I really don´t think that basque had such on influence on castellano. I am no expert, but they are very different and I can´t imagine what could have been changed.

The Basques were one of the first people to speak Old Spanish/Early Castellano. During the early days of the Christian Reconquest, large numbers of Catholic Basques moved to Castilla-La Vieja in order to fight WITH the inhabitants against the Islamic invasions. Many Basques denounced their language and culture over a few generations and became Early Castellanos. Because of this, their accent influenced Early Spanish. For example: Fabulare>Fablar>Hablar; fel>fiel>hiel. The "f" sound became aspirated except before "ue" and "r". The Basque language at that time (and probably today) didn't have the sound "f" in its language. And like the Basque language, the Old Spanish accent and language sounded bizzare, coarse, and most of all STRONG, to the ears of their neighbors in León and Aragón. The Old Spanish accent, later on in the middle of the 13th century, became replaced when Alfonso X (El Sabio/The Learned) adopted the New or "Toledan" Castellano as the new standard of spoken "Spanish".

El Cid: Could you quote your source on the last post there? I'd be interested in taking a look at it...

"An Anthology of Old Spanish" by Tatiana Fotitch, PH D. The Catholic University of America Press Washington, D.C 1969
(This book shows texts in the stages of Spanish Language evolution)

"From Latin to Spanish" (I read this book around a year ago...this book explained the history of sound changes from Vulgar Latin to Old Spanish to Modern Spanish. It talked about the how the Basque emmigration to Castilla caused the aspiration of the Old Spanish "f" sound towards the silent "h" sound over a period of time...this change didn't occur overnight, but in a matter of centuries...something I forgot to mention in my previous post. :o As for the publication of the book and author...don't expect me to remember the date and name, it's beyond my memory now. )

I'm sorry I dimmed your hopes of me giving you an internet source, because there isn't one. The internet is not a reliable source compared to books. Make sure you listen to Basque speech in the near future...you'll see what I mean, different and unique in it's own right. And if you're wondering, I don't hate the Basque language. I respect the language(s) of my ancestors.

Hasta luego,

El Cid

PS: Euskera does have a strong accent. An accent unlike other accents on Earth but surprisenly close to Spanish.

FYI,

all the study i've done (or been forced to do) in spanish linguistics indicates that most of the evolution of words in Castillian stems from Latin as opposed to Vasco. i would not doubt that some influence would have to come from nearby and other influential languages, like Arabic (lending harsh gutteral 'j' and soft 'g'), as well as other phonyms and words. but i have never heard of any direct relation to Vasco being an influence -- just so you know, i'm not doubting it.

i know this sounds elementary to many of you, but i am addressing specifically El Cid's post regarding the evolution of F to H.

Latin/Italian to Castillian:
Fare >> Hacer
Farina >> Harina
Fumo >> Humo
Figo >> Higo

as well the expansion of vowels from Latin:
portam >> puerta
focum >> fuego (o > ue, and c > g)
osum >> hueso (silent 'h', and o > ue)
ceacum >> ciego (e > ie, and c > g)
masc. -um >> -o
fem. -am >> -a (altho some -am's were masculine, which explains why 'mapa' is masc. 'el mapa')

a good example of this is Italian versus Castillian, where Italian has kept much more of the original spelling of Latin than Castillian has. you can see examples of this in the other romance languages (esp. Catalan) too.

i'll edit this post later with my source, for those interested, as i don't have it with me now...

andrew
:wq

pd> here's one the sources i wanted to offer:
'introducción a linguística española' by milton azevedo

Umm, as far as I know, castilian came from the common lathyn (not the most cultural one spoked by the roman citizens, but the one spoked by the most of the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula) and its origin is located in the west of the Basque Country, between it and Cantabria (in fact in a basque county). Not any single language in Spain is free of influence from the others, and it is sure that the basque language and castilian have been influencing each other for centuries, due to the proximity and the comercial, migratory and culture fluxes. Realize that in the Basque Country 90% or more of the people speak castilian, and a great number also speak basque or one of its dialects. This has happened for centuries, so words and phonemas have been exported to the other language.

For example: In basque the word window "ventana" didn't exist, and it was imported from castilian as "ventanua" (transformed to comply with the grammar). I can't recall any basque word in castilian, but there are surely hundreds...

Fernando

There's only one Spanish word that I know of, so far, that comes from Basque: "Izquierdo". However, I'm either unaware of other Basque load-words into Spanish or I just read them in the past and automatically accepted them as genuine Spanish words. :p

PS: Curse words need not apply. :o

My wife's family insists it originated mostly from the Burgos region. Is that true orrrrrrr can I call mi suegra a BIG FAT LIAR! (Please please, the second, just joking suegra)

real_megia: I feel your pain on the linguistic studies...back in my university days I did the same.

I remember the "hacer" evolution as having a few more steps: fare > fadzer > façer > facer > hacer. This is not uncommon in the evolution of castellano, though.

As far as the "ventanua" example, there are a thousand different words in euskera that have been "borrowed" from castellano. The common thread that many of them have is that they are words that represent somewhat "modern" concepts/items (such as "nuklearik" for "nuclear"). Good example and good point, Fernando.

HOLA!

I love that we've got linguistic conversation! that's definitely my area of interest. This year I took a course about the history of the language, and I have some great references for all you aspiring linguists out there, or for anyone who's curious.

My fave is Ralph Penny, I've used 2 of his books in 2 different classes, and they are VERY useful. Both have great appendices if you're searching for the evolution of specific sounds or words, etc. Here's the one about history of the language (and there is a version española as well)

'A History of the Spanish Language' by Ralph Penny, 1991

there's also a great one by Paul Lloyd, but I found it a little harder to follow than Penny.

'From Latin to Spanish', 1987. it's also a great reference, and has a version española.

then, the mother of all : COROMINAS. This is an etymological diccionary, and has the history and evolution of a bizillion words. I used this for several papers, it's amazing. there's also a brief version.

'Diccionario etimologico castellano e hispanico', by Joan Corominas, 1980. this book is incredible! but it's not just a book, it's volumes of books.

I would totally recommend taking a history of the language class to anyone who is interested in Linguistics. you will learn more than you can ever imagine! I had a great Prof at PSU.

I love that people are pumped about linguistics!
take care!