Representation of Icelandic-Basque contacts in a Finnish novel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/sss.v15i2.152279Keywords:
Basque, Icelandic, pidgin, historical fiction, whaling, SpánverjavíginAbstract
Finnish author Tapio Koivukari creates in his novel Ariasman (2011), based on a historical massacre of shipwrecked Basque whalers in Iceland in 1615, a literary representation of an extinct Icelandic Basque pidgin known from a few lists of words and phrases with roots in the seventeenth century. The brief dialogues in the book given in Basque or pidgin draw on the word lists, knowledge of the modern languages, and Koivukari’s imagination. The pidgin phrases used in the book concentrate on a few semantic fields: domestic animals, food, clothing, religion and relationships, largely corresponding to those found in the glossaries. Icelandic names are adapted to Basque phonology and given Basque diminutive endings. Multilingual word play is exploited. Koivukari supplements the vocabulary attested in the word lists with words from modern Basque and other languages known to have been part of the contact situation. This article describes how the book extrapolates from the documented glossaries to create fictional dialogues between Basque and Icelandic speakers, and more generally how it thematizes difficulties and strategies in communication, using imagination to flesh out the dynamics of the historical contact situation.
References
Adamsson, Virpi. 2016. Kirja korjasi vääryyden. [A book corrected a wrong.] Kirjastolehti 2016(2): 22–23.
Aulestia, Gorka and Linda White. 1992. Basque-English, English-Basque dictionary. Reno: University of Nevada Press.
Bakker, Peter. 1987. A Basque nautical pidgin. A missing link in the history of fu. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 2(1): 1–30.
Bakker, Peter. 1988a. Basque as an Atlantic contact language. In Euskara biltzarra / Congreso de la lengua vasca, vol 2., pp. 91–96. Vitorio-Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritzaren Argitalpen-Zerbitzu Nagusia.
Bakker, Peter. 1988b. Basque pidgin vocabulary in European-Algonquin trade contacts. In William Cowan (ed.), Proceedings of the nineteenth Algonquin conference, pp. 7–15. Ottawa: Carleton University.
Bakker, Peter. 1989a. A French-Icelandic nautical pidgin. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 4(1): 129–139.
Bakker, Peter. 1989b. “The language of the coast tribes is half Basque”. A Basque-American Indian pidgin in between Europeans and Native Americans in North America, ca. 1540–ca. 1640. Anthropological Linguistics 31(3): 117–147.
Bakker, Peter. 1989c. Two Basque loanwords in Micmac. International Journal of American Linguistics 55(2): 258–261.
Bakker, Peter. 1995. Les noms basques des diverses espèces des baleines avant 1700 (et les utilisations de ces termes par d’autres nations européennes). [The Basque names for different whale species (and the use of these terms by other European nations]. L’Aventure maritime, du Golfe de Gascogne à Terre-Neuve, pp. 271–282. Paris: Éditions du CTHS.
Bakker, Peter. 2018a. N. G. H. Deen: de tot nu toe onbekende baskoloog. [N. G. H. Deen: the previously unknown Bascologist.] In P. Bakker, M. Eggermont-Molenaar, W. Jansen and J. Noordegraaf (eds.), Veldwerkers en vrouwen in en om Baskenland, pp. 199–216. Leiden: Gingko.
Bakker, Peter. 2018b. Recensie en receptie van het proefschrift van Deen. [Reviews and reception of Deen’s thesis.] In P. Bakker, M. Eggermont-Molenaar, W. Jansen and J. Noordegraaf (eds.), Veldwerkers en vrouwen in en om Baskenland, pp. 217–225. Leiden: Gingko. Bakker, Peter, Gildor Bilbao, Nicolaas G.H. Deen, and José Ignacio Hualde. 1991. Basque pidgins in Iceland and Canada. Anejos del Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca “Julio de Urquijo” 23. Donostia-San Sebastián: Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia.
Barkham, Selma Huxley. 1989. The Basque coast of Newfoundland. Plum Point: Great Northern Peninsula Development Corporation.
