Euskara hizkuntza zeltikoa zenean: oharra XVIII. mendeko uste genetikoez

Abstract

A widely held view throughout the 18th century was that the Basque language belongs to the Celtic branch of Indo-European. This belief was especially popular among French scholars. The largest comparative vocabulary of that time, Pallas' dictionary (published in S. Petersburg in 1786/87 and 1789), somehow reflects the assumption that Basque and the Celtic languages were genetically related, but introduces a significant modification: according to Pallas, only Basque dialects from the north (the French dialects, so to say) pertain to Celtic, whereas the southern Basque dialects (the Spanish ones) have nothing to do with Celtic and, consequently, not even with the Basque dialects spoken in France. It is these kinds of genetic suppositions and their possible sources that this brief paper deals with.