Casar de Cáceres
CáceresExtremadura
From Late Latin casar ('group of houses, modest hamlet', substantivised plural of casa) + de Cáceres, in reference to the head town 12 km away. Casar without diminutive suffix preserves the direct medieval form from Latin, distinct from caserío or casería.
The common noun casar, today disused in everyday speech, was in medieval Castilian one of the central terms for a small rural settlement: a cluster of houses without the legal status of a town but with its own community life. The root is Latin casa (also the root of Italian casa, French chez from casa, English casino via Italian casino, 'little house'), applied as a substantivised plural casaria → casar. The toponym is preserved in dozens of peninsular villages: Casar de Cáceres, Casar de Palomero, Casar de Talavera. The qualifier de Cáceres, added in the 13th, distinguishes this town from others and administratively links it to the regional capital. The population grew to 5,000 in the 20th century thanks to the production of a characteristic cheese, Torta del Casar with Protected Designation of Origin since 2001: Merino sheep cheese curdled with wild thistle (not industrial rennet), producing a creamy spreadable paste when ripe. The only cheese in the world traditionally made solely with vegetable rennet.
Evolution of the name
- casalis late Latin 6th — 9th century
- Casar de Cáceres medieval Castilian from the 13th century
Glossary
- Diminutive
- A derived form indicating smaller size or affection, formed with suffixes such as -illo, -ito, -uelo, -ete. Substantivised plural diminutives abound in toponymy: Hornillos, Boadilla, Calzadilla, Comillas, Pradillos.
- Substantivised plural
- A device by which an adjective or noun in the plural is fixed as a place name without the noun that governed it: fontanas = "[lands of the] springs", ferreiros = "[place of the] smiths". Frequent in medieval repopulation.
Sources
- Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico
- Consejo Regulador DOP Torta del Casar (tortadelcasar.eu)
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