magician diverts attention with "ancient spells" while the "disappearance" is taking place. This trick has been around for thousands of years, but the public is always caught by it. After all, everything is arranged in such a way as not to leave the public the slightest chance to doubt what is happening.
To uncover this old trick, one does not need to sneak backstage and spy on the magician's preparations; and it is not necessary to become a member of some "secret society of initiates."
In our case, you do not need to be a polyglot, to know ancient hieroglyphs, cuneiform and cryptography; Or be able to read between the lines.
It is enough to carefully read the lines themselves.

Science (bless her name!) Knows island tribes whose language, way of life, customs, beliefs, even genetic features are single, unique, and are not found either on a neighboring island, or in general in the world.
But the Basques do not live on an island in the Pacific Ocean, and not in the mouth of an extinct volcano, lost thousands of miles from civilization. And in their case, "isolation" seems somewhat ... how to put it mildly ... far-fetched.
Basques live in Europe! That's the thing! And not on an island, but quite on the continent.
Any travel guide will tell you that three Basque provinces are in Spain - Alava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. They form the so-called "autonomous region of the Basque Country" (Euskadi). In addition, there are also northern regions of Spanish Navarre, where there are also many Basques. Plus, there are three southern border French Basque provinces - Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea, Suberoa. That is, the Basque Country is located between Spain and France, extending from the Pyrenees in the southeast to the Bay of Biscay in the north.
These seven Basque-speaking provinces have been contesting their right to autonomy and independence for many years.

This word in Euskara means "HERITAGE".
In the history of any country there are periods when the distant future is laid. When national ideas are established and developed among the people. Unfortunately, they can be both creative and destructive. As a rule, the ideas of unification, ordering, development are good for the country. Each citizen feels his need, uniqueness, security - precisely, as particles of the Great Nation.
And vice versa - the ideas of delimitation, isolation, superiority - this is the path of wars, rebellions and revolutions. What happens to the people in this case - we learned from our own national experience.
Therefore, I am certainly opposed to any radical methods of changing the existing order. With which, to this day, the history of the confrontation between Basque nationalism and the Spanish crown is full. After all, radicalism is beneficial only to those who receive dividends from it.
Let us recall the Russian-Turkish wars of the Romanov period. Least of all they were needed by Russia and Turkey. But the two countries stubbornly clashed with each other in territorial claims. As historians write, because it “historically happened” that way. And let's ask a simple, childish question: “And who did it “historically folded” like that?
And then - already more complex, adult: "How many dividends were received by this" mysterious stacker "on the blood of people?"
In the history of Basque-Spanish radicalism, the same style is clearly traced. The same, "someone" artificially introduced, the conflict.

But what should these great peoples have to share?
In the name of the Spanish Crown, the New World was discovered, and it was also proved that the Earth has the shape of a ball. It was the Basque Sebastian El Cano who completed the heroic path that Ferdinand Magellan set foot on. Yes, it was a race for new lands, for spices, for gold; but in a historical perspective, these were the steps without which we would have stood "on three elephants and a turtle under the vault of heaven."
Spain had this heroic horse. The Spanish spirit, the Spanish faith, generosity - these are the terms that can be in demand in resolving the "Basque question".
Everything will fall into place if you uncover the mystery of the Euskara language, and with it the origin of the Basque people. If we show that the Basque Country and Spain have single great past, and great heritage. Which is reflected in the Basque word "OINORDETZA", if you look at its root "ORD" - in the most direct, linguistic sense. Despite the fact that now The peoples of these countries speak different languages.
From my point of view, this is vital. This is the prospect of the development of peoples in peace, pride and harmony.

PERFECT SOLUTION

So, the Basque language is not like other European languages. Let's take a look at the map of Europe and find an analogue to this phenomenon.
Take Hungary for example. The Hungarian (Magyar) language is also not like many European ones. But - it is still united in the Finno-Ugric language group (Finnish, Mordovian, Chud, etc.). This classification has long been recognized and is not disputed by anyone.
And in general - under the condition of complete ignorance of the neighboring language, all the same, a Swede can understand a Norwegian, a Pole - a Ukrainian, a Frenchman - an Italian. The Spaniard, of course, will have difficulty understanding the Dane, but they can be explained using a few broken common English words. Which, in turn, are just as “brokenly” understood by almost all Europeans, and not only them.
But, let's imagine that the Basques, as a proud and independent people, do not want to speak broken English with you! And also in broken Spanish, French, Norwegian, Greek, "Latin" and in all other "broken and unbroken", "Indo-European" and other languages.
Imagine that the Basques only want to speak to you in their Euskara Batua (Unified Basque) language. And then, even if you were the most “polyglot polyglot”, you would not understand anything. Nothing! That is, in the middle of Europe lives a million people who speak a language that no one in Europe (and in the world) understands! And I never understood!
Well, the research is over, as a brilliant solution has been found.
Basques are aliens. Any objections?

