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(hauxe bera, osatuago, euskaraz)
This is the most complete Basque place-name list. It has been compiled, using several partial lists published in the Basque Country, by Euskaldunon Egunkaria, the one and only basque language daily newspaper.
The names that appear here are those aproved by Euskaltzaindia, the Basque Language Academy, regardless of which is their official name.
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|
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e. |
use this instead (from basque erabili) |
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= |
this form is also correct |
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[-a] |
the name ends with an article. |
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(B) (A)... |
location: the basque province the place is |
Names with no + sign are correctly spelled in basque. Examples:
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Izpura (NB). |
Correct basque name |
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+ Izquiz e. Izki (A). |
Izquiz is the Spanish name, Izki should be used in Basque |
The Basque Language Academy accepts two correct names for some places. Both names are listed as correct in this list. For instance:
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Lanestosa = Isasti (B). |
Both names are correct in Basque. |
Some place names apear as correct although they have spanish spelling. That it is because the Basque Language Academy considers that those places have no original basque form, and therefore, should be spelled in spanish. For instance, that is the case of Villatuerta. Other basque place-name lists give basque spellings to these originally romance names (Bilatorta for the preceding example). This basque spelling appear here as incorrect. It should not be used, according to the Basque Language Acadamy. Nevertheless, some basque speaking people living in these places prefere the basque spelling.
The names are marked by provinces. The Basque Country comprises seven provinces, four under the Spanish State, three under the French State. These are the clues for the provinces:
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(A) |
Araba |
Alava in Spanish |
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(B) |
Bizkaia |
Vizcaya in Spanish / Biscaye |
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(G) |
Gipuzkoa |
Guipuzcoa in Spanish |
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(L) |
Lapurdi |
Labourd in French |
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(N) |
Nafarroa |
Navarra in Spanish / Navarre |
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(NB) |
Nafarroa Beherea |
Basse Navarre in French |
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(Z) |
Zuberoa |
Soule in French |
There are plenty of places with the same name in the Basque Country. In that case, we add the municipality to the province sign. For instance: Elexalde (B, Barrika) and Elexalde (B, Basauri).
Sometimes, the valley name is used to distinguish homonymous places. For instance: (Aezkoa-) Hiriberri (N) and (Arakil-) Hiriberri (N). The name between brackets indicates the valley. You can use just Hiriberri to refer to these towns, but, to be more precise, you can also use Aezkoa-Hiriberri and Arakil-Hiriberri.
The [-a] signs indicates that the final -a of the name is an article. This is important to declinate the name according to basque grammar, but you don't have to worry about it otherwise.
Other names between brackets indicate the name of the naturals of the town. Roman from Rome, Donostiar from Donostia. Only irregular forms are listed, otherwise, names are formed in Basque adding -ar, -tar or -dar quite regularly. For instance:
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Eibar (G). |
A person from Eibar is called Eibartar, plural Eibartarrak . |
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Lahüntze (Z) (lahünztar). |
One from Lahüntze is Lahünztar, plural Lahünztarrak. |
The list is 129 kylobite long in text. To use it more easily wait till it is full loaded and use the Find option of your Browser to find a particular name.
If you copy the content into a text file, take care of the special signs: ñ is used in Basque as well as in Spanish and ü is used in the Basque dialect of Zuberoa. Spanish and French diacritic signs or accents are not shown in this list.
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