Souraïde : "Ordotz" (Labourd)

Localization

I visit Bayonne at least once a year. Not for the local "fiesta" in summertime - I couldn't care less - but rather to complete my personal library with books I buy at Elkar, the most important bookshop in the city. Then, when coming back home, I wind through the roads of inland Labourd. The area suffers from the same issues as Lower Navarre or Soule : its agricultural model is being contested by modern times. Still, inland Labourd also begins to suffer from the demographical pression of the coast with people now settling in little villages to escape the craze of real estate next to the Ocean. It could endanger the local use of the Basque language.

Just before reaching Souraïde (Zuraide in Basque, of unknown origin though the final seems to be a reduction of bide "way") is the hamlet of Ordotz (Ordotz(e) in Basque). In my opinion, it is one classical example of the use of a Basque root *urd/ord (see ordoki) meaning "plateau" which then was confused with urde "pork". Most placenames named Urdos/Ourdos/Urdués - formed with the locative suffix -o(t)z - either in Basque-speaking lands or in former Vasconian lands describe such oronymic features. The hamlet is dominated by Mount Ursuya.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Labourd)

Localization

Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Donibane Lohitzun in Basque) is the only inhabited harbour of Iparralde, not far from the administrative border with Spain, hence its strategic importance in modern times though its origins are rather humble : as hinted by its name (lohitz "alluvium" + suffix -un, deformed as Luyz/Luz in Gascon), the town used to be a little hamlet situated in the swamps formed by the mouth of the Nivelle river ("little Nive" in Romance, Ur Ertsi in vernacular Basque).

The Bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, dominated by Mount La Rhune (Larrun in Basque, from Basque larre "pasture" + suffix -un), is undoubtedly one of the finest landscapes of all Iparralde in all seasons even though on a more personal note I must admit that I'm waiting for the good days to come back to fully embrace the beauty of this place. I want to be in June !

Ostabat-Asme : "Ostabat" (Lower Navarre)

Localization

Inbetween Pays de Cize (Garazi in Basque) and Pays de Mixe (Amikuze in Basque) is a little entity named Ostabarret (Oztibarre in Basque) : its capital is Ostabat the official name of which originates from the Gascon variant of Oztibarre i.e. Ostavath "the valley of Ozta" (vath - pronounced as bat(ch) - is the Gascon heir to the Latin vallum ; *(h)ozta being probably a formation based on Basque hotz "cold" + locative suffix -ta : "the cold place"). Due to its position on St. James' Way before the passes leading to Iberia, the village was home to many hospitals and inns which attracted a Gascon-speaking population who had a rather strong impact on the onomastics of the area with many autochtonous Basque people having surnames with obvious Romance roots.

Nevertheless, for local Navarrese people, the village never was known by the name of the valley but had its own name which contradicted the official usage : Izura (from Basque izur "fold"). Such double tradition illustrates pretty well the reluctance of Basque people to adopt the official Romance world local administration imposed on them.

Domezain-Berraute : "Domezain" (Soule)

Localization

Irrespectful of Basque traditional borders, the French State separated whole villages from Soule to which they had belonged from time immemorial and annexed them to the modern "canton de Saint-Palais" mostly made of Navarrese villages. Amongst these separated villages are Domezain in what was a northern and small strip of land that allowed Soule to have access to the valley of the Gave d'Oloron (Oloroeko Uhaitza in Basque) in Béarn . The architecture in Domezain illustrates very well the transitional aspect of this area inbetween Béarn, Soule and Lower Navarre : here houses are mostly Pyrenean though colours are plain Basque.

Domezain (Domintxain(e) in Basque) is part of the well-identified series of regional placenames ending in -ain about which we discussed on this weblog's Gascon counterpart (see comments for Aurensan on "Discover Gascony!" ). Such placenames are quite frequent on the border between Béarn and Soule and might correspond to medieval lordships in a disputed area : Domezain clearly is based on Latin first name "Dominitius" - adapted as Domintx in local Basque - hence the official name adopted from Gascon Domasanh and its Basque variant Domintxain.

