Burgos

Camino Francés · Camino Vasco del Interior

BurgosCastilla y León

Here Camino Francés and Camino Vasco del Interior converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.

From late Latin burgus 'fortified hamlet, walled enclosure', a loan from the Germanic burgs 'fortress'. Founded in 884 by Count Diego Rodríguez Porcellos as the military head of the Christian repopulation of the Duero.

The noun burgus entered late Latin as a loan from the Germanic peoples —⁠Goths, Suevi, Franks⁠—⁠, where burgs designated the fortress or walled enclosure. The peninsular Christian kingdoms adopted it as a generic name for repopulation military enclaves. The singular Burgo and plural Burgos yielded dozens of toponyms. Castilian Burgos was founded in 884 on the castle hill by Count Diego Rodríguez Porcellos by order of King Alfonso III; the plural refers to several walled nuclei (one per hill) that formed it. Capital of Castile from the 11th century, it was the seat of the county and then the kingdom — and, with the Cid, the matter of medieval epic.

Evolution of the name

  1. burgus late Latin 6th — 9th century
  2. Burgos Castilian from the 9th century

Reflections, to the letter

When you enter Burgos, look up at the hill where the old castle sits: the city was founded in 884 as a military stronghold against Muslim raids. From the Germanic burg, “fortress, walled place”, also come burgués (“the one who lives in a burg, the urban dweller in contrast to the peasant”) and burgomaestre, and the suffix -burg / -burgo that names hundreds of European cities (Hamburg, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Göteborg). This region saw the birth of the kingdom of Castile, from the Latin castellum, “small castle”: the landscape was studded with defensive strongholds. And here, in the 10th century, the language you're reading right now was born: castellano was the first Iberian Romance language to consolidate as the language of royal chancery. Burgos is, literally, the place where our words became a language.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Glossary

Repopulation
A medieval process by which the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian peninsula resettled territories reconquered from al-Andalus. Generates a whole layer of repopulation toponyms: Bercianos (those from El Bierzo), Navarrete (little Navarre), Castellanos, Gallegos.

Sources

  • Menéndez Pidal, R. — Orígenes del español (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1926)
  • Estepa Díez, C. — El nacimiento de León y Castilla (Valladolid: Ámbito, 1985)
  • Penny, R. — A History of the Spanish Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
  • Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (Madrid: Gredos, 1980–1991, s.v. burgo, castillo)

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Camino Francés

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Castrojeriz
  3. San Antón
  4. Hontanas
  5. Hornillos del Camino
  6. Rabé de las Calzadas
  7. Tardajos
  8. Burgos
  9. Atapuerca
  10. Agés
  11. San Juan de Ortega
  12. Villafranca Montes de Oca
  13. Espinosa del Camino
  14. Villambistia
  15. ··· toward the start