{"id":2798,"date":"2020-09-20T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-20T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=2798"},"modified":"2020-09-21T13:03:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T13:03:34","slug":"basque-fact-of-the-week-native-basque-words-for-the-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2020\/09\/20\/basque-fact-of-the-week-native-basque-words-for-the-elements\/","title":{"rendered":"Basque Fact of the Week: Native Basque Words for the Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There are currently 118 elements on the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Periodic_table\">periodic table<\/a>. Maybe 10 were known to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Timeline_of_chemical_element_discoveries\">ancients<\/a>: copper, lead, gold, silver, iron, carbon, tin, sulfur, mercury, and zinc. Given the importance of these elements to metal working, it isn&#8217;t surprising to find that several of these have native words in Basque. <a href=\"http:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/Euskara\/Larry\/metal.names.php\">As noted by linguist Larry Trask<\/a>, perhaps more surprising is that some of them seemingly do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/elements.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2799\" width=\"294\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/elements.png 564w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/elements-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><figcaption>Images taken from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Main_Page\">Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lead<\/strong>. The modern Basque word for lead is <em>berun<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lead\">Lead<\/a> has likely been smelted for at least 9,000 years and is used today in a wide range of technologies, from plumbing and batteries to paints and radiation shielding. However, lead is also toxic, leading to a push to develop technologies that use less lead. <em>Beraun<\/em> is an alternative spelling for lead in Bizkaia. <em>Berun-zuri<\/em> &#8212; white lead &#8212; is another word for <strong>tin<\/strong>.<\/li><li><strong>Iron<\/strong>. There are a number of spellings for the word for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iron\">iron<\/a>, which makes some sense given the overwhelming importance of iron to the history of the Basque Country. The most common spelling is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euskaltzaindia.eus\/index.php?option=com_oehberria&amp;task=bilaketa&amp;Itemid=413&amp;lang=eu&amp;query=burdin\"><em>burdina<\/em><\/a>, but in Zuberoa, you can also find <em>b\u00fcrd\u00fc(i)\u00f1a<\/em>. Other versions include <em>burnia<\/em>, <em>burrina<\/em>, <em>burduina<\/em>, and <em>burine<\/em>. By mass, iron is the most abundant element on Earth, but most of it is tied up in minerals, requiring high temperature (nearly 3000 \u00b0F) furnaces to extract. <em>Burdingorri<\/em>, or red iron, is another name for copper. <em>Burdinori<\/em>, literally meaning yellow iron, is sometimes used in Bizkaia for bronze. Some have speculated that the word burdin is related to urdin, today meaning blue. <a href=\"http:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/Euskara\/Larry\/metal.names.php\">Trask<\/a> finds this an interesting idea, but there is little direct support for this.<\/li><li><strong>Gold<\/strong> is <em>urre<\/em>, though <em>urhe<\/em> and <em>\u00fcrhe<\/em> have also been documented. Of course, humans have always had a fascination with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gold\">gold<\/a>, not only because of its properties but because of its luster. We have about 190,000 metric tons of gold, about half of which is used in jewelry and 10% is used in industry.<\/li><li><strong>Silver<\/strong> is an interesting case. The Basque word for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Silver\">silver<\/a> is <em>zilar<\/em>, though <em>zidar<\/em>, <em>zirar<\/em>, <em>zildar<\/em>, and <em>ziler<\/em>, amongst other spellings, are also found. The words silver and zilar are similar enough that some have speculated a common origin, but no definitive link has been established. Silver has a number of uses, including in photographs and as a disinfectant. Another word for silver is <em>urre zuri<\/em>, or white gold. The more archaic Basque word for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mercury_(element)\">mercury<\/a><\/strong> is <em>zilarbizi<\/em>, or living silver, similar in spirit to quicksilver.<\/li><li><strong>Carbon<\/strong> is one of the most important elements to life on Earth, the basis for all organic chemistry and the element comprising both diamonds and charcoal. Thus, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carbon\">carbon<\/a> has been critical in refining metals and has a long history of human use. The modern Basque word for carbon is karbono, and that is what you would find on the Basque periodic table. However, there seems to be a more ancient Basque word for carbon, or at least charcoal: <em>ikazkai<\/em>, or <em>ikazki<\/em>. At least the <a href=\"https:\/\/hiztegiak.elhuyar.eus\/eu_es_en_fr\/ikazki#\">Elhuyar Hiztegiak<\/a> defines <em>ikazkai<\/em> as carbon.<\/li><li><strong>Copper<\/strong> is maybe the most interesting item on this list. Humans have been using <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Copper\">copper<\/a> for over 10,000 years, longer than any other metal, since it is found in a form that can be used almost directly, without smelting or refining. However, despite this long history, Basque doesn&#8217;t seem to have a native word for copper. The modern word is <em>kobre<\/em>, clearly taken from a Romance language. However, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.culturanavarra.es\/uploads\/files\/06_FLV79-0417-0428.pdf\">Pushkariova<\/a> argues that there are older, native words in Basque that have been displaced by <em>kobre<\/em>. These are <em>okain<\/em> and <em>tupiki<\/em>. <em>Tupiki<\/em> is listed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euskaltzaindia.eus\/index.php?option=com_oehberria&amp;task=bilaketa&amp;Itemid=413&amp;lang=eu-ES&amp;query=tupiki\">Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia<\/a>, along with the Bizkaian variant <em>topinki<\/em>, as a word for copper. But, they say that <em>okain<\/em> actually means &#8220;to charge&#8221; and the association with copper was a mistake. Ok. But then Pushkariova gives a word for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Malachite\">malachite<\/a>, a copper-based mineral: <em>okain berde<\/em>. I can&#8217;t find any other mention of <em>okain berde<\/em> anywhere, so not sure what to make of this one&#8230;<\/li><li>Basque doesn&#8217;t seem to have native words for sulfur or zinc, despite their long history with humans.<\/li><li>And, I can&#8217;t leave this alone without noting again that the element <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2019\/01\/06\/basque-fact-of-the-day-basque-brothers-discover-tungsten\/\">tungsten was discovered by the Basque Elhuyar brothers<\/a>. I always wonder what they might have named their element if had the chance. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are currently 118 elements on the periodic table. Maybe 10 were known to the ancients: copper, lead, gold, silver, iron, carbon, tin, sulfur, mercury, and zinc. Given the importance of these elements to metal working, it isn&#8217;t surprising to find that several of these have native words in Basque. As noted by linguist Larry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836,14],"tags":[2125,2122,2120,1880,704,1251,2123,2128,2121,2124,2127,2126,2129],"class_list":["post-2798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-euskara","tag-carbon","tag-copper","tag-elements","tag-gold","tag-iron","tag-larry-trask","tag-lead","tag-mercury","tag-periodic-table","tag-silver","tag-sulfur","tag-tin","tag-zinc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/elements.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-J8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3914,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions\/3914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}