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1. Anza in Antiquity
- University of Nevada Press
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Chapter One Anza in Antiquity Nafarroa, Sobrarbe, and Gipuzkoa en estas montaynas se alzaron muyt pocas gentes, et diéronse á pié faciendo cavalgadas, et prisiéronse á cavayllos, et partiéronse los bienes á los más esforzados ata que fueron en estas montaynas de Aynsa et de Sobrarbe mas de ccc.os á cavayllo . . . in these mountains a very few people rose up, and they took to foot making raids and capturing horses, and they divided the spoils among the strongest until there were more than three hundred men mounted on horseback in these mountains of Ainsa and Sobrarbe.1 The name Anza is variegated. It is charged with meaning. It is unique. It is ancient. At the start of a history or biography of anyone of that name, the reader should understand these characteristics. The variable nature of anza is seen mostly in its dialectal pronunciations and in its spelling. It is Basque in origin, and since the Basque language has historically been spoken in a number of dialects, the word has been pronounced with some variation . Anza, regardless of spelling variations, which will be taken into consideration later, is pronounced “än-sa,” with the accent on the first syllable. The second syllable is pronounced “sah” rather than “zah.” Typically, that is how it was pronounced in northern Nafarroa, Gipuzkoa, and Bizkaia.2 However, in southern Nafarroa and Aragón, the word, and name, has traditionally been ainsa, pronounced “ı̄n-sa,” again with the accent on the first syllable. Other dialectal variations include anda, ando, andu, anso, anzo, inda, indo, insa, inso, and gainza. Although anza is not used as a word in conversational Basque today,3 its current use in several hundred Basque names is evidence of its past usage and meaning.4 Used to describe certain areas within the present-day Basque Country of Spain and France, the meaning of anza is far-reaching. It would take a number of descriptive words in any other language to depict and illustrate what is meant by anza. Its root meaning is “pastures” or “pasturelands,” even an abundance of the same.5 However, an anza is not just any grassland or hay meadow. One of the most common of all Basque names, Aguirre, describes meadowland,6 but the word anza de1 2 Juan Bautista de Anza scribes a specific kind of pastureland in the rugged foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains . Beneath the lofty crags of these majestic peaks are mountain valleys whose beauty defies description. Abundant water in their streams and rivulets flows southward to the Ebro River or north to the Bay of Biscay, leaving their pastures green and lush. Hills and ridge tops are green as well. Even the rocky outcroppings and ancient stone structures, built by men, spring forth in a brilliant display of green foliage. These pastures offer some of the finest summer grazing in the world. It has always been thus. It is not just succulent grasses and ferns that make up this radiant green color. The higher ridges are cloaked in forests of oak, pine, poplar, ash, chestnut, and beech trees, to name but a few. Except where humans have cleared or cultivated, there is also a great variety of shrubbery. Blackberry bushes, ferns, and laurel are nearly ubiquitous. One shrub seen in nearly every panorama is the elderberry. These socalled dwarf elders are found everywhere in the Basque Country. They have always been there and, in fact, are another source of the word anza, and especially ainsa. It is possibly one of these pastures, nestled beneath the mountain peaks but elevated well above the plains and large valley floors, that the word anza describes— a pasture among, or sprinkled with, elderberry shrubs. Whether anza or ainsa or any of the other variations, it is just such a scene that this lone word describes. The pluralization of any word in Basque is accomplished by simply adding a k or ak. Thus, more than one such pasture would be anzak. However, proper/place names are generally pluralized by the suffixes eta or aga. Therefore, the name Anzeta (anza-eta) has its origin in more than one anza. If it was in the vicinity of such a pasture, the name became, for example, Ainciondo (ainsa-ondo) or a “near ainsa.” If it was a place or area in which that type of pasture was found, the name became Anzuategui (anza-tegi); if a person lived on such a pasture that was large, the name that...