Basques

The **Basques** (, , ) as an ethnic group primarily inhabit an aurie traditionally kent as the Basque Kintra (), a region that is locatit aroond the wastren end o the Pyrenees on the coast o the Bay o Biscay an straddles pairts o north-eastren Spain an sooth-wastren Fraunce.

The Basques are kent in the local leids as:
**Euskaldunak* ("Basque speakers", uised loosely tae descrive aw ethnic Basques), *euskal herritarrak* ("natives o the Basque Kintra") or *euskotarrak* ("natives of the Basque Kintra", an aften mentioned but rarely uised neologism) in Basque
**Vascos* in Spaingie
**Basques* in French
**Bascos* in Gascon

## Etymology o the wird ''Basque''
The wird *Basque* comes frae French *Basque* (pronooncit ), which itsel comes frae Gascon *Basco* (pronooncit ) an Spainyie *Vasco* (pronounced ). These, in turn, come frae Liatin *Vasco* (pronounced ), plural *Vascones*. The Laitin labial-velar approximant /w/ generally evolvit intae the bilabials /b/ and /β̞/ in Gascon an Spaingie, likely unner the influence o Basque an Aquitanian, a leid kin wi auld Basque an spoken in Gascony in Antiquity (seimilarly the Laitin /w/ evolvit intae /v/ in French, Italian an ither leids). 

Several coins frae the 1st an 2nt centuries BC foond in the Basque Kintra bear the inscription *barscunes*. The place whaur they wur mintit isnae certain but is thocht tae be somewhaur near Pamplona in the hertland o the aurie that historians believe wis inhabitit bi the *Vascones*. Some scholars hae suggestit a Celtic etymology based on *bhar-s-*, meanin "summit", "point" or "leaves", accordin tae whilk *barscunes* mey hae meant "the muntain fowk", "the muckle anes" or "the proud anes", while ithers hae positit a relationship tae a proto-Indo-European ruit **bar-* meanin "border", "frontier", "mairch".

In Basque, Basques caw thairsels *euskaldunak*, singular *euskaldun*, formed from *euskal-* (i.e. "Basque (eid)") an *-dun* (i.e. "ane who haes"); *euskaldun* literally means a Basque speaker. No aw Basques is Basque-speakers, an no aw Basque speakers is Basques; ootlanders wha hae learned Basque can be cried *euskaldunak* an aw. For that raison, the neologism *euskotar*, plural *euskotarrak*, wis coined in the 19t century tae mean an ethnically Basque body whether Basque-speakin or no. Thir Basque wirds are aw derivit frae *euskara*, the Basque name for the Basque leid.

Alfonso Irigoyen claimit that the wird *euskara* comes frae an auncient Basque verb *enautsi* "tae say" (cf. modren Basque *esan*) and the suffix *-(k)ara* ("way (o doin something)"). Thus *euskara* wad literally mean "way o sayin", "way o speakin". Ane item o evidence in favour o this hypothesis is foond in the Spainyie beuk *Compendio Historial*, written in 1571 bi the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay, wha records the name o the Basque leid as "*enusquera*". It mey be housomeivver a writin mistake.

In the 19t century, the Basque naitionalist activist Sabino Arana positit an oreeginal ruit *euzko* whilk, he thocht, came frae *eguzkiko* ("o the sun" on the assumption o an oreeginal solar religion). On the basis o this putative ruit Arana proposed the name Euzkadi for an independent Basque naition, componed bi seiven basque historical territories. Arana's neologism Euzkadi, in the regularised spellin Euskadi, is still widely uised in baith Basque an Spainyie, syne it is nou the offeecial name o the Autonomous Commonty o the Basque Kintra.

It haes been suggestit that the ruit o *eusk-* mey be linkit tae the Aquitanian tribe o the Ausci an aw.

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