A Rúa

La Rúa

Ourense · OrenseGalicia

From the Latin ruga —⁠'furrow, fold' and, in late Latin, 'street, road'⁠—⁠: the town born along the road. The same word gives Galician and Portuguese rúa and Italian ruga.

The name is a word that changed meaning. In Latin, ruga was the 'furrow' or the 'fold' —⁠the wrinkle of the skin⁠— but in late Latin it came to name the street, the line of houses aligned like furrows: hence Galician and Portuguese rúa, Italian ruga. A Rúa is, literally, 'the street': a town born along the road, on the axis of the Sil valley where the Roman Vía Nova ran. For centuries the settlement was known more by its saint, Santo Estevo, and the road-name spread only late; but when it did, it told the simplest truth about the place: that it is a place of passage, a long street between mountains.

Evolution of the name

ruga («calle») late Latin late Roman era
A Rúa Galician modern

Reflections, to the letter

The name could not be plainer: A Rúa is 'the street'. You come walking down it without knowing, because the town is the road itself made into houses, aligned along the valley as Latin ruga aligned the furrows. It is the same word as the rúa of any old Galician quarter. The Roman Vía Nova came down this way and the Ourense–Ponferrada railway still climbs it: two thousand years, and the place keeps doing the one thing its name asks of it, letting travellers through.

Sources

Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (Gredos, s.v. arruga)
Cabeza Quiles, F. — Toponimia de Galicia (Vigo: Galaxia, 2008)

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Camino de Invierno

Evolution of the name

Reflections, to the letter

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Sources