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INPRIMATU
Euskera in the European mother tongue
  • Was there a mother tongue in Europe? To what extent did the Indo-European languages take from pre-existing or existing languages? What does today’s toponymy tell us about the language or languages of ancient Europe? Does Euskera allow us to understand a part of European toponymy? Do not many words that are considered Latin or Greek have an older root within them?
Koldo Urrutia 2018ko maiatzaren 03a

Without a doubt, for many factors, we can say that linguistics is facing a new situation: in recent decades, thanks to travel we have a better knowledge of foreign countries, we have easy access to information through the Internet, we have Google maps for the study of toponymy or other portals and search engines of toponymy.

What is more, there are very good geographic information systems (GIS-Geographic Information System) to know the characteristics of the environments and, although these were few, the exact sciences have begun to contribute. For example, genetics has shown us that Western Europe was populated from here (which helps to understand the clues of toponymy); archaeometry, through dating, can verify a treasure of 80 Basque words from Pamplona-Veleia (if you want to do it, of course); and statistics show that the probability of chance to call one of the coldest valleys in Austria “otz” is negligible (0,00^1).

It's time to update Mitxelena. It's time to clear up Pamplona-Veleia. We have the time to throw the late support of ETB off the screen. And it’s time to open your eyes to the students of Basque philology and not to tell lies

The most important thing in the short term will be to carry out toponymic studies in large groups, i.e. to investigate whether toponymic similarities correspond to geographical similarities. This will be done by taking a set of roots, such as the roots that represent the “boom” (“go”, “ga”, “gan”, “up”, “gore”...) and looking at where it appears in Europe. Then enter the coordinates of these toponyms in the GIS applications, and we will be able to analyze massively if they are high points, as the researcher Jabier Goitia started doing a long time ago or now José Mari Ugaldea does. In this way, in the short term, we will know the roots of the European mother tongue better than ever.

What we are seeing thanks to all this is that Basque is increasingly important for understanding toponymy and interpreting old roots. In addition, he is seeing that other languages that have had little relevance in the history of linguistics, such as Spanish, should also be studied: “hacha” (atxa) could be the precursor of the “axe”, which is the pure unrelated “atx”. Or Catalan, for example, because “de” means “fountain” and gives us the key of the names “Fuente De” and “Deba”; or “socarrado”, which is what “fire” leaves “burned” in the pot. Or investigating in depth the Galician, and of course the Latin, the Greek...

It seems that all languages have preserved some of their mother's treasures. We also see that Basque is not an isolated language, because its roots are everywhere. That is why, as José Ramón Rementeria said, Basque philology could have been one of the first in the world, not the 3rd in the way it is now, if the works of Hervas and Humboldt had not been buried without reason and if the theory of Basque isolationism had not been spread over it.

It's time to update Mitxelena. It's time to clear up Pamplona-Veleia. We have the time to throw the late support of ETB off the screen. And it is time to open our eyes to the students of Basque philology and not to tell lies. For example, the article in Euskera was introduced in the middle by the influence of the romances. In fact, in a stone that appeared about 100 years ago in Pamplona-Veleia, two words were with the article: “obscura” and “ttipia” (and also in many words found by Eliseo Gil in 2005-2006)... And, above all, it is time to fight, that the Government of Madrid that wants to eradicate the Basque language does not write a “new” history of the Basque language, because at the moment it pays the 25 professors and scholarship holders of the Basque Philology of Vitoria-Gasteiz to do so.

Many questions and proposals to tell us what Euskera has in Europe will be heard on May 5th at the Aubixa de Elgoibar 12 of the Origin of Euskera. At the Congress

Many questions and proposals to tell us what Euskera has in Europe will be heard on May 5th at the Aubixa de Elgoibar 12 of the Origin of Euskera. At the conference. As a complement, the day before, the Elgoibar Cultural Center will host an open conference by the British Angus Hunck and the Valencian Bernat Mira, who will be attending this congress.

The conference will be attended by four external researchers: Angus Hunk (The Pan-European Vasconic Footprint), Antonio Arnaiz Villena (Las lenguas uscomediterráneas), Jaime Martin Martin (El consonantismo del protoeuskera) and Bernat Mira Tormo (El vasco en la toponimia valenciana, ibérica y europea).

Three of them will give us proposals of European toponymy: Jabier Goitia Blanco (Travel from Eurasia), Jon Goitia Blanco (Basque language) and José Mari Ugaldea (Basque toponymy in the world).

There will also be three authors who have published new books: Juan Martín Elexpuru Arregi (Traces of Basque in Sardinia? ), Jon Nikolas Lopez de Ituiño (Orígenes del lenguaje oral y del euskara) and Eñaut Etxamendi Gezainburu (Origins of Euskera).

And finally, four other speakers will be part of the group of this conference: Felix Zubiaga Legarreta (Mother School at the Foundation of Europe), Farewell and Lagunane Lazkano Lizundia (The Bor Root in the World Languages) and Joseba Seminario Eskisabel (Prisoner of the Science Dogma).

After lunch, we will also work on the etymological proposals of farm animals, plants and some tools.

Thanks to the conference, we will define the place that Euskera should have in the European mother tongue and it will be the perfect opportunity to share some of the components of free linguistics that we need for the sovereignty of our nation.

Location of Koldo Urrutia

Association of the Origin of the Basque Country