Basque ethnography at a glance

Jairo Castillo. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

Let us return to our brief ethnolinguistic review of the names which the months of the year receive in Basque [See The months of the year in Basque (1)].

Apiril ‘April’. This name comes to us from Latin Aprῑlis, with the tentative double meaning of ‘month of Aphrodite’ (from Greek Aphrô), or ‘month when flowers bloom’ (from Latin aperῑre ‘open’). Equally interesting is the form jorrail, understood by Caro Baroja as ‘month or moon for weeding’, this month being typically dedicated to hoeing and removing weeds from cultivated fields. And we shall also mention the form opail, which would, according to Caro Baroja, refer to offerings (opa izan/egin ‘offer’ + (h)il ‘month or moon’) or bread rolls (opil ꞊ ogi ‘bread’ + bil ‘round’), formerly traditional at this time of the year. (more…)