LINGUAE VASCONUM PRIMITIAE - Euskaltzaindia

FOREWORD
Four and a half centuries have gone by since Etxepare's mind was
haunted by a dream in which the Basque language, Euskara, was to become
«as good as any tongue in which to write», i.e., being elevated from
a spoken tongue to a written language as capable as the resto
He told the royal counsel Bernard Lehete to send him his verses so
that «vou might have them printed and that all of us might have, in this
way, from your own hand, a precious jewel, the Basque language in print,
something which has not existed hitherto»,
Since then, in keeping step with the celebrated slogan of Etxepare's,
the written tongue has been able to «go forth ... into the street, come
forth ... into the world», into the whole world, to dance among all of the
written languages of the planet.
The cry of the «Contrapas» verse is echoed in the «Sauterelle- verse,
which admonishes that «everv Basque should hold his head hiqh», Four
hundred and fifty years later, our present-day desire for our language
could be summed up by wishing that Basque should have no qualms,
that it should be undaunted, that it should be, thanks to its writers, bold,
valiant, triumphant, and as rich and precise as any other literary language.
And, whether he or she is a writer or not, every Basque should now
hold his head high.
Jean HARITSCHELHAR
President of the Euskaltzaindia
Royal Academy of the Basque Language
April, 1995
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