User:Metroxed/Euskalherria

The names given to the Basque Country have changed throughout the centuries both in the Basque language as well as in Spanish and French. This changes were related in many cases to the historical and also political contexts that surrounded the Basque Country at different times. Some terminology, widely used in the past, has since become controversial.

Basque Country
Basque Country is the most common designation to refer to the territories inhabited by the Basque people in English. The English word Basque (pronounced or ) is derived from the French Basque, which ultimately comes from the Latin Vasco (plural Vascones), name used in Roman times to refer to the ethnic group. "Basque Country" is in general a direct translation from the Spanish País Vasco and the French Pays basque, which are the terms preferred in said languages to refer to the Basque-speaking territories and which also derive from the Roman designation. The origin of the word Vasco is still uncertain, although coins have been found with the inscription Barscunes, which is believed to be an earlier name. Some scholars have suggested a Celtic etymology based on bhar-s-, meaning "summit", "point" or "leaves", according to which barscunes may have meant "the mountain people", "the tall ones" or "the proud ones", while others have posited a relationship to a proto-Indo-European root *bar- meaning "border", "frontier", "march".

In English, the name Basque Country is frequently used to designate the administrative entity with the same name within Spain, the French Basque Country or the greater ethnic region; the distinction is usually tied to context. It is not unusual to use French Basque Country when referring exclusively to the French region (also, Northern Basque Country as a translation of a Basque term detailed below), Spanish Basque Country for the other region (or Southern Basque Country).

Euskal Herria
Euskal Herria is the name more often used in the Basque language to refer to the land of the Basque people. Euskal is the adjectival form of euskara, meaning "the Basque language", while herri is a very versatile word that can be translated as country, nation, people, town or even village. Thus, "Euskal Herria" can have multiple translations, but it is usually translated as "Basque country", resulting in the names in other languages, including Spanish and French. The earliest written reference to this name comes from a series of manuscripts dated between 1564 and 1567 by Joan Perez de Lazarraga, where it appears as eusquel erria. In 1571 the name Heuscal-Herrian appears in a Basque translation of the Bible by Joanes Leizarraga.

The name Euskal Herria usually refers to the land of the Basque people as a cultural and ethno-linguistic territory, and it normally refers to the greater region of seven territories (Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Araba, Higher Navarre, Lower Navarre, Labourd and Soule), in contrast to other names which may be used to refer to the smaller administrative entities. Euskal Herria is the preferred term used by Basque nationalists who support independence for the region, such as the Abertzale left, which has given the term some political connotation.

Iparralde and Hegoalde
The distinction between the peninsular and continental Basque Country is generally made in Basque by using the terms Iparralde (lit. "the northern side") and Hegoalde ("the southern side") to refer to the region at each side of the Pyrenees. This has led to translations used in other languages such as English with "Northern Basque Country" and "Southern Basque Country". This terminology is preferred by Basque nationalists, who usually reject the names "Spanish Basque Country" and "French Basque Country", but they can also be used without political connotations.

Euskadi
Euskadi is the official name in Basque for the autonomous community of the Basque Country as it is recognised in the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979. It is also frequently used in Spanish, alongside País Vasco, to refer to the autonomous community. In contrast to Euskal Herria, Euskadi usually refers only to the three territories that make up the autonomous community: Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Araba or Álava. Euskadi is the preferred term in official documentation in Basque and Spanish and the media, as it generally lacks a political connotation. Euskadi comes from Euzkadi, a previous spelling and a neologism invented by Sabino Arana, founder of the Basque Nationalist Party and also inventor of the Basque flag, in the late 19th century. It comes from eusk-, Euskal (related to the Basque language) and the suffix -di, which means "place where [something] is abundant".

País Vasco and Pays basque
País Vasco and Pays basque are the preferred and most often used terms for the region in Spanish and French, respectively, both being a direct translation of the Basque Euskal Herria. Lacking context, the terms can be used to refer to the entire Basque territory or to individual regions within it; in Spanish it is not unfrequent that País Vasco refers only to the autonomous community – not including Navarre or the French side – while País Vasco francés (French Basque Country) might be used for the French side. In French the distinction is usually made with Pays basque français and Pays basque espagnol for the French and Spanish regions respectively. País Vasco is also the official name of the Basque autonomous community in Spanish as determined by the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country.

It is not well known when the term was first used in Spanish, but it is believed to have appeared in the 19th century. Its use during the Francoist dictatorship was heavily restricted, preferring older terms such as Provincias Vascongadas.

In Gascon, a variation of the Occitan language spoken in some northeastern towns of the French Basque Country the preferred term is País Basco, although Bascoat is also frequently used.

