History of the Basque language

[2][3] The mainstream view of linguists today is that Basque is the last surviving member of one of the ancient "pre-Indo-European" language families that were once spoken widely in Western Europe.

[citation needed] Basque remained until the late-20th century a language steeped in oral tradition and little used in writing.

[6] It is generally thought that the first attestation of Basque in a manuscript is constituted by six words in the tenth- or eleventh-century Glosas Emilianenses.

[7] A more substantial early witness is a few words and phrases in Aymeric Picaud's account of his journey to Santiago de Compostela (around the year 1140).

[9] Yet Basque was never used for official documents, and came to be gradually excluded as an oral communication language from governing, educative, administrative bodies, and finally also from Church.