Poem written in ancient Basque is earliest known example of Spain's 'mystery' language

LINGUISTIC historians cannot wait to get their hands on a new 'treasure' unearthed in the Guipúzcoa provincial archives – a poem in ancient Basque, which may shed some light on the origins of this apparently 'rootless' language.

Said to be a love poem and probably dating to between the years 1503 and 1522, the document was discovered tucked away in an old notary file in Oñati, near San Sebastián.

To date, practically no texts in euskera, the Basque regional tongue, from earlier than around the year 1660 have been found, making this latest manuscript an invaluable piece of cultural history.

Additionally, nearly all texts from hundreds of years ago in euskera that are known to exist are very limited example – 'micro-texts', as the regional ministry of culture says, or just 'the odd disembodied sentence or small couplet'.

Researcher Rosa Ayerbe found it and, with the help of archive personnel and regular user Iago Irioja, an expert in 16th-century Guipúzcoa, drew up a transcript.

They all agreed it is 'a very difficult read', an opinion shared by linguistic expert Ander Ros, also a faithful archive-user, who has extensive knowledge of notary documents from ancient eras.

Ros says the group transcript attempts have allowed those present to get an 'initial evaluation' of the text's 'significance', as well as some rudimentary attempts at interpreting 'certain fragments which are very hard to understand'.

“What we have here is one of the few written texts in the Guipúzcoa dialect of euskera, and one of the oldest of them – possibly the only one,” Professor Ros says.

“We should also take into account the cultural and historic significance of the poetic tradition of Oñati, since, except for the works of Lazarraga and the Ibarguren-Cachopin manuscript discovered by Julen Arriolabengoa, it's been many, many years since a text written in archaic euskera has come to light.”

The verse's author is not clear – although it was found in the files of writer Miguel Ibáñez de Insausti, which contains notary documents from between 1503 and 1522, it is thought to be more likely that it was penned by a writer apprenticed to him.

Narrowing down the dates slightly, the style of handwriting appears to be the same as that used in other papers penned between 1508 and 1521.

An approximate English translation of the Castilian Spanish translation created of the first verse would be: 

“My sweet beautiful beloved,

You pain me with pain

Having me so zulez,

How did you fall in love with me

With this sword in your hand?”

No translation has yet been found for the word zulez, and the person addressed is female.

In case any speakers of the Basque language would like to have a go at cracking the meaning themselves, the original text of verse one reads:

“Ene laztan gozo ederra

penaz penaçen naçu

Orreyn culez ninduçula

Nola amora nençaçun

ori escuan ezpata?”

The manuscript – which is similar in appearance to the one photographed above (by the regional government of neighbouring Navarra) – will be on display at the Koldo Mitxelena Cultural Centre over the next few weeks.