Clare a Basque region???

[Whiskey Pilgrim]

Note from Admin ... Split from Clare Bars

Kaixo Chico´s
Correct me if i´m wrong,but i heard recently that the olde Gaelic name for County Claire translates into " land of the Basques"My (Basque)punters got a laugh out of that...
And another strange development..that Irishmen from the west and the Welsh have genectically 90% Basque D.N.A.????
Time for me to set up a new Basque Whiskey distillery,,well the Bretons´have !!

what can i say,way two much time on my hands..bad for the brain..

Slain,Agur,Adios y Slainte ,,

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Kaixo Chico´s
Correct me if i´m wrong,but i heard recently that the olde Gaelic name for County Claire translates into " land of the Basques"My (Basque)punters got a laugh out of that...

To be quite honest I don't know but it sounds a bit fanciful to me ... see below

And another strange development..that Irishmen from the west and the Welsh have genectically 90% Basque D.N.A.????

The 90% DNA fact is actually correct and is mainly concentrated in Galway.

However the slant that they are Basque is I think a bit of a misnomer. It really needs to be looked at in a different way.

The similarities of Basques and Irish stem from them being the decendants of the same celtic race. Basically they were all the same celtic race before they either became Irish or Basque or Scottish or Welsh.

It is reckoned that several celtic races migrated west from either Germany or even possibly the midle east. One such group settled in France and were known as the Gauls another group went down to Spain and these were the Milesians. Celtic society was clan driven. A sub section of the milesians called the Scoti decided to go on again. It was them that took ship and sailed to Ireland and eventually controlled all the Island of Ireland (Scotia Major) then most of Scotland (Scotia Minor) and a big tract of Wales and a corridor of land from Wales to Scotland.

History is a funny thing and can be looked at from many prespectives.

As now days Ireland and Scotland were the one nation at one stage that's why I presonally believe that whisky was a shared knowledge and not as if we were first or the scotts were first.

An amazing subject and I love learning about it ... so if anybody has further toughts feel free.

[JohnM]

I've read before that the Celts spread their culture here more effectively then they spread their genes. We have as much DNA in common with the British than anywhere else. I don't know how true this is.

There's a strong genetic connection between some in the west and those in the Basque Country.

Also, in the 17th century (I think), they Irish were afforded the same rights as the Spanish citizens in Spain.

There's a townsland in Clare called Corca Baiscinn, but I thought that means a strand where they leave fish out. That said, it could be where some of the Spanish Armada landed. It's out around Doonbeg, I think.

[DavidH]

I heard an interesting interview with Shane Hegarty on Pat Kenny's show recently. He was talking about his book, The Irish (and Other Foreigners). For this he researched the latest knowledge on our genetic origins.

I wish I could remember it in detail but I do recall that he was very clear about "The Celts" - they never came here. All the "Celtic Nation" stuff was invented in the 19th century to distinguish ourselves from the British. It was not based on any evidence, however, just wishful thinking.

I remember hearing about the study that found a high proportion of old genetic markers in Connaught. I found a description of the study here and a more technical one here.

If I am reading it right, before farming societies were established in Europe these markers were common across the continent. Since 10,000 years ago, however, there has been a steady migration into Europe from the East. This migration had, understandably, the least effect at the western extremes of Europe, ie Connaught and the Basque region. So the Basques and the Galwegians are genetically "similar" because there was relatively little migration into these places.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

There has always been a huge connection between the west of Ireland and spain but it has been a continious one and not just a historical one. Even places like waterford & cork had regular visits from the spanish as the dutch french and portugese. The amount of trade in galway from abroad was huge and Galway was one of the main ports for wine in Ireland for centuries. Howwver it was also in the opposite direction with the inhabitants of this island traveling far and wide too.

History is a bit like whiskey ... it is very subjective. Also history as they say is writen by the victors. But the likes of Hegarty are challanging contempory thinking. Is he right, maybe, maybe not. The whole Celtic notion is becoming more and more vague but is still very much misunderstod. I may read his book on it to see what his arguements are but I believe that there will never be a black and white answer. The problem about the celtic theory is that there was never really a serious celtic nation but a continious growth of a tribal systems and partitions. Basically splits of these tribes in to others and the creation of another what some scholars in the past called seperate races. The Milesians came to Ireland and became the scoti who invaded scotland.

As I said earlier these early settlers could of eminated from Gremany (were the celts were from) or even from the Midle east which therefore would predate the Celts. So for me I think for now the Celtic generic term is fine.

It's basically like argueing are you from Adam's side of Eve's

But are they all the one or different races ...

The problem with saying the tribal system was always there is that we know that it all evolved from Africa and spread from there ... therefore tribes did have to spread out and lay claim to their own lands at soe stage

[Whiskey Pilgrim]

Kaixo Chico´s,
I think the reference to Ireland and Scotland is near correct,i think it was more Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Argyll translates to Little Ireland and Scotland land of the Scoti (Irish),i´m interested to hear more on the view that Celtisism was a 19th century invention?'? But" Corcu Baiscinn" is the phrase i was looking for which apparently means Land of the Basques in oldee Gaelic
And the Basque word for Father Aita was old Gaelic for Grandfather,or indeed the modern Irish Gaelic word for father....Food for thought,.,