FORCED TO CONTINUE

Unfortunately, the solution I found in the previous chapter is not final. Of course, I am upset by this fact. After all, it would miraculously explain all the "dark places" and "white spots" in the origin of the Basque language. And most importantly - it would explain its officially recognized antiquity. After all, what do we know? That the Basque language appeared a very, very long time ago. Let's ask a naive childish question: how long ago? We will again be patiently told: two; four thousand years ago. Or maybe ten...
Then we will be completely ill-mannered: “Couldn’t you be more precise? Still, four thousand five hundred eight (4508) years, or is it still eleven thousand three hundred and eighteen (11318)? And the wise scientist-historian will wearily take off his glasses, look forgivingly at the next amateur, and say: “I think, closer to the second date ...”; and directs his gaze into the distance, as if piercing time with it ...
For my "alien solution" - the further the better. Ten thousand years ago. Or fifty! This is a great date! If Euskara appeared “about” (as historians like to leave a loophole for themselves) 50,000 years ago, everything becomes clear even to a baby.
I see this picture: an alien spaceship hangs over the peaks of the Pyrenees, aliens descend from there in the shining rays, and say to our entire earthly world: “ARRATSALDEON!”, Which in Basque means “GOOD EVENING!”.
Further, “according to the chronicler,” the newcomers settle compactly near the Pyrenees. Why exactly here, why didn't they spread to wider territories? Well, firstly, how much can you take with you from a distant unknown Galaxy on board? And then, alien aliens did not fly here for millions of light years to mix with the natives and their local wild dialects.
Thousands, tens of thousands of years pass like this. All this time, the "alien Basques" have been patiently waiting for the local civilization (and local historians and linguists like it) to reach a suitable level of development in order to recognize their language as "isolated, the most ancient and mysterious." And steadfastly beat off all attempts to understand its origin.
But, as I said, my coherent theory is failing.
First, there is no evidence to support it. Not verbal, much less written. There are no rock paintings in which the characteristic Basque headdress - beret, could be somehow identified with an alien ship, or a flying saucer,
or a helmet. Very sorry…
And secondly (and this indirectly emphasizes the level of the problem) - the Basques were even subjected to genetic examination. Yes! And here the second blow awaited me - nothing indicating their extraterrestrial origin was found.
Specifically, studies (based on the study of mitochondrial DNA) have shown that the genetic set of the Basques coincides with the typical genetic set of most Europeans. That is - the same people as all the inhabitants of Europe. Approximately the same age of origin. No aliens ... In general, again, not that ...

So, in my assumptions, I ended up with a broken trough. "Alien Theory" failed. I have not created others. Therefore, in order to recover from failure, I will allow myself a few words about what are called written, and in general - historical documents.

WHAT TO BELIEVE?

Returning to the "alien" dates in the previous chapter: of course, fifty thousand years is a lot for written evidence. As well as ten, five, one thousand years. To be sure of the reality of the events described, it is better to read what was written to us towards the end of the 16th century. And even better, more reliable, calmer - starting from the 17th century. An amazing coincidence - the Basque writing dates back to the same period for the first time.
What's so amazing about this, you ask? The fact that at this time begins to take shape officially accepted today's day history.
Comprehensive historical works and new geographical maps fix the world order within the boundaries of the Old World, that is, Europe; and in the "recently rediscovered lands" of the New World. Antique documents and artifacts are found, confirming the pre-emptive rights of a particular country in geopolitical, religious, cultural and other spheres.
Such documents and chronicles existed before. But the increasing number of their discoveries and finds, starting from the second half of the 16th century; and most importantly, the brilliant harmonization of "ancient sources" with the official model of history has become ubiquitous and indisputable.
Scheme: “We lived here another four (five; ten - underline as necessary) thousand years ago, and we descend from Romulus (Alexander; Rurik). And who are you? Nothing is written about you anywhere” (here follows a listing of authoritative names and sources of antiquity). How can they not believe them?!
It is interesting that all this happens after the "distemper" and the coming to power of the Romanovs in Russia; and the beginning of the Reformation in Europe. Coincidence?
Scholars have been arguing about stretches and white spots in the officially accepted history for a long time. Some alternative historical hypotheses I, as a naive amateur, studied with interest. In my opinion, not all of them are undeniable. But after all, that's what they are "hypotheses". But the reaction to them from official historians surprises with its peremptory aggressiveness. They say that the scientific world is cruel, insults in disputes are not uncommon ... Well, maybe; but such a reaction makes me even more doubtful of the "holy infallibility" of the current historical canon.
I say this because any language - and Euskara is no exception - cannot exist and develop outside of a historical context. If the Basques are not aliens, then the same earthly civilizational processes are valid for them. And uniform inconsistencies of the official history. We will not go into disputes here about the countless dynasties of pharaohs and kings, real or legendary. There are simpler examples.

