List of Celtic place names in Galicia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Celtic toponymy of Galicia is the whole of the ancient or modern place, river, or mountain names which were originated inside a Celtic language, and thus have Celtic etymology, and which are or were located inside the limits of modern Galicia. According to Churchin (2008), 40% of the toponyms are possibly Celtic, close to the numbers of Non-Celtic Indo-European toponyms.
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In Galicia, approximately half of the non Latin toponyms transmitted from antiquity in the works of classical geographers and authors (Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy...), or in epigraphic Roman inscriptions, have been found to be Celtic,[1][2] being the other half mostly Indo-European but either arguably non Celtic, or lacking a solid Celtic etymology. Here is a non exhaustive list of toponyms which have been found to be, probably, Celtic.[3] The most characteristic element is *-bri(s),[4] from Proto-Celtic *brigs,[5] with its derivative *brigā, both meaning 'hill', and thence 'hillfort' and 'town'. The only type of settlement known in Galicia during the Iron Age are forts and fortified towns (castros) built in hills and peninsulas. Many of them were abandoned after the Roman conquest.
In the 5th or 6th centuries a colony of Britons settled in northern Galicia,[70] and their bishops-abbots attended several councils, first of the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia, and later of the Visigoths in Toledo, until the 8th century. A series of place-names have been attributed to them:[71]
There also existed a village called Bretonos near the city of Lugo, in the Middle Ages.[72]
While there are Celtic toponyms all over Galicia, most Celtic and pre-Latin toponyms can be found along the coastal areas, most notably in the Rías Altas region around A Coruña, and in the valley of the Ulla river.
Some Galician regions - usually called 'comarcas' when spanning over several municipalities, or concellos (councils) otherwise - maintain names either directly inherited from pre-Roman tribal and sub-tribal names, or simply with pre-Roman origin:
Many Galician rivers preserve old Celtic and pre-Roman Indo-European names, most notably larger ones. Others have lost its pre-Latin name, but its old namewas recorded in Medieval scriptures:
Most of the 3794 parishes, small rural districts, of Galicia continue medieval and Roman villas, frequently founded near, or even on top, of old Iron Age hillforts. Many of these parishes preserve old pre-Latin names.
The most frequent element among the Celtic toponyms of Galicia[4] is *brigs,[107] meaning 'hill, high place', and by extension 'hillfort'. Usually it is the second element in composite toponyms ending in -bre, -be or -ve,[108] being cognate of Irish Gaelic brí 'hill', with the same origin: Proto-Celtic *-brigs > -brixs > -bris. A few toponyms ending in -bra proceed from a derivative -brigā 'hill(fort)', which also originated Breton and Welsh languages bre 'hill'. Some of these toponyms are:[109]
Another frequent type of Celtic toponyms in Galicia are those whose names are formed as a superlative,[152] either formed with the suffix -mmo- or with the composite one -is-mmo-:
Other villages and parishes have names with pre-Latin, probably Celtic, origin, specially in the coastal areas of A Coruña and Pontevedra provinces and all along the valley of the Ulla river. Among them:
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