# Basque: Nere arreba maitea



## Wernazuma

Hi.
Could someone please tell me what "nere arreba maitea" means?

And does the word diotzetie look remotely familiar to you? It may be actually two words or spelled somewhat differently. It was used in a good bye formula "tu hermano diotzetie, Vicente".

Thanks.


----------



## ezinsinistu

It means "dear sister (of mine)", when a man is speaking (for a woman speaking, it would be "nire/nere _ahizpa_ maitea".

No idea about your second question...


----------



## Wernazuma

ezinsinistu said:


> No idea about your second question...



Thanks for your answer. 
The second word could also be spelled "viotzetie" or "viotzetic" or notzetie or notzetic or riotzetie or riotzetic etc. It's written in an old manuscript.

Thanks again.

I'd like to thank you personally in my citation reference, if you provide me your name.


----------



## ezinsinistu

Aha, it's "bihotzetik", which means "from my heart". I think it would be somthing like "your loving brother". In spanish, "de corazón", "tu hermano del alma". It is a very loving, affectionate sentence.

Maybe in ancient euskara it is written as _viotzetic ¿?_

It's not necessary to citate me, thank you anyway. I may need your help in the future and that will be enough.


----------



## Wernazuma

Thanks again. I have no idea about the history of the Basque language, but since the Spanish of that time (1796) didn't differentiate in their writing between b and v and the silent h was often omitted, it makes perfect sense. I don't know when the Basque did start to write k instead of c for the phonetic k.


----------



## ibaigreen

Hi Wenazuma!

Just a quick note: the funny thing is that not even Basque people know the history of the Basque language. It's the oldest language in Europe (in fact it's older than latin), and no-one knows where it comes from.

We say "bihotz" for "heart", which comes from "bi" (two) and "hots" (beats), referring to the heart beat. We also say "Ilargia" for "Moon". This one comes from "Hil" (death) and "argia" (light) because we see the moon when the day light "dies". It's fascinating, isn't it?

As Ezinsinistu said "Nere arreba maitea" means "Dear sister", and the final line means "Your brother. In all sincerity. Vicente". Sounds like a letter.


----------



## Wernazuma

ibaigreen said:


> As Ezinsinistu said "Nere arreba maitea" means "Dear sister", and the final line means "Your brother. In all sincerity. Vicente". Sounds like a letter.



It is a letter. I think I'll stick with "de tu corazón", which is also how Spanish letters were most often ended. Funny enough, the rest of the letter was in Castellano, only the addressing and the good-bye being in basque.


----------

