AQUITANIAN LANGUAGE

The Aquitanian language is only known by means of some proper names attested in Latin and Greek texts, that is, there aren't Aquitanian inscriptions. Besides a few place and tribe names transmitted by Greek and Latin writers, the main data come from Latin inscriptions found in Aquitania (mainly in the left side of the high basin of the Garonne), in which there are indigenous personal names and gods' names. But there are also a few very short votive lead Latin inscriptions found in the river Rhin (at Hagenbach) which show Aquitanian personal names; probably written by Aquitanian soldiers serving in the Roman army.

Ancient authors said that the Aquitanian people were not Gaulish speaking, and Strabo stated that by their language and their looks they were akin to "Iberians" but different from Gauls (IV,1,1). It must be noticed that in Strabo the word "Iberian" is ambiguous, as it refers to the Iberian people, but sometimes also to the inhabitants of the whole Iberian Peninsula, but in this passage is probable the reference to the Iberian people, as alternative identifications are more problematic.

As a matter of fact, the Aquitanian language is considered to be Old Basque. This is due to the coincidence between Aquitanian personal names bases and Basque lexicon. So among the Aquitanian men names we find CISON, HANNA, SEMBE and SENIUS, which can be compared with Basque 'gizon' "man", 'anai' "brother", 'seme' "son", and 'sehi'/'sein' (*'seni') "boy"; among women names we can compare ANDERE and NESCATO to 'andre' "lady" and 'neska' "girl". Also we have the town of ELIMBERRIS and the tribe of the AUSCI, to compare with 'iri-berri' "new town" and 'euskal' "Basque". Beside this, as stated by Gorrochategui, many of other Aquitanian names have admissible interpretations by the Basque lexicon, especially the gods' names, usually matching with Basque animal and plant names.

But with regard to the relations between the Iberian and the Basque language, the Aquitanian language is a kind of missing link, but a very special one. The Aquitanian names resemble to the Iberian personal names. Many of the Aquitanian, especially the god names, are compounded as the Iberian ones. Let's compare some Aquitanian names with the attested anthroponymical Iberian bases:

 AQUITANIAN / IBERIAN

ILLURBERRIXO / iltur-ber'i
HARBELEX / ar's-beles'
BAESERTE / baiser
BELEXCON-IS / beles'-kon
ENNEBOX / en(a)-bos'
LAURCO / laur'-kon
TARBELLI (tribe) / tar'-beles'
TALSCON- / talsku
ERGE DEO / -erker
DANN-ADINN- / tan?-atin

But the problem is: what happens with those Aquitanian words clearly interpretable by the Basque language? There is no Iberian equivalence for CISON, ANDERE or NESCA. Only the Iberian base s'an(i) may be related with SENI and SEMBE (this probably from *'sen-be'). Also worth noting is Gorrochategui's remark that whereas those Aquitanian words that resemble to Basque adjectives (such as ILLUN 'ilun' "dark" and BERRI 'berri' "new") do are attested in adjective position (that is, as second member of compund), the presumed Iberian "equivalents" iltun and ber'(i) don't observe that rule!!. So, although the data on Aquitanian language resemble that on Iberian, probably they are not closely related. Aquitanian is Old Basque, but Aquitanian is not Iberian; they are two different languages.



Source: http://www.webpersonal.net/jrr/ib8b_en.htm