The Aquitanian language was the language of the ancient Aquitani, spoken on both sides of the western

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

in ancient

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

(approximately between the Pyrenees and the

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – ...

, in the region later known as Gascony) and in the areas south of the Pyrenees in the valleys of the Basque Country before the Roman conquest. It probably survived in Aquitania north of the Pyrenees until the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

. Archaeological, toponymical, and historical evidence shows that it was a language or group of languages that represent a precursor of the Basque language. The most important pieces of evidence are a series of

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

and funerary texts in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, dated to the first three centuries AD, which contain about 400 personal names and 70 names of gods.

History

Aquitanian and its modern relative,

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

, are commonly thought to be Pre-Indo-European languages, remnants of the languages spoken in Western Europe before the arrival of

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

speakers. Some claims have been made, based on supposed derivations of the words for "knife" (''aizto''), "axe" (''aizkora'') and "hoe" (''aitzur'') from the word for "stone" (''haitz''), that the language therefore must date to the Stone Age or

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period, when those tools were made of stone, but these etymologies are no longer accepted by mainstrea
vasconists

Persons' names and gods' names

Almost all of the Aquitanian inscriptions that have been found north of the Pyrenees are in the territory that

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

sources assigned to Aquitanians. *

Anthroponyms Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...

: , etc. * Theonyms: , etc. Some inscriptions have also been found south of the Pyrenees in the territory that Greek and Roman sources assigned to

Vascones The Vascones were a pre-Roman tribe who, on the arrival of the Romans in the 1st century, inhabited a territory that spanned between the upper course of the Ebro river and the southern basin of the western Pyrenees, a region that coincides wi ...

: * Anthroponyms: , etc. * Theonyms: .

Relations with other languages

Most Aquitanian

onomastic Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An '' orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, ...

elements are clearly identifiable from a Basque perspective, matching closely the forms reconstructed by the vascologist Koldo (Luis) Mitxelena for Proto-Basque: The vascologist , who has written several works on Aquitanian, and Mitxelena have pointed out the similarities of some Iberian

elements with Aquitanian. In particular, Mitxelena spoke about an ''onomastic pool'' from which both Aquitanian and Iberian would have drawn: For other more marginal theories see Basque language: Hypotheses on connections with other languages.

Geographical extent

Since ancient times there have been indications of a relationship between present Southwestern France and the Basques. During the Roman conquest of

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

, Aquitania was the territory between the

and the

. It was inhabited by tribes of horsemen who Caesar said were very distinct in customs and language from the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

of Gaul. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, this territory was named '' Gascony'', derived from '' Vasconia'' and cognate with the word ''Basque''. There are many clues that indicate that Aquitanian was spoken in the Pyrenees at least as far east as

Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (previously officially called in Occitan Val d'Aran, Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an administrative entity (formerly considered a comarca) in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain, consisting of the Aran Valley, in ...

. Place-names that end in ‑os, ‑osse, ‑ons, ‑ost and ‑oz are considered to be of Aquitanian origin, such as the place-name

Biscarrosse Biscarrosse (; oc, Biscarròssa) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is located southwest of Bordeaux, and inland from the seaside resort of Biscarrosse-Plage on the Atlantic coast. Near Bis ...

, which is directly related to the city of Biscarrués (note the Navarro-Aragonese phonetic change) south of the Pyrenees. "Biscar" (modern Basque spelling: ) means "ridge-line". Such suffixes in place-names are ubiquitous in the east of Navarre and in Aragon, with the classical medieval ‑os > ‑ues occurring in stressed syllables, pointing to a language continuum on both sides of the Pyrenees. This strong formal element can be traced on either side of the mountain range as far west as an imaginary line roughly stretching from

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

to Bayonne (compare Bardos/Bardoze,

Ossès Ossès (; eu, Ortzaize)ORTZAIZE

Briscous Briscous (; eu, BeskoitzeBeskoitze
west of the Basque Country, as the historical record is scant. The territory was inhabited by the

Caristii The Caristii were a pre-Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today are known as the historical territories of Biscay and Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Origins Their historical territory today corres ...

Varduli The Varduli were a pre-Ancient Rome, Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the eastern region of the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and western Navarre, in n ...

, and

Autrigones The Autrigones were a pre-Roman tribe that settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western Basque Country (western regions of Biscay and Álava) and northern Burgos and the East of Cantabria, Spain. Their territory li ...

, and has been claimed as either Basque or Celtic depending on the author, since

lexical elements have been found underlying or intertwined in the names given to natural features, such as rivers or mountains ( Butrón,

Nervión , name_etymology = , image = Nervion.jpg , image_size = 300px , image_caption = River Nervion with Zubizuri footbridge. , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , pushpin_map ...

, Deba/Deva, suffix ‑ika etc.) in an otherwise generally Basque linguistic landscape, or Spanish, especially in Álava. Archaeological findings in

Iruña-Veleia Veleia was a Roman town in Hispania, now located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The site is located in the municipality of Iruña de Oca, 10 kilometers west of Vitoria. The town was an important station on the Roman road ''ab A ...

in 2006 were initially claimed as evidence of the antiquity of Basque in the south but were subsequently dismissed as a forgery. The

Cantabri The Cantabri ( grc-gre, Καντάβροι, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. Thes ...

ans are also mentioned as relatives or allies of the Aquitanians: they sent troops to fight on their side against the Romans. The

who occupied modern

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

are usually identified with the Basques ( in Spanish), their name being one of the most important pieces of evidence. In 1960, a stele with Aquitanian names was found in

Lerga Lerga is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. The town is located in a valley surrounded by the Pyrenees Mountains The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirine ...

, which could reinforce the idea that Basques and Aquitanians were related. The ethnic and linguistic kinship is confirmed by

Julio Caro Baroja Julio Caro Baroja (13 November 1914 – 18 August 1995) was a Spanish anthropologist, historian, linguist and essayist. He was known for his special interest in Basque culture, Basque history and Basque society. Of Basque ancestry, he was the ...

, who considers the Aquitanian-Basque relationship an ancient and medieval stage ahead of the well-attested territorial shrinking process undergone by the Basque language during the Modern Age.

History

Persons' names and gods' names

Relations with other languages

Geographical extent

See also

References

Further reading