{"id":7697,"date":"2025-12-07T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=7697"},"modified":"2026-07-04T21:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T21:40:37","slug":"basque-fact-of-the-week-a-sheepherder-basqlish-dictionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2025\/12\/07\/basque-fact-of-the-week-a-sheepherder-basqlish-dictionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Basque Fact of the Week: A Sheepherder Basqlish Dictionary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly none of the young men and women who immigrated to the United States from the Basque County to herd sheep in the American West had any knowledge of English. This wasn\u2019t much of a problem as they typically worked with other Basques. However, encounters with the dominant language of their new home were unavoidable and sometimes represented concepts that they didn\u2019t have a Basque word for, so they simply transliterated the English word into Basque spelling. This leads to an interesting collection of \u201cBasqlish\u201d words.<br><br>Updated: I\u2019ve added new words as they\u2019ve been suggested. Those from Joxe are in bold, others are in regular text. I\u2019ve also removed the hidden text.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/joxe-jaialdi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/joxe-jaialdi-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7699\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/joxe-jaialdi-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/joxe-jaialdi.jpg 665w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Joxe and me with his daughter and my family at Jaialdi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260118045824\/https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2025\/01\/22\/a-donkey-from-munitibar-wanders-here-an-interview-with-professor-joxe-mallea-olaetxe\/\">Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe<\/a>, who has done extensive research on Basque arboglyphs, has uncovered a number of transliterations of English words to Basque. Some of these will be familiar to those who had a Basque parent \u2013 you can almost hear their accent coming through. He shared these with me after I wished him Happy Thanksgiving.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Here are a few of Joxe\u2019s favorites, with a few others from visitors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>aizkrime<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>anburgesa<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>arrantxu<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>bakola<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>escrewdrivera<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>esprinkola<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>estorra<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>foki<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>friueia<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>grinjouse<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>hammera<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>karrue<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>kauboi<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>kukia\/kukije<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>laddera<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>morojona<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>mubije\/mubia<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>paia\/paije<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>pikapa\/<\/strong>pickopa<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>pikinikixe<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>sanabitxe<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>saniskibi<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>sizpaka<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>taia\/taije<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>troka<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>txip<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>uintxila<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>whiskia\/whiskixe<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>xata<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>zereala<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>ice cream<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>hamburger<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>ranch<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>backhoe<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>screwdriver<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>sprinkler<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>store<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>the f-word<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>freeway<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>greenhouse<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>hammer<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>car<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>cowboy<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>cookie<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>ladder<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>motorhome<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>movie<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>pie<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>pickup<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>picnic<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>son of a bitch<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Thanksgiving<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>six pack<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>tire<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>truck<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>sheep<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>windshield<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>whiskey<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>shot<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>cereal<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\">A full list of all of Buber&#8217;s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/basque-fact-of-the-week-archive\/\">Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Primary sources: Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, private communication<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly none of the young men and women who immigrated to the United States from the Basque County to herd sheep in the American West had any knowledge of English. This wasn\u2019t much of a problem as they typically worked with other Basques. However, encounters with the dominant language of their new home were unavoidable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7699,"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[836,5,14],"tags":[4230,37,1737,96],"class_list":["post-7697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-diaspora","category-euskara","tag-basqlish","tag-english","tag-joxe-mallea-olaetxe","tag-sheepherders"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/joxe-jaialdi.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-209","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697","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=7697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7701,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697\/revisions\/7701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}