Hendaye : "Chingoudy" (Labourd)

Localization

The Bay of Chingoudy (Txingudiko Badia in Basque, maybe from Basque zingo "depth" + locative suffix -di) is made of the estuary of the Bidasoa river which constitutes the modern border between France and Spain. On the left bank of the river (in the foreground) is the town of Hondarribia (Fuenterrabía in Spanish : from Basque (h)ondar(r) "sand" + ibi(a) "ford" falsely latinized as "Fuente Rabia" and other Romance variants), already in Guipúzcoa though it used to be the only access to the sea of the Kingdom of Navarre up to the 13th century and was initially part of the diocese of Lapurdum (modern-day Bayonne) like the whole coast as far as west as San Sebastián as these lands were originally part of the great Tarbellian civitas.

On the right bank of the Bidasoa river - in France then - is the former hamlet of Hendaye (Hendaia in Basque, theoricized to be a deformation of (h)andu "stump" + ibi(a) "ford"), now a town in its own right (in the background on the pic). As already mentioned, the Bidasoa river is ultimately a recent border and Hendaye only got to grow when the border eventually was fixed. Still the decisive impact was made by tourism. That's the Hendaye I've come to know since I was born. On an even more personal note, my grandmother was stationed in Hendaye when the town of Guernica was bombed in 1937 by what would become the Axis : the noise made by the bombings left a lasting impression of barbary on her. Nowadays, both shores of the Bidasoa are united under a consorcio which possesses legal competence to manage social and touristic matters.

Ciboure : Socoa (Labourd)

Localization

Socoa (Zokoa in Basque : "the corner") is a district of Ciboure (Ziburu in Basque) known for its fort watching the western entrance into the bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Donibane Lohitzune in Basque). It was successfully a possession of France and Spain with Spaniards - led by Juan de Cabrera - having named it "El Fuerte de Castilla" in the 17th century. The Treaty of the Pyrenees eventually froze the border between France and Spain on the Bidasoa river. Even though the fort got to be important in the 19th century during Napoleonic wars, its history is one of a steady decline culminating with the State of France selling it to the commune of Ciboure in 2003.

On a more personal note, Socoa is an important place for me : my father used to be a teacher in what was then a little port inhabited by local Basque-speaking fishermen in the 70s. There, he got into contact with locals and developed a love for Basque culture that his own father had independently developed after being a teacher in Basque lands as well (except it was in deep mountainous Soule during WW2). This respect for Basque people was eventually passed on me : Socoa is my immutable picture for the Basque Country, a land now endangered by real-estate speculation.

Biarritz : "La Gourèppe" (Labourd)

Localization

The rocks of "La Gourèppe" are the last rocks in Biarritz (Biarritz(e) in Basque ; of unknown origin though the locative suffix -i(t)z is well identified) before the town of Bidart (Bidarte in Basque "inbetween the roads") : they are situated in the southern hamlet of Ilbarritz (formerly Libarritz ; of unknown origin as well : *libar(r)- may be a variant for iri+bar(r)- "inland domain" like in Libarren(x) in Soule known as Iribarne in Basque ; see the many Libar(r)os in Gascony) and in front of the beach now known as "Milady" : the very name of the rocks if of unknown origin though it might be linked to the Basque term guren "boundary" (a superlative form for *gur ?). Indeed the two rocks materialize the border between Biarritz and Bidart.

Interestingly enough, the beach used to be the border between the Basque and Gascon languages before the 20th century : indeed, Biarritz had totally lost the use of the Basque language around the 17th century because of the influence of Romance-speaking Bayonne. The little river known as Lamoly (La Molia /lə mu'li/ in Gascon "the mill" ; it appears that the Basque name for the river was Moliña) divided Basque-speaking Bidart from Gascon-speaking Biarritz. The "gasconization" of Biarritz is rather similar to what happened in the Cuenca of Pamplona or in the surroundings of Bilbao in the Encartaciones with the gradual loss of the Basque language being replaced by a Romance dialect. Nevertheless a fair share of placenames in Biarritz had retained Basque roots.