Page:Essays ethnological and linguistic.djvu/35

Rh Spanish writers to concur, though Mariana and the most judicious of the Spaniards have dissented from them. On the other hand, M'Culloch in his 'Geographical Dictionary' and Borrow in his 'Bible in Spain,' say that some of the Basques believe themselves to be the remnant of some Phœnician colony. Beyond these assertions, I have never met with any Basque to assent to this supposition, though I have conversed with many intelligent persons of their country on the subject; nor have I found any such suggestion in the principal works written on their language; of which I believe I have nearly all that have ever been published. I have never met with the one purporting to explain the celebrated passage in Plautus, generally considered Phœnician, by means of the Basque language, but feel confident, from the consideration I have given it, that however ingeniously the attempt might have been made, it could not have succeeded in proving any connexion between the Basque and the language of that passage.

It seems to be an opinion almost universally admitted that the Phœnician language was nearly identical with the Hebrew. If this opinion be correct, though wishing to be understood as not altogether agreeing with it, we may positively assert that the Basques cannot be supposed to be any remnant of the Phœnician colonists, as there are very few traces indeed of Hebrew to be found in their language. Still it appears to me very probable that they are the descendants of some colony from the East planted in the districts which they now occupy, the traces of which are clearly to be seen, and are well deserving of being investigated. They certainly give no indications of being descendants of the original inhabitants of the Peninsula. They speak of their neighbours, the French and Spaniards respectively, by appellations merely signifying people of the country, or natives (Erdederac); and of themselves as people of their respective provinces, without any trace of hostile feeling such as might be expected if they had ever in reality been driven from other possessions. They call themselves Euscaldunac, and their language Euscara, totally ignoring the name of Basques, by which they are generally known. On the contrary, they rather understand the term as applicable to other people, the word basa in their language signifying a wood, and basacoa a dweller in the woods. This term they applied to the people now known as Gascons, who are descendants of people who formerly lived in their neighbourhood, but were afterwards driven into France. These Gascons have no affinity whatever with the Euscaldunac, but