As is known for certain, bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Even official history admits this. But she dates the “Bronze Age” to the times when the metallurgy (process of obtaining) tin was still didn't exist. Explaining that "obviously, some particles of tin in its natural form, in random proportions, were mixed with copper during smelting." Weird; as if history and chemistry exist in some parallel worlds...
I anticipate: “Ah, so he read dangerous books! That the story is artificially lengthened; that the events and characters of antiquity are fictitious! That in Russia there was no "yoke", but there was a Great (Mughal) Empire, and the Horde is just a Russian regular army! He's a heretic!"
I was waiting for this "auto-da-fé". But, unlike the "agitprop" of the Reformation, not everyone who appeared before the court of the Inquisition was accused of heresy. Many were acquitted after trial. So let's see?
Indeed: the Horde - be it the "Mongol-Tatar yoke" or the "Russian army" - was real historical event, the formation of the east. After all, this is not heresy, is it? And I want to show traces of this phenomenon in the language of the Basque Country; than to doubt its "isolation" and "not similar to anything." I also want to show the reflection of the Horde in other foreign languages. I didn't have any "voices", I just read the words and the letters in them. Only by matching words and letters, I want to reconstruct the chain of events.
I believe that if the phenomenon "A" is reflected in the phenomena "AB", "AC", "AD", "AE", then the phenomenon "A" is primary in relation to the others, and not vice versa. Are there signs of heresy in this statement? Unlikely…
Thus, at the end of my amateurish research, I want to objectively lean in favor of one version or another.
Outside of any historical and linguistic conjuncture.
So, the Euskara language "arrived" just in time. As soon as the modern historical picture of the world began to take shape clearly (the end of the 16th - 17th centuries), writing immediately appeared in the Basque language.
Again, a naive question arises: how did the “most ancient European language” manage without writing? before? How did the Basque Sebastian El Cano, apparently unable to write (and even read, since there was no written language), in 1519 got into the team of Fernand Magellan as one of the senior officers? Perhaps he learned “ancient Latin” for this?
Isn't there an inconsistency here?
In general, this is a very interesting question: “In what language do people communicate with each other until the “Renaissance” gives them writing?” And not some "prehistoric people of the early Neolithic", but quite Europeans, the Basques - the same captain of El Cano? It is possible that many of his compatriots didn't know how read and write. But it does not automatically follow from this that they did not have their own alphabet, from which, in turn, the words they understood were composed. Otherwise, they would communicate with primitive monosyllabic interjections, like the islanders, who still use a stone scraper. Unlike other "enlightened Europeans" who lived next to them.
Solving historical puzzles is complicated not only by the reality, or the "legendary" nature of an event. There is another important aspect: the interpretation of this event.

Let's take two chronicles dating from the same time, describing the same event (for example, a war) - but created in different countries. They can be very different. Even if these countries were allies in the described war. Here is a very clear example.
Ask the "average American": who fought and who won World War II? You'll hear about Pearl Harbor, the Japanese, Okinawa, D-day, and Adolf Hitler's flight to Argentina. Where he was caught and, under the name of Adolf Eichmann, brought to the court of the Sanhedrin. Most likely, "Lieutenant McLain, played by Bruce Willis."
This is an exaggerated, but real level of their historical knowledge.
I grew up and learned in the imperial mind. Therefore, I objectively know a different interpretation of those events: there were no grandfathers in millions of families of my generation. They fell on the battlefield. And the basic right to victory belongs to them, the Soviet soldiers. I use the word "Soviet" in strict accordance with the realities of that time. And the official name of the victorious empire.
But the propaganda of the "Third Reich", for example, used a different term - "Judeo-Bolshevik". And this interpretation would undoubtedly have remained in all textbooks and "serious historical works" if Hitler and his masters had won that war.
Deny that the Soviet Union won the Great Patriotic War and contributed decisive contribution to the overall victory of the Allies is impossible. While on the territory of the former empire there are those generations that know and remember. The generations that it's impossible to lie. And while there are documents confirming this. And they were created in our memory - for 50-60 years.
But for the history of half a century - nothing.
And which of the two interpretations of one war will later be recognized as correct? If the falsification of the premises and results of World War II is already going on today, where is the guarantee that in 50 years these documents will not simply destroyed?
Of course, this will only happen if the political will in Russia for some reason will not be manifested in the preservation of the truth; and it will be supplanted by another "global historical falsification".
But let's face it: Russia is not the Soviet Union that won that war. This is a completely different state. He has a different ideology, different values ​​and perspectives. And a completely different weight in the world. Yes, it is located on the imperial territories inherited from the collapse. But - no more than that. And I'm not sure that the "state of the Russian Federation" will inherit objective historical truth from the "empire of the USSR." If you are sure - correct me.
Today, in real time, I am a witness to the substitution of history.
And at the same time, they convince me in every possible way that the “official history” written 300-400 years ago is the only true and objective document. That only he, he alone! - absolutely impartially describes everything that happened before him, in the XIII-XIV-XV centuries - including on the territory of my Motherland.
If "dominance and pre-eminence" are so important today, when there are instantaneous means of mass notification - television, radio, the Internet - then in ancient times, interpretation and re-evaluation of history were the number one weapon.
Not a sword, not a catapult, not a bow, not a musket. A historian's pen.
And the "correct interpretation" of the event. Or people. Or language.

