LINGUAE VASCONUM PRIMITIAE - Euskaltzaindia

there could have been a previous edition which was smaller and entirely
lost: the fact that there is doubling of consonants, among other indicators,
found in some odd compositions leads one to think that it can only
be attributable to two different periods. Where there is no doubt is the
existence of a previous one, only known since Pierre Lafitte published in
1967 a little work by the hitherto unknown Arnaud Oihenarte (1665) in
which the Zuberoa poet speaks of a second «but quite incorrect» edition
which appeared in Pau a hundred years after the first one 8.
The work does not seem to have been widely diffused judging by the
fact that only a single copy has survived to thisday without our knowing
about the work and about which posterior authors, such as Pouvreau,
were ignorant - though Oihenarte was not - not only of the first but
also of the second edition as stated aboye. Isasti's testimony (1625), however,
failed to transcend on account of the failure to publish his Compendio
until 1850. It is surprising that Larramendi did not know about it
judging by the omission of it in his account of previous writers whom he
inserted in his Dictionary (1745). In the account where Joannes Leizarraga
takes up all of chapter 20 after a description of a dozen printed Basque
books he says to have been acquainted with, Etxepare is conspicuous by
his absence 9. Even more so if one bears in mind the fact that Etxeberri
de Sara, at that time a doctor in Azkoitia, had many an opportunity to let
the Jesuit from Loyola know about him. Or else could it be that the writer
from Sara was also unaware of his existence?
tf its initial diffusion was scant, the same cannot be said for its diffusion
in the centuries which followed. In 1847, Francisque Michel informed
Mr. Brunet about the existence of an old Basque book in the National
Library in Paris which he thought worthy of being printed and which was
published in the journal «Acte de l'Academie Royale des Sciences» with
Jean B. Archu's French translation. It is also ridden with errors if we are
to believe Vinson who was moved to come out with a new edition with
Hovelacque's help. Nevertheless, despite his pretension of it being
«absolument conforme a ta prerniere de 1545» «