The inhabitants of the commune are known as Basusartars.[4]
Geography
Bassussary is located in the former province of Labourd and within the urban area of Bayonne some 5 km south-east of Biarritz and 4 km south by south-west of Bayonne. Access to the commune is by the D932 road from Anglet in the north which passes through the commune on the eastern side and continues south to Ustaritz. The town is in the west of the commune and can be accessed by the D254 road which branches from the D932 on the northern border of the commune and continues through the town west to join the D810 south-west of Biarritz Airport. The D3 comes from the A63 autoroute Exit 5 (Bayonne-Sud) to the town then south forming the western border of the commune and continuing to Arcangues. South-east of the town is another urban area of Betbeder. Much of the commune is urbanised with some areas of forest and meadows. The eastern part next to the D932 contains an industrial estate.[5][6]
Two bus services pass through and have stops in the commune operated by Transports 64:
Service 860 Bayonne to Cambo-les-Bains
Service 880 Bayonne to Arbonne
The commune lies in the drainage basin of the Adour with the Nive river forming the whole eastern border of the commune as it flows north to join the Adour. The Ruisseau d'Urdains flows from a small lake just south of the commune northwards, forming the north-eastern border of the commune, before joining the Nive in the north-eastern corner. The Ruisseau de Harrieta flows from the south-west of the commune to the north-east joining the Ruisseau d'Urbaine near the D932. The Ruisseau de Pétaboure rises in the north-west of the commune and forms the northern border as it flows east to join the Ruisseau de Harrieta in the commune.[5][6]
Places and Hamlets
Axerimendi
Behikenea
Betbeder
Borda Nasa
Bordaberria
Castanche
Dorriotz
Harrieta
Juanita
Juantipi
Larrebure
Lataste
Luberri
Martinaskoenea
Moussans
Oihenart
Peillé
Penen
Portukoborda
Urdains (château)[7]
la Vigne
Xemeto
[6]
Toponymy
The commune name in Basque is Basusarri.[8] Jean-Baptiste Orpustan proposed a structure of baso meaning "forest" and sarri meaning "dense" or "tight" giving the overall meaning of "dense forest".[9]
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
Sources:
Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)[7]
Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy[9]
Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Bassussarry, EHESS(in French).
Lhande: Pierre Lhande, Basque-French Dictionary, 1926 (in French)
Dominique Joseph Garat, born in 1749 at Bayonne and died in 1833 at Bassussarry, was a lawyer, journalist, and French philosopher. He was elected to the Académie française in 1803.
^ a bTopographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 (in French)
^Euskaltzaindia - Academy of the Basque language (in French)
^ a bJean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy, Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2006, ISBN 2 86781 396 4, p. 30-31 (in French)
^Manuscripts from the 18th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^Manuscript from the 14th century in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^Manuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^Titles of the Kingdom of Navarre in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^Baßußarry on the 1750 Cassini Map
^Bassussarry on the 1790 Cassini Map
^List of Mayors of France (in French)
^Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Bassussarry, EHESS(in French).
^Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
^Schools in Bassussarry (in French)
^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA64000718 Church of Saint Barthélemy (in French)
^Interview with Christophe Hondelatte by the Journal du Pays basque on 24 January 2009 Archived 28 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine"I, who grew up in Bassussaury..."(in French)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bassussarry.