Arnold Zwicky's Blog

From my 1/2/24 posting “Z of the Amazon”, about:

Amazonian linguist Roberto Zariquiey, whose home base is the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). His unusual Z-surname caught my attention; it turns out that almost all the Zariquieys in the world come from Spain, or from what is pretty clearly a Spanish settlement, in Peru

I wrote RZ about his name (Z-names are a thing with me; hey, I’m a linguist and a Z-person), expecting that someone with so many academic and language-activist commitments wouldn’t be inclined to spend time satisfying the onomastic curiosity of a stranger  (though he’s a linguist and would know about some of my work). In the meantime, origins in Spain and a name with a notable Z and Q in its Spanish spelling had a whiff of the Basque about it, so I searched through lists of common Basque surnames, but without success.

Eventually I got an informative and entertaining response from RZ, confirming my Basque suspicions: Zariquiey is a Basque name, altered from Zariquiegui, the name of a small town. So: a found city of Z (more below).

But then RZ added a fun bonus for me (slightly edited by me):

Are you aware of the story of the City of Z in the Amazon? An English guy, Percy Fawcett, was obsessed with it and actually got lost trying to find it. This book is pretty good: The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Not just a (well-reviewed) book,  but an ambitious movie (also well-reviewed, though not a financial success) in addition. And no, I somehow wasn’t aware of them. In any case: a lost city of Z (more below).

Little town of Zariquiegui. RZ provided me with a link to the Spanish Wikipedia entry on the town, plus an impressively stark and sun-drenched image of the Iglesia de San Andrés in the town.

Paraphrasing Spanish Wikipedia:

Zariquiegui (Zarikiegi in Basque) is a town in the province of Navarra (Engl. Navarre), not far from the provincial capital, Pamplona [AZ: yes, where the bulls famously run].  The province is part of the larger Basque cultural region, just east of the official Basque Country. Its population in 2014 was 173.

Yes, 173. I said it was a small town.

And then:

(#1) San Andrés Church

The Lost City of Z. First, the book. From Wikipedia:

(#2)

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is a non-fiction book by American author David Grann. Published in 2009, the book recounts the activities of the British explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, disappeared with his son in the Amazon rainforest while looking for the ancient “Lost City of Z”. In the book, Grann recounts his own journey into the Amazon, by which he discovered new evidence about how Fawcett may have died.

Then the film. From Wikipedia:

The Lost City of Z is a 2016 American biographical adventure drama film written and directed by James Gray, based on the 2009 book of the same name by David Grann. It portrays British explorer Percy Fawcett, who was sent to Brazil and made several attempts to find a supposed ancient lost city in the Amazon. It stars Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett; Robert Pattinson as his fellow explorer Henry Costin, Sienna Miller as his wife, Nina Fawcett; and Tom Holland as his son, Jack.

… It was praised by critics, but grossed only $19 million against a $30 million budget. Despite its lack of financial success, Time magazine listed it as one of its Top 10 Films of 2017.

“Z” is pronounced “zed” by the characters in the film, as is done in British English

The movie came out when it was no longer possible for me to get to movie theaters, and then we went into isolation for COVID-19. But I’m surprised that it somehow never came to my attention, just on the basis of its title. Plus the fact that its two featured actors, Hunnam and Pattinson, are well-known to me as prime body hunks: actors with lean muscular bodies who enjoy displaying them for their audiences. (This is not inconsistent with genuine acting ability, but it’s a gratifying bonus for those who appreciate the male body.)

In any case, a little gift from RZ.

This entry was posted on January 24, 2024 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Basque, Books, Ethnonyms and demonyms, Language and the body, Movies and tv, Names, Spanish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.