Proto-Basque language

Proto-Basque (Basque: aitzineuskara; Spanish: protoeuskera, protovasco; French: proto-basque)^[a] is a reconstructed ancient stage of the Basque language. It preceded another reconstructed stage, Common Basque, which is derived by comparing dialects of modern Basque. Common Basque is their reconstructed common ancestor. Proto-Basque is based on the comparison also of words that precede Common Basque, such as Latin words in Basque, and toponyms. Common Basque is dated to the 5th and 6th centuries, while Proto-Basque stage can be roughly dated to the last centuries BCE, before the Roman conquests in the Western Pyrenees.^[1]

The foundation for the study of both stages was laid out by the Basque linguist Koldo Mitxelena.^[b] The topic was launched by him in the first edition of Fonética histórica vasca in 1961.^[2]

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