Azinhaga

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

Distrito de SantarémPortugal

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 az-zinâqa 'the narrow lane, the alley between walls': it designated the narrow passage between olive groves or fences typical of the Andalusian agricultural landscape. Birthplace of José Saramago, Nobel laureate in Literature.

The common noun azinhaga entered Portuguese as a loanword from Andalusian Arabic and kept its original meaning —⁠'narrow street between walls or crops'⁠— to this day. The Tagus hamlet is named so, simply, because it is crossed by that kind of passage. Saramago dedicated the opening pages of As Pequenas Memórias (2006) to recalling the trodden lanes of his childhood: word-toponym and word-reality coincide in a single one.

Evolution of the name

az-zinâqa Andalusi Arabic 8th — 12th century
Azinhaga Portuguese from the 13th century

Reflections, to the letter

The name describes exactly what the walker passes through to enter: the azinhaga, from Arabic az-zinâqa, the narrow lane between walls and olive groves. José Saramago, born here, gave the opening pages of 'As Pequenas Memórias' to those tight paths among the olive trees where he roamed as a child; in homage to the old groves that were torn out, the village planted ninety-nine new olives. To walk those walled lanes today is to read the place name with your feet.

Sources

Machado, J.P. — Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
Corriente, F. — Diccionario de arabismos (Madrid: Gredos, 1999)
Saramago, J. — As Pequenas Memórias (Lisboa: Caminho, 2006)

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Camino Portugués

Evolution of the name

Reflections, to the letter

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Sources