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"If it were Semitic in origin, then I would guess they could be an isolated remnant of the Phoenicians (Carthaginians), who were settled in a lot of little enclaves all around the Mediterranean."

I've actually seen a comparison to an American Indian language to the Basque language. (forgot which tribe/language) A number of unexplainable similarities were found. Now, Plutarch, examining the ruins of Carthage cites charts/graphs/etc. he found that were accounts of trade with nations across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Basques were excellent seamen and fished the Georges Bank for cod hundreds of years prior to Columbus. It may well be that a number of them settled in Northeastern North America which would explain some linguistic links among a tribe that eventually mixed with/absorbed them.

I once read a reference to an expedition in the late 1600s wherein a welshman was able to communicate with a group of Noth American Indians in his native speech. I've never been able to find out more about it, but I found that to be fascinating.

It's already been conclusively proved that the Norse were in N.A. 500 years before Columbus. We will probably eventually learn that there was a great deal more contact between the "Old" and "New" Worlds than we ever imagined.

Basque was apparently once spoken in much larger area in western Europe. Latin records refer to Vasscones living in what was then southwestern Gaul - the area known as Aquitaine in the Middle Ages. Vascones is related to the term "Gascon" for a person from that area of France.

Some scholars believe Basque is actually related to the languages spoken by the early Cro-Magnon invaders of Europe.

Basque isn't the only linguistic anomaly in Europe. There is also Pictish, the language spoken by the early inhabitants of Scotland, Elymian - a language spoken in western ancient Sicily, Etruscan, a whole group of languages spoken in the Alpine area in ancient times, the ancient Iberian language of southern Spain, and ancient Minoan (Pre-Linear B which was actually an ancient form of Greek)>