Alcaudete
JaénAndalucía
Transparent toponymic Arabism. Alcaudete derives from Andalusian Arabic al-qabdaq or al-qabdaq al-aʿlā ('the high watchtower'), from classical qabdaq (watchtower, minor surveillance tower). The toponym commemorates the 11th-century Muslim watchtower on the limestone hill that dominates the town.
Evolution of the name
- al-qabdaq Andalusi Arabic 9th–13th centuries
- Alcaudete medieval Castilian from 1240
Reflections, to the letter
The name praises not a fortress but an eye: al-qabdaq al-aʿlā, the high watchtower. The Calatrava castle, on its hill at 713 metres, inherited that task from the Muslim tower before it: from here signals went out to the lesser watchtowers strung along the frontier, fire by night and smoke by day. Lean out from the keep and look at what it looked at: the Nasrid horizon that justified the watch.
Glossary
- Arabism
- A word or place name in Castilian, Portuguese or Catalan borrowed from Andalusian Arabic. The Peninsula preserves thousands: aceite, azúcar, almohada, alcázar, azulejo, Guadalquivir, Atalaia, Azofra, Azambuja.
- Order of Calatrava on the frontier
- Cistercian military order founded in Calatrava la Vieja (Ciudad Real) in 1158 by Saint Raymond of Fitero, with the function of defending the Christian frontier against al-Andalus. After the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) and the conquest of the Guadalquivir valley (1236–1248), the Order of Calatrava received numerous commanderies in the Sierra Sur de Jaén (Alcaudete, Martos, Porcuna, Vivoras) and in Cordoba (Aldea del Río, Castro del Río). Its territorial patrimony came to comprise 360,000 hectares in the 15th century.
Sources
- Corriente, F. — Diccionario de arabismos
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Camino Mozárabe