LICONA

According to Mitxelena's _Apellidos vascos_, `Licona', which has a variant `Licaona', is a western Basque surname. It is one of a group of rather mysterious surnames all ending in <-ona> and all containing first elements of unknown origin. The <-ona> here does *not* appear to be the obvious `good', and Mitxelena believes it to be the same ending found in western place names, in which it becomes <-oa> in popular Basque speech: Lejona / Leioa, Lemona / Lemoa, and so on. Mitxelena declares that the first elements in all these names are neither Basque nor Latin; quite possibly they come from some other Indo-European language, but we have no information.

In `Licona', given the variant `Licaona', the first element might be any of , , or , but no such word is known in any language.

Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH England

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rocky-oo at hotmail dot com 17-Dec-2009 11:49 #10583 heyy thats my grandmas last name
chuylicon at gmail dot com 24-Nov-2007 20:26 #6485 Is Licon related to Licona? The only difference that I can see is the "a" at the end. I was doing research at the El Paso, Texas Public Library and encountered a book about historical Iberian-peninsular last names. It was a book meant for children readers. In that book was Licona and the book stated that it was Basque and that it meant something about a bridge over water or something about "over water". I have tried to relocate this book but to no avail plus I am not in the same city any longer. If I remember correctly it had a title similar to "Kid's Guide to Hispanic roots" or "Hispanic roots for Kids". Can anyone assist in locating this book and it accuracy? Also is Licon derived from Licona?
gudlans at yahoo dot com 09-May-2007 18:20 #5158 Regarding the"Licona" surname: it is the closest to my grandmother's surname "Llaguno", from the euskara word(?) laiuno.Her ancestors I believe come from Alava, and are related by marriage to Arana,Jauregui,Ibarrola,Mendieta,Otaola,among others.Please contact me in the above email address if ypu have information on the first Basque limeage. Eskerrik asko!
president at firenzerepublic dot com 19-Nov-2006 15:07 #4010 so then...Licona (my great great grandmother's last name)is a basque last name, but the meaning is unknown? What part of euskal herria is this from?
ANGUSJHUCK at aol dot com 13-Mar-2006 17:17 #2711 The -NA placed after -O in these toponyms is a false Latinisation (compare BARCELONA for BARKELO, TARRAGONA for TARRAGO, etc). The Vasconic toponymic suffix here is -O. The first element, LIK- is mysterious. But De Kerexeta lists LIKI "cierta planta endeble". LEJONA is probably *LESE-O "place of the chasm", and LEMONA *LEMA-O "place of the plank of wood" (ie, "market" - compare the meaning of English "bank".
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Last updated: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 - 23:28:04

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