After all, it is enough to erase information about the language to erase information about the people. And in the vacated space, you can carefully enter the desired "antique" text. As historians like to say in such cases, "accidentally found" and "miraculously preserved."
But I don't want to blindly believe "fascinatingly written textbooks" and "serious historical works." Where it is authoritatively explained to me why Spain and the Basque Country are “historically” at enmity, and “Slaves (slaves) living in the east” should experience an inferiority complex.
This chapter is quite long, but it is very important.
To understand not "alien", but the real historical course of events, where Time and Circumstances consciously put a lot of obstacles on the way to the truth.
Because the truth is usually inconvenient. And therefore it is not needed.
History is the most unfortunate of all sciences: it relies on exact facts that no one can ever confirm.
Therefore, I decided to discard all previous knowledge, all habitual representations and images. I don't know anything, so I'll start with the basics.
Literally - with "az, beeches, lead" - from the alphabet.

A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, R, S, T, U, X, Z

I have studied the Alphabet - this is how the Basque phrase would have been built. Fortunately, it turned out to be only 22 letters. Even for me, not a linguist, it turned out to be within the power. Studying it methodically, I made a startling discovery: the Basque alphabet lacks the letters "C", "Q", "V", "W", "Y". »!
That is, those that are and are very commonly used in the usual, "Latin" alphabet. And imagine classical Latin without "C", "Q", "V » - generally impossible. Try to write the emperor's name, or order, without the letter "C" » - it will turn out "...AESAR"!
Imagine if at the beginning of the 21st century in Russia, in an official paper, you deliberately wrote: “... RESIDENT V.V. ... UTIN", citing the fact that there is no letter "P" in your alphabet! It certainly wouldn't be praised for that. But now, as a last resort, you can refer to a printer defect. And you may not even be fired, but in those days ... At best, you will be chained up and sent to the local Colosseum, to fight with similar "sealers", and at worst ...
Better not to think about it!
And the Basques, according to scientists, no way, well, no way could not not live with Caesar! After all, scientists unanimously claim that this is "the oldest European people, that it is several thousand years old." Although - right there, they make a cautious reservation: they say, "the Romans did not really want to conquer these territories." An amazing exception!

METHODS. CAESAR METHOD

However, somehow the Basques under Caesar (and in general, under all Caesars), not having the letter “ With", were twisted. But how?
It can be assumed that all written decrees were issued in Latin. The required letter was there. And in the local, Basque, dialect, it was replaced by a combination of letters in the alphabet.
Then I began to look for letter combinations in the Basque language. Below I give them, as well as phonetic (sound) analogues of letters in Russian. Their knowledge will be necessary for us in the future.

ts - h; c; w g - g x - w dd - d
tx - h h - x, or as a breath z - s ll - l
tz - tsj j - th ñ - н tt - t

Of course, these are not all options, but this is enough for a correct reading of the words. In addition, I found out that the Euskara language, like all others that we understand, has several territorial dialects. They differ in pronunciation, but are easily understood by all Basques, in whatever province they live. Therefore, further, when transcribing Basque words, I will sometimes give a couple of pronunciations. Without claiming, of course, for absolute correctness. "Authenticity", as they say in the world of science.
As you can see, the Latin letter "C" could be replaced by the Basque "TS" or "TZ". And, phonetically, Caesar was pleased. Ave him!
Then, for fun, I looked to see if there were any Basque equivalents for CAESAR.
And, for fun, I found the word "ESAERA".
That is, the same "CAESAR", "CA-ESA (E) RA" only without the letter " With»!
And this word means "STATEMENT", "PROVERB".
That is - a word that clearly comes from the Latin "CAESAR", "CAESAR", "IMPERIAL" - in Euskara was fixed as "STATEMENT". That is, a quote. That is - "STAFF OF THE EMPEROR", as something that has no other interpretation; an immutable law, a complete thought ... That is, "CAESAR" is synonym the words “STATEMENT”… So I spoke to myself, trying to gain a foothold in analogies, to build a bridge to understanding the rest of the words; trying to find a method.
I tried to substitute the Latin letters "Q", "V", "Y" in the Basque words, but did not find anything that could lead me to some kind of system. The CAESAR method turned out to be valid for a single case. For further advancement, it was necessary to look for something else. Other methods.
But on the other hand, an interesting aspect opened up to me: words in their modern fixed understanding may mean something different from what they once meant.
Of course, for linguists, this discovery of mine is just another platitude.

JULES VERNE METHOD

Probably everyone remembers Jules Verne's novel "Children of Captain Grant".
In the plot of this work, a sealed bottle falls into the hands of the heroes from the depths of the sea. Inside it, in the form of three notes, is a call for help. Captain Grant, having found himself by the will of fate on a lost island, wrote it in three languages ​​- English, German and French. Having detailed the circumstances of the shipwreck, he indicated the coordinates and the name of the island. And his salvation, it would seem, was only a matter of time.
But Jules Verne came up with the idea that the notes were badly damaged by sea water. Moreover, each in its own way, in different places. Thus, it was possible to extract the information contained in them only by translating all three texts. Comparing scraps of similar words, and mutually complementing them.
Since the characters of the novel spoke all languages ​​to varying degrees, they quickly translated the content. And they made only one minor, it seemed, oversight in the translation. But it was because of her that they had to go around almost the entire globe in search of Captain Grant. Incredible adventures and trials awaited them, and, finally, a happy ending.
All in all - a great novel, with an intriguing, detailed plot.
Why not apply the same method to us?
Let's suppose that three notes also accidentally fall into our hands. And we, like the heroes of Jules Verne, believe that their content is identical. Although many words are also partially or completely destroyed by the sea.
The first is clearly written in English. The second is in French. And the third is in the Basque language. Comparing three versions of the same text, we will restore it, and find out the points of intersection of Euskara with languages ​​better known to us.
Here's what the English version looks like:

