Aymeric Picaud was a 12th-century French scholar, monk and

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

from Parthenay-le-Vieux in

Poitou Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...

. He is most widely known today as being the suspected author of the Codex Calixtinus, an

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

giving background information for pilgrims travelling the Way of St. James. In essence, he wrote one of the earliest known tourist guidebooks.

Aymeric's Basque material

Among

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 ...

scholars, Aymeric's account of his journey to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

(around the year 1140) is considered as highly important for the history of the Basque language because it contains some of the earliest Basque words and phrases. The words and phrases he recorded are: Trask, L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 *''andrea'' 'lady (of the house)' (modern ''andrea'') *''Andrea Maria'', glossed as 'mother of God' * 'meat' (modern ) * 'fish' (modern ) * 'wine', assumed to represent nasalised (modern ''ardo'', ''ardũ'' in the

Souletin dialect Souletin or Zuberoan () is the Basque dialect spoken in Soule, France. Souletin is marked by influences from Occitan (in particular the Béarnese dialect), especially in the lexicon. Another distinct characteristic is the use of verb forms, ...

, from older ''ardano'') * 'dart' (modern ) * 'the priest' (modern '

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretal ...

') * 'the house' (modern ) * 'to church' (modern , ''elizera'' in some dialects) * 'the king' (modern , ''erregia'' in some dialects) * 'wheat' (modern ) * 'the master' (modern ) * 'St James' (modern ''Jauna Done Iakue'') * 'bread' (modern ) *''Urcia'', glossed as 'God' by Picaud (see '' Urtzi'') * 'any water' (modern )

References

*Etxegoien, J. ''Orhipean, Gure Herria ezagutzen'' Xamar: 1996 *Aymeric Picaud, Codex Calixtinus facsimile
www.codexcalixtinusfacsimil.com
{{Authority control Culture of the Basque Country Basque language Camino de Santiago 12th-century Christian texts 12th-century French writers People from Poitou-Charentes 12th-century travelers 12th-century travel writers French travel writers French writers in Latin