Barkham, Selma Huxley. 2001. The mentality of the men behind sixteenth-century Spanish voyages to Terranova. In Carolyn Podruchny and Germaine Warkotin (eds.), Decentering the Renaissance. Canada and Europe in multidisciplinary perspective 1500–1700, pp. 110–124. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Basknesk-íslenzk orðasöfn. [Basque-Icelandic glossaries.] Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. https://arnastofnun.is/is/baskneskislensk ordasofn (25.5.2024)
Buzelin, Hélène, and Lise Winer. 2009. Literary representations of creole languages. Cross-linguistic perspectives from the Caribbean. In Silvia Kouwenberg and J.V. Singler (eds.), The handbook of pidgin and creole studies, pp. 637–665. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Deen, Nicolaas Gerardus Hendricus. 1937. Glossaria duo vasco-islandica [Two Basque-Icelandic glossaries]. Amsterdam: H.J. Paris.
Deen, Nicolaas Gerardus Hendricus. 1991. Glossaria Vasco-Islandica. An edition of Deen’s Glossaria duo Vasco-Islandica. Anuario del Seminario de Filologica Vasca Julio de Urquijo (ASJU) vol. 24(2): 315–428 and in Bakker et al. (1991), pp. 17–121.
Duff, Alan. 1990. Once were warriors. Auckland: Tandem.
Etxepare, Ricardo and Viola Miglio. 2015. The newly-discovered fourth Basque-Icelandic glossary. In Irujo, Xabier, and Viola G. Miglio (eds.), Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, pp. 345–394. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Frasier, Brenna A. et al. 2008. Bowhead whales, not right whales, were the primary target of 16th- to 17th-century Basque whalers in the western North Atlantic. Arctic 61(1): 61–75.
Friðrik Magnússon. 1984. Um innri gerð nafnliða í íslensku. [On the internal structure of the noun phrase in Icelandic.] Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 6(1): 81–111.
Gallop, Rodney. 1970. A book of the Basques. Reno: University of Nevada Press. (Original London, 1930).
Guillou, Jan. 2004. Noitien asianajaja. [The witches’ advocate.] Transl. Tapio Koivukari. Helsinki: Johnny Kniga.
Halldór Ármann Sigurðsson. 2006. The Icelandic noun phrase: central traits. Arkiv för nordisk filologi 121: 193–236.
Helgi Guðmundsson. 1979. Um þrjú basknesk-íslenzk orðasöfn frá 17. öld. [On three Basque-Icelandic glossaries from the seventeenth century.] Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði 1: 75–87.
Henningsen, Gustav. 1980. The witches’ advocate. Basque witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition (1609–1614). Reno: University of Nevada Press.
Henningsen, Gustav. 2004. The Salazar documents. Inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frias and others in the Basque witch persecution. Leiden: Brill.
Hollis. [Catalog entry for MS Icelandic 3.] https://hollis.harvard.edu/primoexplore/fulldisplay?docid=01HVD_ALMA212095745760003941 (Accessed 18 November 2024)
Hualde, José Ignacio. 1984. Icelandic Basque pidgin. Journal of Basque Studies in America 5: 41–59. (Reprinted as Hualde 1991.)
Hualde, José Ignacio. 1991. Icelandic Basque pidgin. Anuario del Seminario de Filologia Vasca Julio de Urquijo (ASJU) 25(2): 427–437. (Reprint of Hualde 1984.)
Hughes, Shaun F.D. 2004. Was there ever a “Māori English”? World Englishes 23(4): 565–584. Huxley, Selma (ed.). 1987a. Los vascos en el marco Atlántico Norte.
Siglos XVI y XVII. [The Basques in the North Atlantic in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.] Donostia/ San Sebastian: Etor.
Huxley, Selma. 1987b. ¿Quién era Martín de Villafranca? [Who was Martín de Villafranca?] In S. Huxley [Barkham] (ed.), Los vascos en el marco Atlántico Norte. Siglos XVI y XVII, pp. 294–297. Donostia/San Sebastián: Etor.
Huxley, Selma. 2006. Hver var Martín de Villafranca? [Who was Martín de Villafranca?] Ársrit Sögufélags Ísfirðinga 46: 21–26.
Irujo, Xabier, and Viola G. Miglio (eds.). 2015. Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Irujo, Xabier, and Viola G. Miglio (eds.). 2017. Jón Guðmundsson lærði’s true account and the massacre of Basque whalers in Iceland in 1615. Reno: Center for Basque Studies Press, University of Nevada, Reno.
Jansen, Wim. 2002. Beginner’s Basque. New York: Hippocrene.
