Astorga

Camino Francés · Vía de la Plata

LeónCastilla y León

Here Camino Francés and Vía de la Plata converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.

From the Latin Asturica Augusta, founded by order of Augustus c. 14 BC as the capital of the conventus iuridicus Asturum. The first element, pre-Roman, refers to the Astures people; the second honours the founding emperor.

The root ast- of the name Astures is pre-Roman, possibly pre-Celtic Indo-European. Some onomasts connect it to a hydronymic root related to the Astura river (modern Esla), although the most widespread reading relates it to the designation of the people themselves. Rome founded the city —⁠over a previous castro⁠— as administrative capital of the conventus iuridicus Asturum, one of the three units into which Gallaecia was divided. Augusta is the honorific qualifier common to many foundations of the era. The evolution to Astorga is regular: loss of intertonic i, palatalisation of the ric- cluster, and final monophthongisation. Medieval Astorga, an episcopal seat since paleo-Christian times, was one of the oldest bishoprics in Spain.

Evolution of the name

  1. Asturica Augusta Latin 1st century BC — 5th
  2. Asturica late Latin 6th — 9th century
  3. Asturga / Astorga Romance Leonese 10th — 12th century
  4. Astorga Castilian / Leonese from the 13th century

Reflections, to the letter

In Astorga, before you hunt for a chocolate shop, hunt for the Roman stone. The name comes from Asturica Augusta: Asturica for the Astures, the pre-Roman people who lived on this land, and Augusta because Augustus founded it around 14 BC as capital of the Astur conventus, the district that ran the gold of the northwest. You can still walk that imperial city: stretches of wall, the forum, the baths and the sewer network that surface along the Roman Route. Every time you say Astorga you name at once the conquered people and the emperor who fixed them on a map.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Glossary

Hydronymic
Pertaining to hydronyms (place names from watercourses).
Intertonic
A weak vowel between two stressed syllables; tends to drop as the word evolves.
Monophthongisation
Reduction of a diphthong to a single vowel.
Onomatologist
A specialist in onomastics, the linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons (anthroponyms), places (toponyms) and institutions.
Palatalisation
Softening of a sound as its articulation shifts toward the palate.
Paleo-Christian
Of the earliest Christianity, before the 6th century; applied to early churches, martyrs and liturgical practices.

Sources

  • Ayuntamiento de Astorga
  • García Bellido, A. — Astorga, ciudad romana (Madrid: CSIC, 1968)
  • Alonso Ponga, J.L. — La Maragatería: tradición y modernidad (León: Edilesa, 1996)
  • Menéndez Pidal, R. — Toponimia prerrománica hispana (Madrid: Gredos, 1952)
  • Plinio el Viejo — Naturalis Historia, III, 28

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Camino Francés

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Foncebadón
  3. El Ganso
  4. Rabanal del Camino
  5. Santa Catalina de Somoza
  6. Castrillo de los Polvazares
  7. Murias de Rechivaldo
  8. Astorga
  9. San Justo de la Vega
  10. Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias
  11. Villares de Órbigo
  12. Hospital de Órbigo
  13. Villar de Mazarife
  14. San Martín del Camino
  15. ··· toward the start