On Protecting Endangered Words in Basque The Mystery of Labroka

An idea that I have had for many years has been that of writing a series of short articles for the general public, each of which would focus on one of the 'endangered’ words and expressions in Euskara. For example, I often come across Basque speakers using Spanish loan words when there are perfectly good words available in Basque that are being ignored or have been forgotten. Other words which are viewed as indigenous, like labroka, the topic of this essay, are known by specific groups of speakers only in their phonologically reduced form, while the original etymology of the term is no longer available to them: it has been lost or misplaced.