Basque etymological studies: loanwords, roots and a new ... · University of Helsinki, May 17. th, 2017. 2. ... • Martinet’s proposal for word-initial stops (1950) ... < Augustus

Basque etymological studies: loanwords, roots and a new

etymological dictionary

Joseba Lakarra & Julen ManterolaRoyal Academy of the Basque Language

[email protected]

Contextualizing Historical LexicologyUniversity of Helsinki, May 17th, 2017

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Structure of the presentation

• Basque etymological studies: an introduction

• Loanwords and phonological reconstruction

• Canonical root and reconstruction

• Grammaticalization and a borrowed suffix

• A new etymological dictionary of Basque

Basque etymological studies: a look to its history

• Pre-Mitxelena era (-1950): foreign scholars(Schuchardt, Uhlenbeck, Trombetti…)

• Post-Mitxelena era (1950-): academic Basquestudies

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• Interests and goals of pre-Mitxelena etymologists:

a) The search of genetically related languagesb) Comparison: semitic, caucasian… (Schuchardt, Uhlenbeck,

Lafon).c) To show how pervasive latin-romance languages and their culture

were, and, at the same time, how Basques managed to keep theiridiosyncratic character (Rohlfs)

No real interest in reconstructing a protolanguage

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• Post-Mitxelena era: academic Basque studies

– Thorough philological work.– Phonological reconstruction.– Etymologies as a result, not as a goal per se.

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• Etymological dictionaries

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Author Type of workAgud & Tovar (1951- An unfinished and methodologically outdated

pre-Mitxelenian project.Löpelmann (1968) Unreliable source of etymological information.Arbelaitz (1978) A compilation of Mitxelena’s etymologies.Trask (2007) An unfinished work, mainly based on

Mitxelena’s work. In English.Morvan (2009) An unreliable online dictionary.

Loanwords and the phonological system of proto-Basque

• Layers of loanwords in Basque

Celtic languages: scarce evidence, no clear examples.Germanic languages: scarce evidence, no clear examples.Arabic: few loanwards taken directly.Latin-romance: extended contact for over 2000 years.

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• Martinet’s proposal for word-initial stops (1950)

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Latin Basque Romance Meaningpacem > bake paz, paix ‘peace’picem > bike pez, poix ‘pitch, tar’torrem > dorre torre, tour ‘tower’cellam > gela celda ‘room’corpus > gorputz cuerpo, corps ‘body’



Word-initial stops get voiced in Basque

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Latin Basque Romance Meaningpacem > bake paz, paix ‘peace’picem > bike pez, poix ‘pitch, tar’torrem > dorre torre, tour ‘tower’cellam > gela celda ‘room’corpus > gorputz cuerpo, corps ‘body’



Intervocalic stops remain unvoiced

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Latin Basque Romance Meaningpacem > bake paz, paix ‘peace’picem > bike pez, poix ‘pitch, tar’torrem > dorre torre, tour ‘tower’cellam > gela celda ‘room’corpus > gorputz cuerpo, corps ‘body’lacum > laku lago, lac ‘lake’


• Martinet’s proposal for word-initial stops

Proto-Basque stops: There was no voiceless/voiced opposition.

Opposition based on the strength of articulationfortis/lenis opposition

(all stops phonologically voiceless)

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• Mitxelena’s proposal for the whole phonological system

+ h+ vowels and diphtongs

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Fortis (P) T K TS TZ R L NLenis p t k s z r l n


• Mitxelena’s proposal for the whole phonological system

+ h+ vowels and diphtongs

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Fortis (P) T K TS TZ R L NLenis p t k s z r l n


• Mitxelena’s proposal and latin loanwords

Generalization: latin geminates as basque forteslat. VllV > basq. VlV

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Intervocalic fortis lateralsLatin Basque meaning

ballaena > balea ‘whale’angellum > angelu ‘angle’castellum > gaztelu ‘castle’



Generalization: latin simple laterals as basque leneslat. VlV > basq. VrV

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Intervocalic lenis lateralsLatin Basque meaning

angelum > angeru ‘angel’gulam > gura ‘desire’colum > goru ‘spinning wheel’



Generalization: latin geminates as basque forteslat. VnnV > basq. VnV

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Intervocalic fortis nasalsLatin Basque meaning

annonam > anoa ‘portion’Dominus Iohannes > Doneanez ‘St. John’



Generalization: latin simple laterals as basque leneslat. VnV > basq. VøV

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Intervocalic lenis nasalsLatin Basque meaning

annonam > anoa ‘portion’catenam > gate(a) ‘chain’arenam > area ‘sand’


• Mitxelena’s proposal and inherited words

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Generalization from loanwordslaterals nasals

VLV > VlV VNV > VnVVlV > VrV VnV > VøV

Reconstruction of inherited words: lateralsMod. Basque Proto-Basque Meaningbele < *beLe ‘crow’biribil < *bilibil ‘round, circle’



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Reconstruction of inherited words: nasalsMod. Basque Proto-Basque Meaninganaia (medieval Annaia) < *aNaia ‘brother’ardao / ardũ, ardan- < *ardano ‘wine’gaztae / gazna, gaztan- < *gaztane ‘cheese’hezur / azur / ẽzur < *enazur ‘bone’



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Reconstruction of inherited words: nasalsMod. Basque Proto-Basque Meaninganaia (medieval Annaia) < *aNaia ‘brother’ardao / ardũ, ardan- < *ardano ‘wine’gaztae / gazna, gaztan- < *gaztane ‘cheese’hezur / azur / ẽzur < *enazur ‘bone’

From loanwords to the inherited lexicon

• A historiographical sketch of Basque etymological studies

– Mitxelena (1961- …): Phonological reconstruction based onloanwords.

