Ames

Bertamiráns

A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia

A pre-Roman hydronym from the root *am- 'water, river': 'the place of waters', the same origin as the valley of A Maía and the pre-Roman people of the amaei.

The name is old water. Ames is explained from the pre-Roman root *am-, 'water, stream', one of those Paleo-European bases that name rivers and wet lands across half of Europe; hence 'the place of waters', the floor of the Val da Maía down which the road descends. The same root is in the valley's name —⁠A Maía, A Mahía⁠— and in that of the pre-Roman people who inhabited it, the amaei: a name of water, of valley and of people, all of the same thread. Ames should not be confused with Bertamiráns, its capital: that second name is Germanic, the genitive of a Gothic personal name, and has nothing to do with water. Bertamiráns is the last stop before Santiago: from here to the cathedral there remain some thirteen kilometres of descent.

Evolution of the name

*am- («agua») pre-Roman Paleo-European root
Amaea medieval Latin archpriestship, 12th century
Ames Galician modern

Reflections, to the letter

Ames is 'the place of waters', from the pre-Roman root *am-, the same that names the valley —⁠A Maía⁠— and the amaei, the people who inhabited it before Rome: water, valley and people, a single thread. Do not confuse it with Bertamiráns, its capital, a Germanic name of another origin. You are in Bertamiráns, the last stop: thirteen kilometres of descent and you are at the cathedral. The old water keeps you company to the end.

Sources

López Boullón, X.R. — Toponimia de Ames (Real Academia Galega, col. Terra Nomeada, 2019)
Nomenclátor de Galicia (Xunta de Galicia)

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Camino de Muros y Noia

Evolution of the name

Reflections, to the letter

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Sources