euskara

See also: Euskara

Basque

Alternative forms

• euskera (Gipuzkoan, Biscayan)

Etymology

Ostensibly from Proto-Basque *euskala. It certainly contains the suffix -(k)era, -(k)ara (“in the manner of”) added to some rather obscure first element. This component may be connected to Ausci, the Latin name of an Aquitanian tribe documented by Pliny, although the initial diphthongs are different.

Alternatively, it has been pointed out that the historiographer Esteban de Garibay (1533-1599) wrote euskara as enusquera, with intervocalic -n-. Thus, the unknown component could also be interpreted as coming from Proto-Basque *enauśi (“to say, tell”), whence the stem -io- (or -iño in Biscayan) of Modern Basque esan. The entire compound would therefore mean “way of saying”.

A theory of external derivation relates the word euskal +‎ -era to the same family as French vassal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eu̯s̺kaɾa/ [eu̯s̺.ka.ɾa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾa, -a
• Hyphenation: eus‧ka‧ra

Noun

euskara inan

1. the Basque language

Declension

Declension of euskara (inanimate, singular only, ending in -a)

	indefinite	singular
absolutive	euskara	euskara
ergative	—	euskarak
dative	—	euskarari
genitive	—	euskararen
comitative	—	euskararekin
causative	—	euskararengatik
benefactive	—	euskararentzat
instrumental	euskaraz	euskaraz
inessive	—	euskaran
locative	—	—
allative	—	—
terminative	—	—
directive	—	—
destinative	—	—
ablative	—	—
partitive	euskararik	—
prolative	euskaratzat	—

Derived terms

• euskara batua (“standard Basque”)
• euskaradun (“Basque speaker”)
• euskarakada
• euskaratu (“to translate into Basque”)
• euskaratzaile

Related terms

• Euskadi
• euskal (“Basque”)
• Euskal Herria (“Basque Country”)
• euskalari
• euskaldun (“Basque, Basque speaker”)
• euskalki (“dialect of Basque”)
• euskaltzain (“member of Euskaltzaindia”)
• euskaltzale (“Bascophile”)

Further reading

• “euskara”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005
• “euskara”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Spanish

Noun

euskara m (plural euskaras)

1. Alternative form of euskera

Further reading

• “euskara”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10