Pre-Basque Phonology

[Larry Trask]

Macia Riutort Riutort writes:

>  Liebe Freunde,
>  ich kann Euch sagen, dass niemand, sowohl hier (Katalonien) wie auf den
>  Balearen, auf die Idee kommen würde, Maite als baskischen Frauennamen zu
>  betrachten. Für uns ist Maite einfach die normale Koseform zu Maria Teresa
>  (Mari-Tere klingt übrigens ziemlich "schicki-micki", weswegen diese Form
>  hier kaum verwendet wird). In unserer Abteilung haben wir sogar zwei Maria
>  Teresas, die aber von uns Maite genannt wurden...

Well, the only way I can think of to decide whether <Maite> originated in the
Basque Country is to check the historical records, if there are any.

But <maite> happens to be an ordinary Basque word, and moreover a most
appropriate one for naming a woman: it means 'beloved' in Basque, and is hence
a translation equivalent of Romance female names like French <Aimee> and
Castilian <Amada> -- and perhaps of something in Catalan?

I'd be interested to hear what the Spaniards or the Catalans think of the
female name <Arantxa>.  This is unquestionably of Basque origin -- it's a
Marian name, from the Basque word for 'thorn' -- yet it is now far from rare in
Spain: there's famous tennis player with this name, and she claims no Basque
ancestry that I know of.  Is the name perceived as Basque in the Peninsula
generally?

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk