Had a few breaks in the rain today to catch some pics of San Sebastian/Donostia.
Donostia is the Basque name for the city more commonly known as San Sebastian (Spanish name) outside of the Basque territory.
Even more confusing is the fact that town names have different spellings in Basque. There is the spelling on the road signs in Navarra, and the spelling on the old tiles on the building walls at the ends of town. Basque orthography has been in a state of flux, and these changes can be seen captured in the signs and city names (even spellings of names of people).
Like everything, there are those who don't care how things are spelled as long as intent is clear (descriptive), and there are others who think and have been taught that there is one and only one correct way (prescriptive). With many Basque dialects, it becomes a political fight to pick the "correct" way. Historically, for most languages, the majority (most powerful, loudest, most stubborn) usually wins these battles, and the "lesser" dialects die out. Language for all of us is a very personal thing, we will fight to keep it alive.
Cheers!
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