A Merca

La Merca

Ourense · OrenseGalicia

From the Galician merca 'purchase' (from the Latin mercari, 'to trade'): 'the trading', after the historic fair that gave rise to the town at a crossroads.

The name is a business. Merca is in Galician the 'purchase', the act of mercar, from the Latin mercari, 'to trade' —⁠the same root as mercado (market), mercancía (merchandise) and Mercury, the god of dealings⁠—⁠. A Merca owes its name to a historic fair held at a crossroads, and around that periodic trading the town grew: a toponym of trade and of the calendar, not of accident or of a saint. It is a name that says what was done here —⁠buying and selling⁠— in the corridor that descends from Celanova toward Ourense, the same one this Camino follows.

Evolution of the name

mercari Latin 'to trade'
merca + artículo → A Merca Galician modern

Reflections, to the letter

A Merca is 'the purchase', from the Galician mercar, from the Latin mercari, 'to trade' —⁠cousin of market and of Mercury, the god of dealings⁠—⁠. The town was born of a fair at a crossroads: the name is pure commerce, what was done here. You are on the corridor that descends from Celanova to Ourense; in a few kilometres you will leave the Camino de San Rosendo to take the Sanabrés toward Santiago.

Sources

Turismo de Ourense — ficha «A Merca»
Nomenclátor de Galicia (Xunta de Galicia)

If you have a correction or an observation about this information,
please write to us through the form at the foot of the site.
We will grow more precise thanks to your contribution.

Camino de San Rosendo y la Reina Santa

Evolution of the name

Reflections, to the letter

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Sources