Jón Guðmundsson. 1916. Fjölmóður. Ævidrápa Jóns lærða Guðmundssonar. Með inngangi og athugasemdum. [Many-passioned. An autobiographical poem by Jón “learned” Guðmundsson. With an introduction and comments.]. Páll Eggert Ólason (ed.) Safn til sögu Íslands og ísl. bókmenta 5 nr 3. Reykjavík: Gutenberg. (Available on baekur.is.)
Jón Guðmundsson. 1950. Spánverjavígin 1615. Sönn frásaga efter Jón Guðmundsson lærða og Víkinga rímur. [The slaying of Spaniards in 1615. The true account by Jón Guðmundsson and Viking rhymes.] Jónas Kristjánsson (ed.), Kaupmannahöfn: Prentað hjá S.L. Möller.
Jón Guðmundsson. 2015. A true account of the shipwreck of the Spaniards and their slaying. Transl. Viola G. Miglio. In Xabier Irujo and Viola G. Miglio (eds.), Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, pp. 53–80. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Jón Myrdal. 1872. Mannamunur. Skáldsaga. [Differences among people. A novel.] s.n.: Magnús Sigurðsson.
Juntunen, Tuomas. 2011. Verkkainen verilöyly. [A reluctant bloodbath] Parnasso 61(7): 62–63.
Kátlegar glósur. [Amusing glosses.] (manuscript) JS 284 8vo 103r–v. Scribe Sveinbjörn Egilsson. Landsbókasafn, Reykjavík.
King, Alan R. 1994. The Basque language. A practical introduction. Reno: University of Nevada Press.
Koivukari, Tapio. 1990. Odinnin korppi. Romaani. [Odin’s raven. A novel.] Helsinki: Like.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2011. Ariasman. Kertomus valaanpyytäjistä. [Ariasman. A tale of whalers.] Helsinki: Like.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2012. Ariasman. Frásaga af hvalföngurum. [Ariasman. A tale of whalers.] Transl. Sigurður Karlsson. Akranes: Uppheimar.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2015a. 1615 Islandia: Gartziaren istorioa. [Iceland 1615. Gartzia’s story. Transl. Maia Ossa Rissanen.] Montevideo: Euskal Erria.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2015b. Iceland 1615: a whaler‘s story. Transl. Kate Lambert. Montevideo: Euskal Erria.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2017. Ariasman. Euskal baleazaleen istorio bat. [Ariasman. A tale of Basque whalers.] Transl. Maia Ossa Rissanen. Donostia: Erein.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2018. Gartzia – eloonjäänyt. [Gartzia – the survivor.] Rauma: Veinö Riikkilä-seura.
Koivukari, Tapio. 2024. Ariasman. Play presented at Komedíuleikhúsið Haukadal.
Koivukari, Tapio & Xabier Irujo. 2017. Baskavígin: the massacre of Basque whalers. In Xabier Irujo and Viola Miglio (eds.), Jón Guðmundsson lærði’s true account and the massacre of Basque whalers in Iceland in 1615, pp. 61–87. Reno: Center for Basque studies, University of Nevada, Reno.
Kotkamaa, Hilkka. 2011. Meri toi, meri vei. Kirja valaanpyyntäjistä. [The sea brought, the sea took. A book about whalers.] Suomen Merikulku 106(12): 33.
Lambert, Iain B.M. 2008. Representing Maori English in Alan Duff’s Once were warriors. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 17(2): 107–181.
Machielsen, Jan. 2024. The Basque witch-hunt: a secret history. London: Bloomsbury.
Már Jónsson. 2015. The killings of 1615: antecedents and plausible causes. In Xabier Irujo and Viola G. Miglio (eds.), Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, pp. 138–151. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Miglio, Viola. 2006. Hvaða gaskónalæti eru þetta? [What kind of Gascon nonsense is this?] A fresh look at the Basque-Icelandic glossaries. In Lesið í hljóði fyrir Kristján Árnason sextugan 26. desember 2006, pp. 198–203. Reykjavík: Menningar- og minningarsjóður Mette Magnussen.
Miglio, Viola. 2008. “Go shag a horse!” The 17th–18th century Basque-Icelandic glossaries revisited. Journal of the North Atlantic 1(1): 1–12.
Miglio, Viola. 2011. Some problematic entries in the fourth Basque/Euskara glossary. Presentation at The massacre of the Basque whalers in Iceland (1615): Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, University of California – Santa Barbara, 28.1.2011.
