Azkue was born in the Biscayan town of Lekeitio, a native speaker of Basque[REF] and son of the Basque poet Eusebio Maria de los Dolores Azkue Barrundia who was from Lekeitio himself and Maria Karmen Aberasturi Uribarri from Mundaka [REF].
Although he considered himself a Basque patriot (or abertzale) and although he was in contact with nationalist figures such as Sabino Arana and Ramón de la Sota, he is not considered to have been a Carlist and frequently disagreed with Arana and de Soto, particularly on Basque linguistic issues.