– Lakarra (1995- …): Analyzing and reconstructing inherited words, based on the leading idea of “canonical root”.

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Canonical root and reconstruction

• Lakarra (1995). The canonical root of proto-Basquelexical stems

• Monosyllabic• C(onsonant)V(owel)C(onsonant) structure

• Problem with previously reconstructed inherited words

*ardano ‘wine’ Trisyllabic!*gaztane ‘cheese’ a) Complex stems*enazur ‘bone’ b) Loanwords

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• The historical-etymological dictionary of Basque. Reducing the protoforms to the CVC canonical root

Root: *dan is the root of the verb edan ‘to drink’ (e- is a verbal prefix)Semantics: the meaning of ardo in old texts is ‘beverage’

It is only natural to think that the -dan- in the reconstructed form*ardano is linked to *dan ‘to drink’

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Protoform Meaning New analysis*ardano ‘wine’ *ar-dan-o



Motivation: the importance of salt in cheese-making. A whole new series of words can be related to the same family:

gazur ‘buttermilk’, gatzun ‘brine’, gatzagi ‘rennet’, gatzatu ‘curd’

Possible parallel: quechua kaĉi ‘salt’ / kaĉipa ‘salted cheese’(Yaranga 1977: 106)

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Protoform Meaning New analysis*gaztane ‘cheese’ gatz ‘salt’ + *bane ‘sieve’



Root: the second element can be identified as zur ‘wood, stick’Parallel: ie. lithuanian kaulas, latvian kauls ‘bone’latin caulis ‘stalk of a plant’ (also used as ‘bone’), irish ‘stick’

“doubtless applied first to the long bone of arm or leg” (Buck s.v. bone).

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Protoform Meaning New analysis*enazur ‘bone’ *ena-zur



*dan, gatz, zur CVC roots

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Protoform Meaning Underlying root*ardano ‘beverage’ *dan ‘to drink’*gaztane ‘cheese’ gatz ‘salt’*enazur ‘bone’ zur ‘wood, stick’


• The historical-etymological dictionary of Basque. Loanwards that do not meet the CVC root requirement

Both loanwords from gascon:

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Basque word Meaning Structureuzta ‘harvest’ VCCVeztei ‘wedding’ VCCVW

Gascon word Ultimate latin originaoustà ‘to harvest’ *augustare < Augustushesteya ‘to party’ festa ‘feast’


• The historical-etymological dictionary of Basque.

Words of protoforms that can be reduced to CVC structure.*ardano ‘beverage’, *gaztane ‘cheese’, *enazur ‘bone’

Words that have been identified as loanwords.uzta ‘harvest’, eztei ‘wedding’

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Grammaticalization and borrowed suffixes

• The collective -eta suffix in place names, indicatingplurality:

Ezpeleta, Mendieta, Olaeta,

• Allegedly of latin origin: -etum/-eta collective suffixcf. sp. alameda, arboleda, etc.

(Schuchardt 1923)

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• The borrowing hypothesis faces many problems:

The suffix is also used in the definite plural declensionIt is always definite.There is a medieval -heta variant.

• It is best understood as a grammaticalized plural article, then reanalyzed as a marker of place names.

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• Grammaticalization of demonstratives into articles

mendi hetan ‘in those mountains’ > mendietan ‘in the mountains’ > Mendieta ‘place of mountains’

The declined demonstrative as a whole grammaticalized

• Typological problem. Agglutinative languages likeBasque do not have articles (Himmelmann 1997: 155)

“Weitere mögliche Ausnahmekandidaten sind Baskisch undMordwinish” (besides Hungarian)

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• For Erzya (Zaicz 1998: 191):“Synchronically, it is no simple matter to derive the

D[efinite]D[eclension] from an agglutinating analogue made up of these definiteness markers and the case suffixes of the

I[ndefinite]D[eclension], and no such segmentation is essayed here.”

• Would it be possible to apply a similar explanation toErzya, based on the grammaticalizaion of fully declineddemonstratives as articles?

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A new etymological dictionary

• The Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Basque

• Financed by the Royal Academy of the Basque Language

• Up to date: linguistic theory and philological work.

• Medieval data thoroughly examined.

• 200 families / 2500 words

• About 800 new etimologies

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Basque etymological studies: loanwords, roots and a new

etymological dictionary

Joseba Lakarra & Julen ManterolaRoyal Academy of the Basque Language

[email protected]

Contextualizing Historical LexicologyUniversity of Helsinki, May 17th, 2017

Documents

Basque etymological studies: loanwords, roots and a new ... · University of Helsinki, May 17. th, 2017. 2. ... • Martinet’s proposal for word-initial stops (1950) ... < Augustus