Basque Facts

Facts related to "Basque"

Basque (a language spoken near the Spain/France border) is a language isolate; not only is it NOT a Romance language, it's not even an Indo-European language. It is the only surviving Pre-Indo-European language in Western Europe. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
In Westfjords, a region of Iceland, it was law from 1615 to as recent as 2015 that any Basque person in the region should be killed on sight wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfj…
Basque, although considered to be a language isolate, actually had a predecessor in the form of Aquitanian, which died out almost 2,000 years ago. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqu…
Garbanzo beans and chickpeas are the exact same thing with 2 different names. Chickpea comes from the Latin word β€œcicer” while the Spanish likely derived garbanzo from the Basque word β€œgarbantzu”. rootshummus.com/2019/11/2…
Wine mixed with coke is an actual thing and it’s called Kalimotxo, it’s one part red wine and 1 part coke and it’s been around since the 1970s. It has become an icon of Basque culture and one of Spain's most international drinks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal…
Basque sailors didn’t die of scurvy because they drank 3 liters of cider everyday which, unbeknownst to them, contains vitamin C. buber.net/Basque/?p=1427
A study from Trinity College found the Irish share the same Y-DNA with the Basque and Galicians of Northern Spain lending some legitimacy to the ancient Celtic myth that Ireland was populated by the sons of the Iberian king Mil. irishtimes.com/news/genet…
In the 16th-18th century, the linguistically isolated Basque people of the Pyrenees would sail so far north to whale, that they formed pidgins (simple mixes of two languages allowing basic communication) with both the Icelandic and Algonquin peoples. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
Until 2015 it was technically required by law to kill any people from the Basque Country on sight in a district in Iceland. theguardian.com/world/201…
5 out of Top 35 restaurants are in the basque country, (Spanish) tiny region of just 2m habitants. theworlds50best.com/list/…
Athletic Bilbao is the only Euro football club to exclusively sign local players (in their case from the Basque Country) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ath…
Between the 16th and 18th centuries there was a pidgin language spoken by Basque settlers and natives in eastern Canada. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alg…
Today I learned of the Basque language: It isn't in any language family and is completely distinct from any other language in the world en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
In one of his paintings, titled "Guernica," Picasso depicted the bombing of Basque by the forces of Francisco Franco. When Franco's men confronted Picasso about the painting, they demanded to know if it was his work, asking him, "Did you do this?" He responded simply by saying, "No. You did." bbc.com/culture/story/201…
Kalimotxo, a popular drink in the Basque region of Spain, is made by mixing equal parts cheap red wine & Coca-Cola en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal…
There is a soccer team in Spain that since 1912 has only signed players who were born or raised in the Basque Country (where less than 7% of Spain's population live). Despite that, the team is one of the most successful teams in Spain, and is one of the only teams never to be relegated en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ath…
The Basque language is unusual compared to other European languages in that verbs must agree not just with the subject (e.g. I am, you are , he is), but also with the direct objects and indirect objects, which makes the verb structure extremely complex with thousands of verb forms. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
The Basque language is the only isolate language of Western Europe - it is not related to Spanish, French, or any other known language. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
In 2015, the authorities of the Westfjords region of Iceland have repealed a 400-year-old law that dictated that any Basque people found in the region could be legally killed on the spot telegraph.co.uk/news/worl…
Basque language is not related to any of the Indo-European languages, and their genetic patterns predates the arrival of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula. It is thought that they are remnant of the original people of Europe before the Indo-European migrations. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
The Basque language is an absolute isolate: it has not been shown to be related to any other language despite numerous attempts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lan…
Due to the large Basque population in Idaho, Boise state university is only one of two universities in the US (the other being University of Nevada-Reno) to offer a Basque language course. weblogs.eitb.eus/learning…
Australian Shepherds are not Australian. They originate from Spain, and were named the Australian Shepherd because of their resemblance to the Basque Shepherd, which was imported into the US from Australia. The Basque Shepherd is not Australian either. akc.org/dog-breeds/austra…
The Basque language's origin is still somewhat puzzling. It is not an Indo-European language, and shows no ressemblance to languages in neighbouring countries planetrjl.tripod.com/LaFr…
Basque, a region in both Spain and France, is seeking independence. A key reason is that they don't speak either spanish or french, but rather basque, their own language en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B…
In 1615 Iceland established a law allowing people to kill Basques on sight. The law was revoked last year. theguardian.com/world/201…
Until 2015 it was legal in Iceland to kill Basque people icenews.is/2015/05/06/ice…
Boise, Idaho has a long history of Basque culture boiseweekly.com/boise/a-s…
The Basque Country National Football Team played a season in the top division of Mexican soccer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.D…
Basque separatist group ETA killed Spanish prime minister Carrero Blanco with a tunnel bomb that sent his car 20 meters into the air and over a 5-story building. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lui…
Basques have there own version of Santa Claus, Olentzero, who keeps his presents in a beret and drinks wine instead of eating milk & cookies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole…
Basque is a unique language: it has untraceable roots and no relatives blog.esl-languages.com/en…
The name "killer whale" would be a mistranslation of "whale killer" given by Basque whalers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kil…
Spanish government organised illegal death squads to attack Basque separatists in France in the 80's en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gru…
Today I learned of a sacred tree in Spain. The "Gernikako Arbola" ("Tree of Gernika") is a symbol of the Basque people; the leader of the Basque government swears his oath of office under it. The current tree is the fourth descendant of the original, planted 700 years ago. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ger…
During peak production Basque whaling ships off Canada carried cargo that rivaled Spanish galleons bringing back treasure from the Caribbean in monetary value. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His…
Australian shepherds are not Australian at all, and in fact originate from, basque (Spanish) settlers coming to the west. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aus…
The Basque terrorist group ETA was originally named "ATA," but the name was changed to form the acronym "ETA" because in some Basque dialects "ata" means "duck" books.google.com/books?id…
There existed an Icelandic-Basque pidgin language in the 17th century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…
The Black Death was less common in parts of Europe that had smaller trade relations with their neighbours, including the Kingdom of Poland, the majority of the Basque Country, isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bla…
Today I learned about the traditional Basque method of castrating sheep

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/6466/imgp9991e.jpg

Chomp chomp

http://wais.stanford.edu/ztopics/week030105/culture_050301_castrationrockymountainoysters.htm

β€œβ€¦ Carlos Lopez describes castrating lambs with the teeth: I have seen it done. The man grabs the testicles with his hand and pulls them down and turns the hand so that the top of the sack rests in his index fingers. Then he bites the skin until he cuts it. Surprisingly there is very little blood. Of course the testicles at that stage are too small for humans to eat. Usually the dogs take them…”

Regional languages, such as Basque and Catalan, were prohibited during the regime of Francisco Franco in Spain. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lan…
During the 16th-18th centuries, Algonquian Native Americans and Basque Sailors traded so much that they actually started speaking a Pigdin of Basque and Algonquian languages en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alg…
Killing of Basques Now Banned in Iceland, after 400 Years icelandreview.com/news/20…
Basque language (Euskara) was used by American Indian tribes, ca. 1540-1640 jstor.org/pss/30027995
The Basque people dominated the whaling industry in Europe for five-hundred years and were described as "the only people who understand whaling." by British explorer Jonas Poole. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His…
The genetic origins of the Basque people of Spain & France predate the arrival of farmers, and the Basque language is unrelated to any living language. newswatch.nationalgeograp…
There's a language in Spain called Basque which no one knows where it came from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bas…

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