Guéthary (; ) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is located in the traditional

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Labourd Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...

, the town traditionally standing on the northernmost coastal linguistic boundary of the Basque language.

Guéthary station Guéthary is a railway station in Guéthary, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux–Irun railway line. The station is served by TER Ter or TER may refer to: Places * River Ter, in Essex, England * Ter (river), in ...

has rail connections to Hendaye, Bayonne and Bordeaux.

History

Guéthary has existed as a small fishing village since the early 12th century. It became famous for hunting whales in the 13th century. The linguist Henri Gavel put down the name of the town to the Gascon word ''getari'', 'post for watching' (the whales), while this assumption has been disputed by current linguists, who ultimately trace the name back to

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''caetaria'' (via

), 'fish processing facility', as supported by archaeological evidence unearthed both in Guéthary and the same name Getaria from

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

. Article in Basque

References

External links

Tourism office website

Town council website
(in French)
GETARIA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)
(in Spanish)

Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Populated coastal places in France {{PyrénéesAtlantiques-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links