Los trabajos de onomástica en Fontes Linguae Vasconum

Abstract

This article is a revision or recapitulation of the articles published in Fontes on onomastics. In order to do this, I have tried to classify the different articles in accordance with the subject they analyse and, as a result, I first speak of those articles devoted to place names, these being the greatest in number. I then make some comments on works dealing with oiconymy. Thirdly, I deal with articles on anthroponymy. I then look at the two studies on theonymy before finally briefly analysing reviews of onomastics published in the journal. The chapter on place names involves, as already mentioned, the largest number of articles and, consequently, I thought it necessary to divide it up into several sections. I mention here the first steps taken in the journal by authors such as Mitxelena, Garate and others; I then comment on what has been said about the name of the capital of Navarra before going on to explain the proposals formulated about the Basque name of the capital of Alava; opinions about the origins of certain toponyms from Navarra and Labourd are then mentioned. The fifth part of the first chapter speaks of what the well-known Catalonian linguist Joan Coromines had to say regarding, above all, certain major toponyms from the trans-Pyrenean Basque lands; in the sixth point, I comment, albeit superficially, on some of the proposals of the Tafalla-born linguist R. Zierbide about the names of certain villages in Navarra; the seventh and eighth points contain a list of works collecting the minor toponymy of certain localities and larger areas. I then mention those articles which aim to give an etymological explanation of some major toponyms, those which deal with toponyms external to the modern Basque Country, the three works which speak of Romance phenomena and those articles, greater in number, which deal with certain suffixes found in Basque toponymy. Finally, in a section under the title of “Others”, I include those articles which were not easily classified in the previous sections.

To end, I would like to point out that, in most cases, I have tried to give my own opinion regarding the subjects dealt with, considering insufficient a mere classification of what has been published to date.