Basque ethnography at a glance

An extended family. Artea (Bizkaia), c. 1930. Felipe Manterola Collection. Labayru Fundazioa Fotographic Archive.

The most common word to refer to a household in the Basque-speaking regions of Bizkaia is etxekoak. Although polysemous, that is its main meaning. The term familia makes particular reference to the offspring, and hence the phrase “Familia euki dabe” is to be understood as “They have started a family”. Senideak alludes more specifically to blood relatives and erantsiak to relatives by marriage, near relatives and close friends.

The suffix –tarrak attached to either the surname or the name of the family house is used to designate the extended household, including all relatives, irrespective of their degree of consanguinity. Uribetarrak, for instance, embraces all members of the Uribe family.

Joint family arrangements consisting of a married couple, the son or daughter destined to inherit the farm, and his or her spouse and children were prevalent in rural areas. According to José Miguel de Barandiaran such families constituted economic units, social communities and religious entities. In the olden times it was customary for three generations to live together under a single roof: husband and wife, heir or heiress to the family property and grandchildren. In addition, unmarried brothers or sisters of the parents, or of the future owner, and even servants, were more often than not part of the same household.

Wedding banquet. Northern Basque Country, 1924. Taken from Gure Herria [Our Country].

As Barandiaran points out, house names frequently assume the function of surnames or family names. Moreover, Caro Baroja claims the traditional peasant family in the Basque Country, unlike in certain parts of Europe, hardly ever adopts the patriarch’s surname but the name of the house he owns and lives in, passed on from one generation to the next. So much so, people in small rural villages are customarily named after the family house, alone or in combination with their first name. The study of house, village and settlement names can therefore be of great benefit to surname research.

Segundo Oar-Arteta – Etniker Bizkaia – Etniker Euskalerria Groups

Translated by Jaione Bilbao – Language Department – Labayru Fundazioa

References for further information: House and Family and Rites from Birth to Marriage, both part of the Ethnographic Atlas of the Basque Country.