strona n mar bou square ld ick to go t nema

What catches your eye in an English note? Here the whole word "SQUARE" is exactly present - "SQUARE, SQUARE"; and the link "TO GO T ..." is obviously, "GO SOMEWHERE". We also see an explicit proper name: "MAR ...". Maybe it's a geographic name? "MAR DEL ZUR", for example. Although, in the English version it would hardly be indicated by Latin. Perhaps this name is Mary - "MARY".
Well, not bad for a start. Let's move on to the French version. There he is:

Cosm e arie son ache un bill ree d "or pou ller au ci

Here we definitely have the beginning of the first word, as it is capitalized. By connecting "COSM" with "STRONA" from the English version, we put the word "COSMONAVT" here. Or "ASTRONAUT", "ASTRONAUT", as is customary in the English-speaking tradition.
Move on. The assumption about the name "MARIA" seems to be correct. This is indicated by the ending "...ARIE" in the second note. That is, the note begins with the words "COSMONAUT AND MARIA", because it is logical to put the union "AND" between them ("N" and "E" - scraps of "AND" and "ET").

And now it's time to finish the note. Here we are waiting for another success - from two scraps of "NEMA" and "CI" it is easy to make the word "CINEMA" - "CINEMA". This word is preceded by "TO GO T..." and "POU... LLER AU".
Most likely, this is a French link with the verb "ALLER" - "GO"; "POUR ALLER AU…". Thus, the whole meaning of the ending is formed - "TO GO TO THE MOVIES".
We have not yet taken on the deciphering of the Basque note, but we already know that "COSMONAUT AND MARIA […] SQUARE […] TO GO TO THE MOVIES"!
What about the missing middle? Pay attention to the word "D" OR" in the French note. If it is whole, it means "FROM GOLD." Doesn't it correspond to the fragment "LD", "GOLDEN" in the English version?
And the “miraculously preserved” English word “SQUARE” - is there an analogue of the French fragment “REE”, that is, “CARREE” - “SQUARE”?
Remain "BOU"; "ICK" in English, and "ACHE"; "UN BILL" in a French note. Knowing that the Cosmonaut and Maria have to go to the cinema, it can be assumed that they will need a ticket. And for this you need to buy it. That is, "BOUGHT TICKET" AND "ACHETENT UN BILLET", respectively. But this is only a hypothesis, and the "Basque" note should either confirm or refute it. But she seems to be in trouble.
Not only that, we do not understand this language. The note itself fell apart into several pieces! Almost by the number of words. Luckily, the words themselves survived fairly well. We do not know in what order the words should be placed according to the rules of Basque phraseology. Therefore, we add these scattered pieces in the same way as the first two notes:

osmonaut Maria karrat urrez illete ero tze zinema joan

Many of our guesses were confirmed: “COSMONAUT AND MARIA […] SQUARE GOLDEN TICKET (“KARRATU URREZKO BILLETE”) […] CINEMA (“ZINEMA”). These words are easily understood even by us who do not know the Euskara language. The snippets of "ERO" and "TZE" are possibly the same word. "EROTIC"? Maybe. Therefore, we placed them in front of the "CINEMA" - "EROTIC CINEMA". We did not find analogues in the Basque version of the words "BUY", "GO" and some official parts of speech. But all this pales in comparison to our discovery.
It turns out that the Cosmonaut and Maria did not go to the cinema alone! This is clearly indicated by the end of the third note: "ZINEMA jOAN". That is - “IN THE MOVIE WITH JOAN (JUAN, JOAN); TO THE CINEMA WITH JOAN!
Why did we decide so? Because only this piece contained not one word, but two. And exactly in that order. And it is logical to think that with the lost pretext, the meaning of the ending is just that.
But this fundamentally changes the meaning of the described event! It's one thing to go to the movies together. This is a romantic date. But if at the same time there is also Joan - this is a love triangle! And if this Joan is jealous and quick-tempered? The case is taking a serious turn.
Perhaps the note warns of the upcoming showdown between the Cosmonaut and Joan because of Maria?!

