De la identidad vasco-americana a la tesis vasco-caucásica: El enfoque de Arturo Campión sobre el origen mítico de la lengua vasca

Abstract

The author of this paper attempts to define historian and Basque specialist Arturo Campión Jaimenbon's (1854-1937) attitude towards the then current scientific hypotheses on the past substratum of the Basque language. Campión's thought is not merely presented, on the contrary, the truth of his theses and the level of knowledge later reached are assessed with the aim of taking into account sorne of the pioneer intuicions stated by the fuerist intellectual from Pamplona.

At a time in which the etymoligical dilettantism so dear to the XIXth century Basque auchors was still in vogue, the paths opened by Urquijo or Campión himself enabled the Basque erudicion to put things in their right perspective and to purify itself of the mystifications proposed by Astarloa, Chaho or Erro.