Euskadi

Euzkadi is the neologism created by Sabino Arana to refer to the Basque homeland which, according to Basque nationalism, would be made up of the Spanish provinces of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, Álava and Navarra and the historical territories of Sola (Soule or Zuberoa), Lower Navarre (Basse Navarre) and Labort (Labourd), currently included in the French department of the Atlantic Pyrenees. The term was used by Arana in his writings for the first time in September 1896 and more commonly from 1901.

The members of the Basque Nationalist Party, founded by Arana in 1895, continue to use this name internally in his honor; being Euskadi, a variant of it, statutory synonym of the current autonomous community of the Basque Country (CAPV), made up of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Álava. In Spanish, the official name is País Vasco, although the term Basque Autonomous Community (CAV) is also used in the area.

Etymology

In the second half of the XIX century, other terms such as Euskeria had also been used with the same meaning and Euskaria, very common in the Basque language, as well as its variants Euskadia and Euzkadia, by replacing the s and r, for z and d. Sabino Arana himself regularly used these synonyms in his early writings from 1885, like other terms with the root euske-, until in 1896 he also began to combine them with the root euska-.

It was precisely from September 1896, with the publication of his Lecciones de ortografía del euskera bizkaino, when he introduced the term Euzkadi coexisting with other denominations of the author. He still wrote "Basque" with s, which he later converted to z for reasons of linguistic fantasy in his efforts to carry out a general reform of the language; he preferred from 1901, in his writings in Spanish, the denomination "Euzkadi", and also using after that year only the roots with z.

Arana, like some previous authors, considered that the root eusk was actually euzk, so he invented the prefix euzko - from the Basque words "eguzki" (sun) and "e(gu)z(ki)ko" (of the sun), assuming that the ancient Basques worshiped the sun and considered themselves their children, probably based on a similar Greek myth.

There is no philological or anthropological evidence of this solar derivation, despite the fact that anthropologists such as José Miguel de Barandiarán and Resurrección María de Azkue accepted that that romantic interpretation of the etymology of the word euskal could be justified by the names given in various local languages of Vizcaya to the male divinity of the sun introduced by the Celts. However, this supposed root served Arana to reform and create words such as Euzkadi, euzkera, euzki (sun), euzkotar (Basque), etc.

The suffix -di indicates an abundance of something, following the scheme arantza (thorn) ⇒ arantzadi (thorn, place where there are thorns); with which euzkadi would mean "place where there are Basques". This aranism is accepted in the Basque language, although linguists and the Royal Academy of the Basque Language (Euskaltzaindia) agree that the word is malformed and that the suffix -di it cannot really be applied to a human collectivity.

In 1930, Justo Gárate questioned for the first time the correct use of that denomination, considering it an incorrect variation of Euskaria.

Other authors, on the other hand, state that Arana considered the names Vasconia and Euskeria to be Castilian, and that Euskal Herria could only be applied to the Basque-speaking area; Therefore, after evolving in his etymological research, he adopted the name of Euzkadi as a deformation of the name of Vizcaya.

Use and evolution

Institutionally, after the first Basque statute in 1936, the Government of Euzkadi was created and some official bodies and institutions received that name; such as the Auxiliary Navy of Euzkadi (Euzko itsas Gudarostea) which, created in October 1936 by the Basque Government's Ministry of Defense and directed by the lehendakari José Antonio Aguirre himself, fulfilled missions to protect the maritime traffic and clearing of mines in the waters that were under its jurisdiction. In addition, coins and stamps were minted with that legend.

Euzkadi continued to be used until the Franco dictatorship, when its use was prohibited. Subsequently, after the war and after the dictatorship, the variant Euskadi was imposed as the official name in Basque for the autonomous community of the Basque Country, without the use of the term having to imply nationalist or sovereign claims, although the PNV continues to use the name Euzkadi internally.

The meaning of Euskadi, in any case, depends on the context or even the ideology of the moment. Thus, for example, it happens in the names of political parties; as in the case of the Euskadi Socialist Party which, although until 1982 it also included the Navarrese group, currently this federation only includes the territories of Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa; but if we talk about the Communist Party of the Basque Country, this also includes Navarra. On the other hand, Euskadi also designates these four territories together with those of the French Basque Country in many other areas.

However, for the seven Basque territories as a whole, the Euscaran term Euskal Herria is commonly used, which has a very important cultural connotation; and also, less frequently, Vasconia. The concept of Euskal Herria (translatable as "land of the Basque language" or "Basque people") is not, in principle, political, but cultural and designates the seven historical territories in which Basque is spoken or was spoken and which are divided between Spain and France; however, from a Basque and/or nationalist sector (and especially the so-called nationalist left) the name Euskal Herria has been used to refer to what Sabino Arana called Euzkadi, that is, the territories that they claim as an independent nation.