It's a little embarrassing that "jOAN" is not capitalized, as a proper name would be, but with a lowercase letter.
But, firstly, there could be another, lost letter, which is put in the Basque version of the spelling of this name, for example, “Ijoan”. We do not know exactly how the Basques write names.
Secondly, writing the letter "j" by hand often eliminates the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Thirdly, this is the last word in the note, and, perhaps, it was already written in a hurry in order to have time to "throw a sealed bottle into the sea before the tide began to ebb."
And if you agree with my arguments, I offer the final transcript:
"COSMONAUT AND MARIA BUY A GOLDEN SQUARE TICKET TO GO TO THE CINEMA WITH JOAN."
Well, I can say with satisfaction that the Basque language is not so incomprehensible! In the process of translation, we easily found analogues in two European languages. This means that the “Jules Verne Method” is much more productive than the “Caesar Method”. And you can move on with it!
…Yes, you can. But, burning with shame, I again have to admit: taking the "Method of Jules Verne" as a basis, we will go the same long and wrong way as the heroes of the novel. For at the very beginning we also made a fatal mistake. But unlike them, we can't fix it. And in the final we will not reach the goal.
And we can't understand or translate anything.
Forgive me. I misled you. The only excuse I have is that I myself was sincerely mistaken.
It is no accident that I cited such an absurd phrase for decoding - in it I collected the maximum borrowed words. They are now believed to have their roots in Latin, and their meaning is the same in many languages; and in Euskara too.
"COSMONAUT, MARIA, TICKET, GOLD, SQUARE, MOVIE" - we easily identified these words. Which gave me a reason to immodestly celebrate success.
But here are the words that I did not translate, considering them insignificant - in them lies the viciousness of this method.
For example, "ERO" AND "TZE". Of course, it's not "EROTIC" as I naively assumed. These are snippets of two different words "EROSI"; "BUY" and "-TZEKO"; "TO". But this is not the whole depth of my defeat.
The notorious "JOAN" turned out to be neither "Joan" nor "Juan".
And in general - there was no third character there.
"JOAN" is the Basque verb "GO". Therefore, according to the rules of Euskara, it is written after the word "CINEMA". "GO TO THE CINEMA".
And, of course, capitalized.
I'm very embarrassed. Before you, before Maria, the Cosmonaut, before the whole world. And before itself - first of all.
What's left? The Jules Verne Method showed me what everyone has known for so long. Borrowed words can be translated without much difficulty. The purely Basque words remain a mystery. I ran into the same “Basque dead end”, which stopped hundreds, thousands of amateurs before me. How to understand what is impossible to understand?

Yes, how I was misled by the verb "JOAN" - "GO"!
One of the basic verbs in any language of the world! Why does it sound and spell the same as the most common name in the world - John?
Of course, this is just an incident. To suggest otherwise is naive dilettantism.
But if you muster up the courage and guess...

WHERE, WHERE, AND WHY "JOAN"?

... that some phenomenon was reflected here, which passed in meaning to the designated action - “GO”, “WALK”. The phenomenon is generally significant, one might say - canonical. It seems to me that in order to answer, you don’t even have to “go” anywhere. For the answer is visible from the spot.
"There was a man sent from God; his name is John. He came for a testimony[…] that all might believe through him” (John 1:6-8)
This is John the Baptist, John the Baptist - a prophet who preached coming Messiah:
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is, of whom I said: follow me goes The man who stood before me, because he was before me. I don't know Him, but for that came baptize with water, that He may be revealed to Israel" (John 1:29-31)
So, at least two "go" were revealed in John: he himself came from God, and predicted coming Christ.
It may be added that, while preaching the baptism of repentance, John walked in the country of Jordan. And people go be baptized. They don't "become" baptized, they don't "transform", they don't even "reborn" into them.
Not; clear verb - "go be baptized." "John".
Can John the Baptist be reflected in the Basque verb "JOAN" - "GO" in this way? The question is open, but this assumption seems simple to me, and therefore realistic. But about the connection between “simple and correct” - later. In the meantime - I had to return to the search for a method.

MORE SHADE, LESS SELF-CONCEPT!

It was not possible to understand the Basque language "with a swoop". Burned by the "Latin" methods of "Caesar" and "Jules Verne", I decided to behave more modestly.
As I said, I studied French at school. Publicly available sources said that part of the Basque provinces is located on the territory of modern France. I decided to change the search area. Perhaps if the Basque language conflicts so much with Spanish, maybe it will be more favorable to French? It is hardly possible to live next door and not learn anything!
Surrounded by textbooks and dictionaries, I launched a real French, as in the days of Buonaparte, an attack on the language of the Basque Country.
But there was no breakthrough.

Yes, some Basque words had similarities with French. For example, the verb "THINK": "PENTSATU". Which was very similar to the French counterpart "PENSER". Is not it? Or "BERDE" - "GREEN". Similar to the French "VERT". I found a few more similar words. But the system didn't work out. Since the French itself "cave" everywhere under the "mother Latin".
Then I decided to look at the problem differently.
Perhaps the language of the Basque Country is incomprehensible, because it has something illogical? Any shift in the generally accepted meaning at the lowest level - at the level of the original construction of the word?
That is, if we develop the principle "ESAERA-(C)ESAERA" - not only the loss in time of the original concept, but also the loss of the rule, the principle by which the concept itself, the image, and the word denoting it were formed?
I asked myself: what is wrong, for example, in French? Does it have any established illogicality, to which everyone is accustomed, and do not pay attention?
Surprisingly, I didn't have to search long. Since I knew one of these "illogicalities" from the second grade of my school.