Vasconum Saltus and Ager Vasconum
Vasconum saltus and Ager vasconum are the first recorded names used for the territory inhabited by the Basque people. They appear mentioned for the first time in the Natural History by Pliny the Elder, published between 77 and 79 AD. The Romans identified the Basque-speaking Vasconic and Aquitanian people living in the western Pyrenees between the upper Ebro river and the Garonne during the 1st century AD and divided their territory into two sections based on their geographical features. The Vasconum saltus referred to the territory between the Atlantic coast and the Basque mountains, extending well north of the Pyrenees, while the Ager vasconum referred to the flat cultivated lands between the Ebro river and the Basque mountains, roughly coinciding with present-day central Navarre.

Vasconia
Vasconia, also Basconie and Wasconia, is a term evolved from the previous Vasconum saltus and referenced the whole territory inhabited by the Basques, a territory that was not precisely defined at the time. It starts appearing on documents written in Latin by the year 394 and was the predominant name of the region during the time of the Visigothic Kingdom and before the Kingdom of Navarre. While the term originally referred to all Basque-speaking lands, eventually it became exclusively linked with the Duchy of Vasconia. The name Vasconia evolved into Wasconia and eventually Gasconia, which gave name to the present region of Gascony and the Gascon language.

The term as a general designation of all Basque-speaking lands would re-emerge in the 19th and 20th centuries although would soon be replaced by the more modern terms Euskadi and País Vasco. Since the late 20th century, it has become common to use the term in academic settings as a more accurate Spanish translation of Euskal Herria and in reference to all Basque-speaking lands (in opposition to País Vasco, which tends to be limited to the three provinces of the autonomous community).

Cantabria
Cantabria is one of the oldest designations used to jointly refer to the entire Atlantic region of Spain and was frequently used to group together all the peoples living in this region. It was mostly used with this meaning during the early modern period, and since then it has fallen out of use as a general term, now referring exclusively to the region where the Cantabrian people, a group separate from the Basques, live. It is today considered that the name Cantabria was historically used incorrectly to refer to the Basque people. The name Cantabria derives from the Latin Cantabri, which itself comes from the Greek Καντάβροι, and was the term used in Roman times for the Cantabri, a pre-Roman Celtic people. The Romans never used Cantabri for the Basque people, which were classified as Vascones or Aquitanian.

There are many references, some of them dating as late as the 19th century, in which Cantabria is used for the Basque-speaking territories. José Cadalso, a Spanish Army Colonel and poet in his Cartas marruecas (1789) wrote:

"In effect, the Cantabrians, name of all the peoples who speak the Biscayan language, are a humble people and of notorious probity. They were the first sailors of Europe and have always had the reputation of being excellent seamen."

- José Cadalso

The Royal Decree of the 29th of September of 1847 gave the name of Cantabria to one of the eleven general governments created at the time, which included the provinces of Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre (the entirety of the Southern Basque Country). Interestingly enough, the actual territory of today's Cantabria, which was then known as the province of Santander was not part of it.

Navarre
In the 9th century and until the 16th century, Navarre represented an independent kingdom state, the Kingdom of Navarre. Different Basque-speaking regions were under direct control or influence of the kingdom at different times, and the name Navarre was a common joinly designation for all of them. After the incorporation of Navarre into Spain in 1512, it became common to refer to the Basque territories as the Provincias Vasco-navarras (Basque-Navarrese provinces). Since then, and with the eventual emergence of other names for the Basque territories, the name Navarre (Nafarroa in Basque, Navarra in Spanish) has been used exclusively to refer to the region of Navarre, which is divided into the Higher Navarre, located in Spain, and the Lower Navarre, part of France. In Spanish, Navarre almost always refers to the Spanish community of Navarre.

There is a movement within the Basque nationalism who defends the idea of the "Basque-Navarrism", which promotes the notion that Euskal Herria is the name of the cultural and linguistic Basque region, while the name of the hypothetical independent state should be Navarre (in Basque often Nabarra or Nafarroa) as a successor of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Vascongadas
Vascongadas and Provincias Vascongadas were the most common names for the Basque provinces, often excluding Navarre, in Spain from the 17th century well into the 20th. It was used mainly as a term for the region comprised by Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava as Spanish provinces. The adjective vascongado was commonly used to refer to the Basque people, the Basque language and also the Basque territories. It was the preferred name during the Francoist dictatorship in Spain, when the usage of other terms was restricted, and since the establishment of the Basque Government in 1978 it has fallen completely out of use. The term is generally rejected within the Basque Country by movements such as the Basque nationalism, as it carries political connonations related to the Francoist dictatorship, a time when the Basque language was banned. Conversely, the term is often used by some sectors of the Spanish nationalism who reject the idea of a Basque "country". The use of Vascongadas to refer to the Basque region and language is controversial, and some consider it to even be pejorative.