Alquézar

Camino Catalán por San Juan de la Peña

HuescaAragón

Arabism. Alquézar, from the Arabic al-Qaṣr ('the castle, the fortress'), naming the Muslim stronghold of the middle Cinca reconquered in 1067.

Medieval town of the Oscan Somontano, historical ensemble declared in 1982. The collegiate of Santa María de Alquézar, Romanesque-Gothic from the 11th-16th centuries, preserves 12th-century mural paintings and a Romanesque cloister with historiated capitals.

Evolution of the name

  1. al-Qaṣr Andalusi Arabic 9th–11th centuries
  2. Alquézar medieval Aragonese from 1067

Reflections, to the letter

The town is named for a fortress, al-Qaṣr, and the fortress is still there: the rocky spur crowning the houses above the river Vero was the ninth-century Muslim stronghold. The collegiate church that now occupies it still holds the walled enclosure that gave the place its name. There is no need to go looking for Alquézar's castle; the castle is Alquézar.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

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.
Oscan Somontano
Historical region of the southern foothills of the Guara range (Huesca), known as "el Somontano de Barbastro". Wine-producing zone with Somontano Protected Designation of Origin since 1984, with annual production of 12 million litres in 4,000 hectares of vineyard. Cradle of the novel Don Quixote according to Astrana Marín's theory.

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Camino Catalán por San Juan de la Peña

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Yebra de Basa
  3. Fiscal
  4. Boltaña
  5. Janovas
  6. Aínsa
  7. Naval
  8. Alquézar
  9. Barbastro
  10. Pertusa
  11. Monzón
  12. Tamarite de Litera
  13. Fraga
  14. Almacelles
  15. ··· toward the start