334 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. ix. 



that there be no traces of Basque roots in the Celtic 

 languages of the British Isles, that fact does not affect 

 the question as to the origin of the small dark peoples 

 of Wales, Scotland, and of Ireland. 



Traces of the Neolithic Culture in Basque Dialects. 



The identification of the Neolithic aborigines with 

 the Iberic race of history, and with the modern Basques, 

 is confirmed in a most unexpected manner by the recent 

 philological inquiry carried on by the Abbe Inchauspe* * 

 into the dialects of the Pyrenees. He points out that 

 the Basque names for cutting tools are as follow : 



Axe . . . Aizcora. 



Pick . . . Aitzurra. 



Knife . . . Aizttoa. 



Scissors . . . Aizturrac. 



Aizcora is composed of aitz (aitza, atcha), a stone, 

 and gora high, lifted up = stone mounted in a handle. 



Aitzurra = aitz, and urra to tear asunder, a stone to 

 tear in sunder the earth. 



Aizttoa = aitz, and "ttoa" a diminutive = little stone. 



Aizturrac = aiztto, a small stone or knife, and urra 

 to tear asunder, the final c marking the plural. This 

 then means " little stones for tearing asunder/' in contra- 

 distinction to Aitzurra, or a stone for tearing asunder 

 i.e. a great stone. 



These words, with the exception of the third, which 

 is confined to the Valley of Eoncal in Spanish Navarre, 

 are used by the Basque-speaking peoples both of France 

 and Spain. Their derivations are accepted by Prince 

 Lucien Bonaparte, and they prove that the Neolithic 



1 Mattriaux, 1 8 7 5 , p. 218. 



