Problem:IOL/2003/i3/en

IOL 2003 Problem #3 Basque Dates
Consider the following expressions in Basque and their unordered English translations (some words have been left out):

''the first Thursday of February; the last Wednesday of ______________; the first of December, Wednesday; the last _____________ of December; the ninth of June, Sunday; the twenty-third of January, __________________; the last Saturday of October; the third Friday of November; ______________ of September, Monday; the second of January, Friday.''

(a) Match up the expressions with their translations and fill in the gaps.

(b) Translate into Basque: the first Monday of December; the twenty-ninth of November, Saturday; the second week of January; the third of February, Monday.

(c) How do you think the Basque names of days of the week astelehena, asteazkena, asteartea might be translated literally?

⚠ Basque is spoken by more than 500 thousand people in Basque Country (an autonomous province of Spain) and in France. It has not been proven to be related to any other language.

—Alexandre Arkhipov