Madrid. A bronze hand from more than 2,000 years ago found in Navarra (northern Spain) houses the oldest known text in the Basque language, the Navarrese regional government and a Basque scientific society announced Monday.
This hand from the 1st century BC, found in a site in Irulegui, to the southeast of Pamplona, and which was placed on the doors to protect houses from misfortune, contains five words, the first of which has been identified: “sorioneku ”, similar to the “zorioneko” of current Basque, which means “good fortune, good omen”.
Basque is the language spoken by the inhabitants of the area at that time, and is a precedent of current Basque.
The translation of that first word already constitutes a “historical milestone of the first order”, both archaeological and linguistic, explained the president of Navarra, María Chivite, in an act.
The importance of the finding is that “it is the oldest document and also the most extensive one written in the Basque language” and “it confirms the use of writing by the ancient inhabitants of this area, who are estimated to be the Basques,” he explained. the Aranzadi Society in a statement.
In addition, they maintained, “it certifies the use of the Basque language in the geographical area in which it was discovered at the beginning of the 1st century BC.”
The five words in this hand are not written in the Latin alphabet, but in a Basque variation of the Iberian script.
The rest of the transcribed words, whose meaning is still unknown, are “tenekebeekiratere”, “oTirtan”, “eseakari” and “eraukon”.
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