Joanes Leizarraga facts for kids

Joanes Leizarraga (1506–1601) was a Basque priest who lived in the 1500s. He is best known for being the first person to try and make the Basque language more standard. He also translated important religious books into Basque. This included the very first Basque translation of the New Testament.

You might see his name spelled differently in older French books. Some examples are Ioannes Leiçarraga or Jean de Liçarrague. In Spanish, his name is sometimes written as Juan de Lizárraga.

Joanes Leizarraga's Life

His Early Years

Joanes Leizarraga was born in 1506 in a village called Briscous. This village is in the Northern Basque Country, in a region known as Labourd. Even though it was in Labourd, people there spoke the Lower Navarrese dialect of Basque.

His family's farmhouse was also called Leizarraga. It stood in Briscous until it was destroyed in 1944. We don't know much else about Leizarraga's early life.

Becoming a Priest

Leizarraga was first baptized as a Catholic. He trained to be a priest, but we don't know where this happened. In 1560, he changed his faith and became a Protestant. By 1563, his name appeared in the records of the Protestant Synod of Béarn. A synod is like a big meeting of church leaders.

In a special message in his New Testament translation, he mentioned being in prison. However, we don't know why he was jailed, where it was, or how long he stayed there.

In 1567, Jeanne d'Albret, the Queen of Navarre, made him the rector (a church leader) of the church in Bastide. This town was in Lower Navarre. By the time Leizarraga arrived, most people in Bastide spoke Gascon, not Basque. This was because many Gascon people had moved there.

Even so, Leizarraga was known as a great expert in the Basque language. This is why he was chosen to translate the New Testament. Some Basque shepherds in the area even sent their children to him to learn Basque.

He was married, but we don't know when he got married or who his wife was.

Translating the New Testament

In March 1563, Queen Jeanne d'Albret asked Leizarraga to translate the New Testament into Basque. This was a very difficult task. At that time, the Basque language didn't have many written books. It also didn't have a common standard way of spelling words.

Leizarraga worked hard on the translation. He got help from four old Catholic friends. These friends were Piarres Landetxeberri, Sanz de Tartas, Joanes Etxeberri, and a minister named Mr Tardets.

Finally, in 1571, a printer named Pierre Haultin in La Rochelle printed three of Leizarraga's books. One of these was his important translation of the New Testament.

Leizarraga was highly respected. In 1582, Jacques Auguste de Thou visited him. Thou was a famous person who later helped create the Edict of Nantes. This edict was an important agreement about religious tolerance in France. Thou wrote about Leizarraga and the Basque New Testament he received as a gift. Today, this special copy is in the National Library of France.

Thou also wrote about how well Protestants and Catholics got along in Bastide. He said both faiths worshipped in the same church. This was very rare in France during the 1500s, a time known for its religious wars.

By 1594, Leizarraga was too old and unwell to attend the Synod of Béarn. Records from that time say he was excused due to his age and poor health. He passed away in Bastide in 1601 when he was 95 years old.

What Leizarraga Wrote

Leizarraga published three books in 1571:

• Iesus Christ Gure Iaunaren Testamentu Berria (This means "The New Testament of Jesus Christ our Lord")
• Kalendrera (This was a calendar of religious holidays)
• ABC edo Christinoen instructionea (This means "ABC or the Christian's Instruction")

The most famous of these books is definitely the Testamentu Berria. Even today, people call it "Leizarraga's New Testament." Besides the main text, his translation also included extra sections:

• A list of Hebrew and Greek names from the New Testament, with explanations.
• A list of difficult words and phrases from the New Testament, also with explanations.
• A short list of words not used in Zuberoa, with their local meanings.
• A table to help people find different topics in the New Testament.
• A long section explaining how to perform church ceremonies. This included how to pray, baptize, celebrate communion, and perform weddings.
• A section on visiting people who are sick.
• A 62-page Catechism. This was a section in a question-and-answer style, teaching children about Christian beliefs.
• A short guide on how to live as a Christian.

The Kalendrera was a short, 15-page calendar. It listed religious events and holidays for each month. The ABC was a small book with common prayers and instructions for daily worship.

How People Viewed His Work

Some people have pointed out a few things about Leizarraga's work. He sometimes used words borrowed from other languages, like French or Spanish. He used these even when there were original Basque words for the same meaning. For example, he translated "fisher of men" as giza pescadorea instead of giza arrantzalea. He also used some grammar forms that might have been old-fashioned even in his time.

Another point of discussion was that his standard Basque was mostly based on the dialects from the northern parts of the Basque Country. These were the Lapurdian, Zuberoan, and Lower Navarrese dialects. He paid less attention to the southern dialects. However, it's important to remember that he was the very first person to try and create a standard Basque. He had no previous work to build on. He also had limited help and did most of the work himself.

Overall, people then and now recognize the high quality of his translations. They also admire his thorough efforts to make Basque more standard. His work played a big part in creating Standard Basque, which is used today.

Leizarraga as a Historical Source

Leizarraga's writings give us a lot of information about the Basque language of his time.

• His work includes rare examples of how Basque verbs used to be formed. For example, gommendatzen cerauzquiotet means "I recommend you to them." This type of verb form is not used anymore.
• He was also one of the first known writers to use the term heuscal herria. This is spelled Euskal Herria today and means "Basque Country."

Here's an example comparing Leizarraga's version of the Lord's Prayer with modern versions:

Making Basque Standard

Leizarraga's work was the first known attempt to bring together the different Basque dialects into one single standard language. His version of Basque was mostly based on the northern dialects. These were the Lapurdian, Zuberoan, and Lower Navarrese dialects. At that time, these were seen as the most important and respected forms of Basque.

He talked about the problem of different dialects in the introduction to his work. He wrote:

...batbederac daqui heuscal herriã quasi etche batetic bercera-ere minçatzeco manerán cer differentiá eta diuersitatea den... [everyone knows how the way of speaking changes almost from one house to the next in the Basque Country]

In the 1900s, a scholar named Federico Krutwig suggested using Leizarraga's language as the base for modern Standard Basque. He made this idea to the Basque Academy. However, his ideas did not get enough support to be put into practice.

Images for kids

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  A memorial to Leizarraga in Briscous, his hometown.

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  The cover of Leizarraga's New Testament translation, published in 1571.

See also

In Spanish: Joanes Leizarraga para niños