Neimala, Kaisa. 2011. Meren poikia. [Boys of the sea.] Suomen Kuvalehti 95(46): 63.
Nokkrar latínu glósur. [Some Latin glosses.] (Manuscript). In Eitt litid aaagrip um alslags gros og steina anaad um merki og planetur og um allar lækn[ingar] anad um þidingar of smà legxiur samanskrif[ad] til frodleigs og gaman af Jone a Vass[firdi].[A short overview of all kinds of grass and stones, as well as on signs and planets and all healing, as well as on translations of short lessons compiled for erudition and entertainment by Jón in Vatnsfjörður]. Scribe Jón Arason á Vatnsfirði. Manuscript Icelandic 3, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, 92v–93r.
Olsen, Magnus & Knut Bergsland. 1943. Lappisk i en islandsk runeindskrift. [Saami in an Icelandic runic inscription.] Oslo: I kommisjon hos Jacob Dybwad.
Ólafur Jónsson. 2006. Spænskar vísur. [Spanish rhymes.] Bjarni Kárason (ed.). Ársrit Sögufélags Ísfirðinga 46: 119–141.
Ólafur Jónsson. 2015. Spanish stanzas. Transl. Óskar Hólm. In Xabier Irujo and Viola G. Miglio (eds.), Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, pp. 109–138. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Ólína Þorvarðardóttir. 2000. Brennuöldin. Galdur og galdratrú í málskjölum og munnmælum. [The age of burning. Witchcraft and belief in witchcraft in court documents and oral tradition.] Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan.
Oregi, Eneko. 1987. Tres glosarios vasco-islandeses del siglo XVII [Three Basque-Icelandic glossaries from the seventeenth century.] In Selma Huxley (ed.), Los Vascos en el Marco Atlantico Norte, siglos XVI y XVII, pp. 313–336. Donostia/San Sebastián: Etor. Ortiz de Urbina, Jon. 2018. Word order. In Ane Berro Urrizelki, Fernandez Beatriz and Jon Ortiz de Urbina (eds.), Basque and Romance. Aligning grammars, pp. 14–58. Leiden: Brill. R.A. Kongehusets og rigets arkiv D 11–12. Island. Supplement II, 14, nr. 14.
Ragnar Edvardsson. 2015. The Strákatangi whaling project in Strandasýsla. An archaeological site in the Westfjords. In Xabier Irujo and Viola G. Miglio (eds.), Basque whaling in Iceland in the XVII century. Legal organization, cultural exchange and conflicts of the Basque fisheries in the North Atlantic, pp. 319–344. Basque law series 2. Santa Barbara: Barandarian Chair of Basque Studies & Strandagaldur ses.
Skiftesvik, Joni. 2012. Ensin kuolivat valaat, sitten miehet. [First the whales died, then the men.] Merimieskirkko 130(1): 30.
Viðar Hreinsson. 2018. Ghosts, power, and the natures of nature. Reconstructing the world of Jón Guðmundsson the learned. In Hannes Bergthaler and Peter Mortensen (eds.), Framing the environmental humanities, pp. 67–85. Studies in environmental humanities 5. Leiden: Brill.
Vísur um Ara Magnússon í Ögri [Poems about Ari Magnússon in Ögur]. Blanda 4(11–13): 144–146.
Vocabula Biscaica. [Biscayan words.] (manuscript) AM 987 4to 200r–204v. Scribe Jón Ólafsson frá Grunnavík. Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík.
Vocabula Gallica. [French words.] (manuscript) AM 987 4to 192r–199v. Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík.
Willson, Kendra. 2012. A putative Sámi charm on a 12th. c. Icelandic spade: runic reception, magic, and contacts. In Cornelius Hasselblatt and Adriaan van der Hoeven (eds.), Finno-Ugric Folklore, Myth and Cultural Identity. Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Finno-Ugric Languages, University of Groningen, June 7 9, 2011, pp. 267–281. Studia Fenno-Ugrica Groningana 7. Maastricht: Shaker.
Zuberogoitia, Aitor, and Pedro Zuberogoitia. 2008. Bertan Bilbo. Bizkaiko hiriburua eta Euskara: XX. mendeko historia. [Bilbao right here. The capital of Biscay and Basque: twentieth-century history.] Bilbao: Ayuntamiento de Bilbao.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Kendra Willson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
