Alvaiázere

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

Distrito de LeiriaPortugal

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 Arabic al-bayyâz 'the falconer' + nisba suffix -îr: 'the place of the falconer'. Falconry was an aristocratic occupation regulated in al-Andalus, attested in charters of privilege and hunting treatises.

Arabic bayyâz designated the breeder and trainer of falcons for noble hunting; the -îr suffix indicated belonging to the guild or to the territory of the trade. The Sicó range, where Alvaiázere sits, was an active hunting area under Muslim rule, with holm-oak forests suited to falcon breeding. The name set after the 12th-century Christian reconquest —⁠the new settlers preserved the Arabism though the trade was lost over time⁠—⁠. Parallel toponyms: Albayar (Almería), Albayate (Granada).

Evolution of the name

  1. al-bayyâzîr Andalusi Arabic 8th — 12th century
  2. Albayazer / Alvaiázere medieval Portuguese from the 13th century

Reflections, to the letter

The name names the falconer, and the Serra de Sicó that wraps the village still raises the raptors he once trained: short-toed eagle, common buzzard and kestrel ride the upper slopes. The aristocratic craft faded in the sixteenth century; the Mediterranean scrub that sustained it did not. Lift your eyes over the holm oaks and you'll see flying what the place-name keeps.

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.

Sources

  • Machado, J.P. — Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
  • Corriente, F. — Diccionario de arabismos (Madrid: Gredos, 1999)

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Camino Portugués

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Mealhada
  3. Coímbra
  4. Condeixa-a-Nova
  5. Conímbriga
  6. Rabaçal
  7. Ansião
  8. Alvaiázere
  9. Tomar
  10. Atalaia
  11. Azinhaga
  12. Golegã
  13. Santarém
  14. Valada
  15. ··· toward the start