"La lengua de las tribus costeras es medio vasca". Un pidgin vasco y amerindio utilizado por europeos y nativos americanos en Norteamérica, h.1540-h.1640

Abstract

Basque fishermen were among the most numerous visitors of the North East coast of America in the 16th and 17th centuries. They traded actively with some of the native tribes on the coast and along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. During these contacts, a trade language, a pidgin developed, which was based on Basque and Amerindian languages which was used by both Amerindians and Europeans.
   Contemporary British, French and Basque sources (mostly from the first decades of the 17th century) are cited which point to the existence and the importance of this Basque pidgin. Not many traces are left, however. Only a few sentences have been recorded. Altogether about thirty Basque words are identified from these older sources, all used by Amerindians of Canada's east coast. A few Basque words from this pidgin survive in modern Canadian French and in Micmac, one of theAmerican Indian languages of the Basque trading area.
   This pidgin must have been in fairly wide use for about one century before it died out.
   Historical information about the trade contacts is also given, as well as some ethnographic information about the tribes the Basques had contacts with.
   The Basque words from the early 17th century are also of some importance for Basque philology, as they constitute some of the oldest printed specimens of the Basque language.