WALS bsq, bqb, bqg, bqh, bqi, bql, bqn, bqo, bqr, bqs, bqz and bso

The total number of speakers is about 800,000 people, most of whom (700 thousand) live in the Basque Country, of which more than 500 thousand are in its Spanish part. A small number of speakers live in other regions of Europe, America and Australia.

The Basque language is divided into a number of dialects that are very different from each other. A unified literary Basque language was created in the 1960s by the linguist Koldo Michelena. The reconstruction of the proto-Basque language was carried out by Michelena, A. Tovar and L. Trask.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ Basque - A Language of Mystery

✪ Learn Basque (free video lesson)

✪ Basque language

✪ Euskera, the Basque language | Kontatu, digital storytellers

✪ Basque Country (narrated by Marat Safarov)

Subtitles

Hi everyone, welcome to my Langfocus channel, my name is Paul Yes, yes, today my channel reached 50k subscribers This is a big day for me When I launched the channel, my dream and goal was to reach 50,000 subscribers and I thought that this is going to be the culmination although it looks like a very achievable goal for now and we'll see how far i get from 50,000 but for now i've reached my original goal and it's very cool, makes me very happy so thanks for your support so on to today's topic Imagine that there would be such a mysterious language, surrounded on all sides by other languages ​​with which it has no connection. So, there is such a language. It is called the Basque language. Basque is a language isolate. This means that it has no connection with any other language It is located in Europe but is not Indo-European It forms its own language family and it is very different from the Indo-European languages ​​It is spoken by the Basques, in the Basque country, a region that covers the Spanish-French border in the greater western part of the Pyrenees Not all Basques speak it, approximately 27 percent of the total population Total native speakers 714,135 out of a total population of 2,648,998 including about 663,000 on the Spanish side and 51,100 on French It is an official language regionally in Spain, in the Basque Autonomous Society and in Navarre. It is not an official language in France. The roots of the Basque language are shrouded in a veil of mystery. As I said, it is a linguistic isolate It is believed to be the last remaining language that existed in Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages ​​There are still some pre-Indo-European languages ​​in the Caucasus, but Basque is the only one in Western Europe There is strong evidence that Basque is a descendant Aquitanian, which was the ancient language of the Iberian region There are some similarities between Aquitaine and ancient Iberian, so some believe they may be related, but these similarities are most likely due to geographical proximity and mutual influence. We do not know. Some linguists suggest that Aquitaine was part of a larger language family, the Vasconian, which occupied most of Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages. But again, we don't know. Some people see a connection between Basque and other non-Indo-European languages, such as the Caucasian ones. But again... Let me guess.. We don't know? Exactly, we don't know. All we know is that the Basques, who are mostly descended from farmers who came to this land about 6,000 years ago, have been isolated from the outside world for thousands of years. This is partly due to the wooded area of ​​​​this country And the lack of attractive resources that prevented invasions. Apparently, it was isolation that allowed the language to survive and develop into today's Basque language. Of course, there were Latin additions to this language as well as borrowings from Romance languages, but nothing like the complete disappearance of pre-Latin languages ​​in this region. Basque was unified until the Middle Ages, when it began to break up into dialects due to administrative and political divisions within the Basque state Despite the fact that the Basques have been ruled by various states for centuries, the Basque Country still remains isolated and relatively unaffected by the outside world, as for the language too But when Francisco Franco becomes ruler of Spain in 1939, the use of Basque was suppressed because Franco wanted to equate all of Spain with Castilian culture It was forbidden to speak Basque in public places and in schools, also banned in the media and taken out of use by public services This led to a serious reduction in native speakers and partly because today, only 27 percent of the population of the Basque country speaks the language In the 1960s, the pressure was eased and the teaching of Basque in schools was allowed and the language began to be used again in society and education This led to the creation of a standardized language called Yushkara Batua It was developed by the Basque Language Academia, or Jushkaltsandia and it was aimed at being understandable to people speaking different dialects. There are 5 main dialects: Bizkay or Western Basque, Gipuzkoy or Central Basque Upper Navarre, Navarro-Lapurdian and Suletane in France. These dialects correlate with the historical provinces of the Basque country, but do not quite correlate with the modern provinces. The level of intelligibility depends on the distance between these dialects at a dialectical distance. And the most distant dialects bear very little resemblance to the rest. So what does he look like? Its vocabulary has been influenced to some extent by the Romance languages ​​surrounding it. But when you see the structure, you don't think it's a Romance language, or for that matter any Indo-European language. Basque has cases, 12, cases, if to be precise, but generally not surprising for Indo-European languages. But it has such a thing as an ergative case. This means that there is such a special form of a noun when it is the subject in a sentence and takes the form of a transitive verb. This means that it has there is a specific action object. This ergative case is distinguished by the ending "k" at the end of the noun. Along with the ergative case, there is also an absolutive case. It is needed for the subjects of intransitive verbs, that is, it does not have a definite object. And in this case, the noun has no ending Let's look at a few sentences umea kalean erori da It means: "The child fell down in the street", but if you read it verbatim, you can see an interesting structure of Basque. personal form" Let's look at the first word: "ume" is a child, but the definite article is "a" at the end. The next word "Kalean" is the street, and after the definite article "a" and the preposition "on" is "n" on at the end of the word The next word: "erori" is the verb to fall in the past complete tense, denoting a completed action AND the auxiliary verb comes after the main one and means "to be in the personal form of the 3rd person singular. present his time" Another Basque sentence: gizonak umeari liburua eman dio This means: "The man gave the book to the child" Literally "man-definite article" in the ergative case "child-article" in the dative "book-article", "gave" , "the verb "to have" in personal form" The first word is "gizonak", "gizon" is "man", then the definite article is "a", then the ergative sign is "k" "umeari" is "child". Again - "child" is "ume", then the definite article "a" and the dative case indicator "ri" at the end of the word The dative case usually indicates who or what the action affects The next word is "liburua", "liburu" is "book" , and "a" is the definite article. This word seems to be borrowed from the Romance languages ​​the next word "eman" is a verb and it is in the perfect tense, showing that the action is done And then the auxiliary verb "dio" comes after and means "the verb to have in personal form" The following sentence In Basque : makumeak gizona ikusi du It means: "The woman saw the man" Literally: "woman article" in ergative, "man article", "saw" "auxiliary verb" The first word is "emakumeak". "emakume" is a woman, then "a" and an ergative "to" The next word is "gizona", which is a man and again the definite article Then "ikusi" which means "saw" and again, this is the perfect form of the verb AND the auxiliary verb at the end " have 3 person singulars in personal form" As you can see, Basque is very different from any Indo-European language Very different from anything I've studied, but still seems pretty logical and systematized It would be a shame to lose a language that is so unique and connects us with the ancient history of Europe The number of Basque speakers has decreased greatly over the last century But there are attempts in Spain to revive the language and make it more common again let's hope that these attempts will continue in France too Thank you for watching my channel I want to thank you again all those who support me on Patreon, you are cool, I appreciate you. Thank you to everyone who subtitled the video or suggested writing scripts for GeoFocus and all that. Don't forget to check my Facebook, Twitter and Instagramm accounts because I'm always available so we can be in touch and you will always know when I am I will release new material Thank you for watching and have a nice day! Translated by Alexander Kovalev

