IBIZA
Language

Popular destinations SPAIN

Andalusia	Catalonia	Costa blanca
Costa brava	Costa del sol	El hierro
Formentera	Fuerteventura	Gran canaria
Ibiza	La gomera	La palma
Lanzarote	Mallorca	Menorca
	Tenerife

Language

Most residents of Ibiza speak a variant of Catalan, namely Eivissenc or Ibicenco. In addition, of course, almost everyone speaks the Spanish that we know, Castillian. Since 1992, most names of places of interest have been indicated in Eivissenc. For example, the name Ibiza town was finally changed to Eivissa.

Dialect map of Catalan, Ibiza_{Photo: Pepets CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

The islands of Ibiza and Formentera were called Pytioussa and Ophioussa by the ancient Greeks. The Carthaginian settlers gave Ibiza the names Ibosim, Aibusim and Ebusim, after the Egyptian god Bes. At that time the abbreviation IBSM was used on coins.

Ibiza in different languages sounds like this:

• Iberian - Ebeso
• Greek - Ebysos
• Latin - Ebusus
• Arabic - Yebisah
• Catalan - Eivissa
• Castilian - Ibiza

The differences between Eivissenc, Catalan and Castilian are often significant:

English	Eivissenc	Catalan	Castilian
Party	xacota	festa	fiesta
Glass	got	vas	vaso
Towel	caramàs	tovallo	latoalls
Dog	quisso	gos	perro
Boy	boix	nené	niño
Uncle	blonco	oncle	tío
Stone	mac	pedra	piedra

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Sources

Mallorca & Ibiza, Menorca & Formentera
APA Publications

Mischke, R. / Ibiza, Formentera
Het Spectrum

Rokebrand, R. / Reishandboek Ibiza en Formentera
Elmar

Sale, R. / Ibiza & Formentera
Kosmos-Z&K

Schmid, N. / Ibiza, Formentera
Deltas

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info