Águeda
Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa
Distrito de AveiroPortugal
Here Camino Portugués and Camino Portugués de la Costa converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.
From the name of the river that crosses the town, Águeda, a hydronym of probable pre-Roman origin Latinised by contact with aqua. Some onomasts link it to a Paleo-European base ag- 'to move, to flow'.
Evolution of the name
- Aguta / Agata (hidrónimo) pre-Roman before the 1st century BC
- Aqueda / Agueda late Latin 6th — 12th century
- Águeda Portuguese from the 13th century
Reflections, to the letter
The river Águeda crosses the town centre under five bridges; each summer, during AgitÁgueda, the alleyways are covered with multicoloured umbrellas suspended in mid-air: a festival born in 2011 that has become the city's visual signature. The etymology, by contrast, keeps flowing underneath, attested in the 10th century long before the first umbrella.
Glossary
- Etymology
- The origin and history of a word and the phonetic and semantic changes it has undergone. An etymology may be confirmed, probable or disputed depending on documentary attestations and linguistic parallels.
- Hydronym
- A place name derived from the name of a river, lake or watercourse.
- Onomatologist
- A specialist in onomastics, the linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons (anthroponyms), places (toponyms) and institutions.
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
Sources
- Krahe, H. — Unsere ältesten Flussnamen (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1964)
- Machado, J.P. — Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
- Piel, J.M. — Toponímia portuguesa (vol. II)
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Camino Portugués