Words
Words
Euskara and the trade's own vocabulary — 15 of them.
Artzain
Shepherd. The job that brought the men the boarding houses were built for.
Baserri
The Basque farmhouse: house, barn, byre and family under one roof, and the unit of inheritance that sent younger sons to America.
Dantza
The dances — aurresku danced to greet someone, ezpata-dantza with swords, fandango at the end of the night.
Etxe
House. The Cincinnati room took it for a name.
Euskara
The language. Related to nothing else living — not to Spanish, not to French, not to anything in the Indo-European family.
Ikurriña
Red ground, white cross over a green saltire. Designed in 1894; flown over American Basque clubs since long before it was legal at home.
Lauburu
Four comma-shaped heads turning around a centre. Cut into gravestones, chests, cheese rinds and pastry lids.
Mus
The card game. Four players, two pairs, bidding in four rounds, and signals across the table that everyone can see and nobody is supposed to.
Ostatua
The boarding house. Every old room in this directory was one first.
Pilota
The handball game, played against a wall. Every Basque town has a fronton; so do Boise and Elko.
Sagardotegi
A cider house: barrels along one wall, txotx called when a barrel is opened, cod omelette and a beef chop at a shared table standing up.
The Picon glass
Northern Nevada pours a Picon into a six-ounce stemmed glass. One of them you can order this afternoon. The other has a name, a town, and a trail that goes cold in 2015.
Txistu
A three-holed flute played with the left hand while the right beats a drum. One musician, two instruments.
Txoko
A members' cooking society — a kitchen a group keeps and cooks in for itself.
Zazpiak Bat
Seven provinces, one people. The motto, and the name of clubs from Reno to Vancouver.