Etymology is uncertain but most plausible theories point to pre-Roman Iberian or Celtic origins.
The word appears in medieval and early modern Iberian Romance languages (earlier forms often spelled bruxa or bruixa in Catalan/Occitan cognates).
A central biblical-derived myth traces Basque (and broader Iberian) ancestry to Tubal, a grandson of Noah.
Japheth then assigned regions to his sons—e.g., Magog to Scandinavia (linked to the Goths), Javan to Greece, and Tubal to the Iberian Peninsula, including the Pyrenees.
Early sources like Flavius Josephus (1st century CE) connected Tubal to the “Thobelites” (called Iberes in his time), though it’s unclear if this referred to Spanish Iberians or Caucasian ones.
By the 4th–7th centuries, writers like Saint Jerome and Isidore of Seville firmly linked Tubal to the Iberians/Spaniards.
It fed on carcasses but sometimes also attacked people, and was able to move such a mass of water as to generate waves that could even cause boats to capsize.Male specimens had a white band around the forehead, while females had curls on the neck.Any idea what animal this "ramfish" could have been?The people who lived on the coast of Okeanos (probably referring to the Atlantic coast of North Africa, but it could also refer to the Iberian peninsula) still preserved the living memory of Atlantis, and the Atlantean Kings dressed in such a way as to remember this sea creature, according to Aelian.
The Iberian Peninsula hosted Indo-European-speaking groups such as the Lusitanians and Celtiberians, yet evidence suggests their mythologies incorporated elements from an earlier non-Indo-European Basque substrate.
Iberian and Galician tales of the Enchanted Mouras—supernatural females who protect concealed treasures—likely stem from Basque Mairu traditions.
However, this remains speculative, as alternative Indo-European etymologies exist, highlighting the complex linguistic layers in Iberian prehistory.
According to Genesis, the descendants of the Japheth who escaped out of the Flood with Noah are the Ionians, the inhabitants of the Morea, the dwellers on the Cilician coast of Asia Minor, the Cyprians, the Dodoneans of Macedonia, the Iberians, and the Thracians.
These are all now recognized as Aryans, except the Iberians.
But we have seen that in the earliest ages, before the first Armenian migration of the historical Aryans, a people went from Iberian Spain and settled in Ireland, and the language of this people, it is now admitted, is Aryan.
And these Iberians were originally, according to tradition, from the West.
"The conflicts between the Kelts (an Aryan race) and the Iberians were far anterior in date to the settlements of the Phœnicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Noachites on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea." ("American Cyclopædia," art.
AT the farthest point in the past to which human knowledge extends a race called Iberian inhabited the entire peninsula of Spain, from the Mediterranean to the Pyrenees.
"It is thought that the Iberians from Atlantis and the north-west part of Africa," says Winchell, "settled in the Southwest of Europe at a period earlier than the settlement of the Egyptians in the north-east of Africa.
The Iberians spread themselves over Spain, Gaul, and the British Islands as early as 4000 or 5000 B.C.
At this time the Iberians had become sufficiently powerful to attempt the conquest of the known world." ("Preadamites," p.
"The Libyan-Amazons of Diodorus--that is to say, the Libyans of the Iberian race--must be identified with the Libyans with brown and grizzly skin, of whom Brugsch has already pointed out the representations figured on the Egyptian monuments of the fourth dynasty." (Ibid.)
The Iberians, known as Sicanes, colonized Sicily in the ancient days.
Bodichon claims that the Iberians embraced the Ligurians, Cantabrians, Asturians, and Aquitanians.
Strabo says, speaking of the Turduli and Turdetani, "they are the most cultivated of all the Iberians; they employ the art of writing, and have written books containing memorials of ancient times, and also poems and laws set in verse, for which they claim an antiquity of six thousand years." (Strabo, lib.
The Iberians are represented to-day by the Basques.
Geographic SpreadAt their height, the Celts occupied territories across:Central Europe: The heartland, including modern-day Austria, Switzerland, and southern Germany.Western Europe: The British Isles (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England) and the Iberian Peninsula.Eastern Europe: Migratory groups reached parts of the Balkans, including modern-day Hungary and Romania.Anatolia: The Galatians in present-day Turkey were a Celtic group that migrated there in the 3rd century BCE.
It is proper to note, in connection with a discussion of the Bronze Age, that our word bronze is derived from the Basque, or Iberian broncea, from which the Spanish derive bronce, and the Italians bronzo.
Following the Roman period, the cultural practices involving bulls continued to evolve in the Iberian Peninsula.
Medieval Iberian societies held various festivals and events where bulls played a central role.
Genesis mentions that the descendants of Japheth include the Ionians, Moreans, Cilicians, Cyprians, Dodoneans of Macedonia, Iberians, and Thracians, all of which are recognized as Aryans, except the Iberians.
This theory is supported by the existence of an ancient Aryan population in Ireland, which migrated from Iberian Spain, suggesting a western origin.
Although more known in Iberian and Latin American folklore, in Cape Verde, they represent a blend of African and Portuguese influences.
The name "Andalusia" is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus (الأندلس), which in turn may be derived from the Vandals, the Goths or pre-Roman Iberian tribes.