Arpan and gara

7-1-2003

ARPAN and GARA, and the Mystery of Ribagorca

In your very interesting page on the Mystery of Ribagorca, you mention inter alia a village called Arpan and the word gara, which appears on inscriptions dating from the early 17th century.

arpan "saw"? is an element found occasionally in Iberian personal names. For instance, Abararpan "branch/saw", and on the Ampurias lead tablet, Balkearpan "(piece of) gold/saw".

It is also found in deity names recorded in two Roman era inscriptions: Arpaniecus at La Varse, Spain, and Arpeninus at Burgalays, Haute-Garonne; and Garra, at Chaum, Cierp-Gaud and Huos, all Haute-Garonne.

A possible connection with arpan is the mysterious Pictish name, Alpin, which is preserved in the Scottish surname, MacAlpine. The Picts were not Basques, as is sometimes said, but it is quite possible that they preserved pre-Celtic names, just as Spanish has preserved Ordono (Iberian Ordin).

Do you connect the place-names in Upper Aragon exhibiting the element ben- (Benabarre, Benasque, Isabena, etc) with Bene(h)arnum, the Roman place-name which survives as Bearn, Benegorri in Navarra, Benabels from the Ascoli bronze plate and Basque i-beni "to put, place, set"?

There is, of course, a similar Arabic word meaning "village, building, etc", but Bene(h)arnum and Benabels were recorded long before the Moorish occupation.

On the subject of abar "branch", a very common element in Iberian personal names, perhaps the oldest recorded instance is Abaris the Hyperborean, a sorcerer who was a contemporary of Pythagoras (6thC BC). Although the term "Hyperborean" was generally used in Ancient Greece to refer to Northern Europe, Professor E R Dodds claimed that Abaris came from the Altai mountains in Central Asia; but Dodds was unfamiliar with Basque, which alone can explain his name. The accounts say that Abaris used a gigantic wand. This is probably an allusion to his name.