Types and Composition
The majority of modern Basque surnames fall into two categories:
- a descriptive of the family house. This usually either refers to the relative location of the home or the purpose of the building.
- the first owner of the house. Usually this is a man's name. These surnames are relatively recent
Surnames from either category are formed using nouns, adjectives, a number of suffixes and endings such as the absolutive ending -a, the relational suffix -ko and the genitive ending -ren.
An example of the second class are Martinikorena ("Martinico's ", Martinico being a Navarrese hypocoristic for Martin). Another would be Mikelena, "Michael's".
The following examples all relate to the location of the family home.
| Surname | Elements | Meaning |
| Arrigorriagakoa | (h)arri "stone" + gorri "red" + aga "place of" + -ko "of" + -a "the" | the one of the place of the red stones |
| Aroztegi | (h)arotz "smith/carpenter" + -tegi "place" | smith's workshop/carpentry |
| Bidarte | bide "way" + arte "between" | between the ways |
| Bolibar | bolu "mill" + ibar "valley" | mill valley |
| Elkano | elke "vegetable garden" + no "small" | small vegetable garden |
| Elizondo | eliza "church" + ondo "nearby" | near the church |
| Etxandi | etxe "house" + handi "big" | big house |
| Etxarte | etxe "house" + arte "between" | house between |
| Etxeberri | etxe "house" + berri "new" | new house |
| Goikoetxe | goi "high place" + etxe "house" | high lying house |
| Ibaiguren | ibai "river" + guren "edge" | river's edge |
| Ibarra | ibar | valley |
| Loiola | lohi "mud" + -ola "place" | muddy place |
| Mariñelarena | Marinela "sailor" + suffix "rena" | the sailor's (home/son) |
| Mendiluze | mendi "mountain" + luze "long" | the long mountain |
| Mendoza | mendi "mountain" + hotza "cold" | cold mountain |
| Urberoaga | ur "water" + bero "hot" + -aga "place of" | the place of the hot water |
| Zabala | zabal "wide" | the wide one |
| Zubiondo | zubi "bridge" + ondo "nearby" | near the bridge |
Read more about this topic: Basque Surnames
Famous quotes containing the words types and, types and/or composition:
“The bourgeoisie loves so-called “positive” types and novels with happy endings since they lull one into thinking that it is fine to simultaneously acquire capital and maintain one’s innocence, to be a beast and still be happy.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn’t make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting—the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.”
—Saul Bellow (b. 1915)
“Vices enter into the composition of virtues as poisons into the composition of certain medicines. Prudence and common sense mix them together, and make excellent use of them against the misfortunes that attend human life.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)