LL-L 'History' 2006.07.25 (09) [E]

Wed Jul 26 23:09:31 UTC 2006

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L O W L A N D S - L * 26 July 2006 * Volume 09
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L 'Resources' 2006.07.22 (04) [E]

>From: 'Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc.' <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
>Subject: LL-L: Resources
>
>Can somebody help me to find resources concerning some extinct languages of
>Canada?
>
>- 1 - a kind of Basque spoken by the Amerindians of St Lawrence (reported by
>Jacques Cartier in 1542)
>
>- 2 - a kind of Basque spoken in Newfoundland (reported by Esteban de
>Garibay in 1571)
>
>- 3 - Souriquois (French spelling of the Basque "zurikoa", "language of the
>whites"), first reported in 1612.
>It was apparently a pidgin based on Basque.
>Paul le Jeune reported in 1632 that the French thought it was an Indian
>language, and the Algonquian Indians thought it was French.
>
Interesting, the idea of Basque being spoken on the North American
continent in the 16th/17th centuries, because there's a parallel...

The Welsh have an old legend of Prince Madog, who sailed with his people
away to the west long before Columbus, never to be seen again.

Then it turns out that British settlers discovered American Indian
tribes who either spoke Welsh or were found to have Welsh borrowings in
their native languages.

Early explorers even report native Americans claiming to be Christians
and bringing out their copy of the Bible to prove it - and it turns out
that their Bible is in Welsh!

It's generally considered that there's no real evidence that American
Indians ever had encounters with Welsh people before Columbus, and that
the Welsh Bible phenomenon arises because native Americans sometimes
liked to get hold of a Bible to prove that they were "British". This
Bible could just as easily have been obtained from Welsh settlers as
from English, and the native Americans had no idea that there was any
difference.

It seems most likely that reports of "Welsh Indians" these centuries
were fabricated or at least encouraged while flying in the face of
reason in order to give the British a prior claim to the Americas over
the Spanish. Is it possible that the Spanish retaliated by fabricating
stories of Basque Indians?

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: History

Sandy,

I can't vouch for the veracity of the claim, and I do think that it could be a
tall tale, but I do know that Basque immigration to the Americas goes back a long
way.  I once had a neighbor with a Basque last name, and when I asked him about
it, he said that his Basque ancestry in North America goes way back.  I asked if
he meant the 1800s, and all he said was, "Way earlier than that."  

I have read and heard that Basques went across the Atlantic in part as whalers on
ships under different flags.  Also, Basque herders settled in various parts of
the U.S., and Basques with fishing traditions settled in various areas of both
coasts.  Highest densities are in Idaho, Eastern Nevada, Southern Texas and many
parts of California.  In the Central Valley of California, especially around
Bakersfield, there are Basque communities with long histories of sheepherding. 
Boise (Idaho, not far from me) even has a Basque museum.  There are many
communities of Basque descent along the Rio Grande, not only in Texas (Starr,
Zapato and Hidalgo Counties) but also in Mexico (mostly in the states of Nuevo
LeÃ³n and Tamaulipas), in Nuevo LeÃ³n especially around the city of Monterrey. 
Basque names are common in all those areas.  One of my doctor's nurses has a
Basque last name, and she is from Chile, claims that her ancestors went there
"pretty much with the _conquistadores_."  There is also a sizeable Basque
community in and around San CristÃ³bal de La Habana, Cuba.  Well-known Latin
Americans of early Basque descent include Augusto Pinochet (Ugarte), Che Guevara
and several presidents of Basque-rich Argentina (which has counted about 15,000
Basque surnames).  

The Society of Basque Studies in America (http://www.basque.ws/) deals in great
part with Basque history in America and might have relevant information.

I have also met Australians of Basque descent, by the way. (Again, herding ans
fishing opportunities, as in the Americas, and getting away from French and
Spanish power).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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