Irulegiko eskua is an archeological find from the 1st century BC. eIt is a bronze hand-shaped plank with what seems to be a Basque text, since the first word can be read from current Basque.
It was found in the excavations of the valley of Aranguren, next to the remainings of the old castle of Irulegi. It is located to the south of Iruñea, Navarre's capital, where currently Basque is not completly official.It dates back to the Iron Age.
There had been previous findings, but there were words or names.
This is written in northeastern Iberic, not Latin alphabet, which means that Basques might have had a writting system. However, it is object of debate.
It was known that Basques acquired the writing system from the Romans, since many Aquitanian names were found with Latin declinations across the Basque nation. However, this finding, as well as coins where Iberian alphabet, was also used demonstrate that Basque people may not have been illiterate before the Romans.
SORIONEKU 'Of good fortune'
ZORIONEKO (current standard Basque)
There is a debate on whether it comes from Latin "sors" or not.
It is believed that it was hanged on the door, as part of a good luck ritual.
Basque is not official in a the Basque nation. Navarra is divided in: co-official, mixed and non-official, depending on the number of speakers
- Irulegi is in the mixed zone (2008)
- Politicians insist that Basque is not the local language of Navarre, and keep ignoring findings such as Irulegi's.
Incredible find. I think this will make an excellent tattoo.
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