Hypotheses about external relationship

Until recently, it was believed that the oldest inscriptions in the Basque language of the 3rd century BC. n. e. found during excavations of a Roman city, conditionally called Irunya-Veleia (according to the modern name of the area); later, an independent commission of 17 experts found that these inscriptions were falsified.

The first book in the Basque language is a collection of poems called "Linguae Vasconum Primitiae", written in the year.

The Basque language is not related to any known language family. There is an assumption about its connection with the Aquitanian language (see references in the article Iberian script). According to another hypothesis, the Basque language reveals an ancient relationship with the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily.

On the territory of the USSR, since the 1920s, the hypothesis of the relationship of the Basque language with the "Iberian-Caucasian languages" has gained popularity. Despite the controversy of many of its provisions, up to the fact that the very term "Iberian-Caucasian languages" was recognized as untenable, this hypothesis played a positive role, as it led to the emergence of a school of Basque studies in the USSR, mainly on the territory of Georgia. Famous supporters of this hypothesis were N. Ya. Marr, Sh. V. Dzidziguri and Yu. V. Zytsar. Modern supporters of the Nostratic school (G.S. Starostin and others) assume a relationship between the Basque and North Caucasian languages ​​(sometimes also West Caucasian), while rejecting its connection with Kartvelian.

"Eusker ( Euskara)" has been the official language of the Basque Country since 1982. The geographical features of the region contributed to the preservation of linguistic features. This fact leads some linguists to believe that there are 7 varieties of the Basque language. To overcome this division, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language, founded in 1919, created a standardized Basque grammar for official use called "batua".

Prevalence in the world

Number of native speakers

Basque is currently spoken by about 700,000 people - primarily in northern Spain and southwestern France. No data are available for speakers outside the Basque Country, but it is estimated that 90,000 people in other parts of Europe and the Americas speak or at least understand Basque. This brings the total number of speakers to approximately 800,000. Different institutions and publications give different numbers of speakers: the 1998 Encyclopedia Britannica gives higher numbers; Ethnologue 2006, using data from the 1991 census, estimates the number of speakers at 650,000. The EU statistical service Eurostat contains data on 690,000 people. in Spain in 1999. Instituto Cultural Vasco counted in 1997 in France 56,000 people over the age of 15 who speak Basque.

Almost all native speakers of Basque have an additional knowledge of the official language of their country of residence. In the Spanish part of the Basque Country (provinces of Guipuzcoa, Biscay, Navarre and Álava), Basque has been the regional official language since 1978. France, in accordance with its language policy, does not even conduct an official census of native speakers. Basque communities estimate the total number of carriers at 2 million people, but do not distinguish between active and passive carriers. In Spain, about 4.5 million people have Basque surnames.