Chantada

Camino de Invierno

LugoGalicia

From the Latin (terram) plantatam '(land) planted or driven in', past participle of plantare —⁠Galician chantar, 'to drive in'⁠— with the shift pl- > ch-. It is debated whether it names a plantation or a stockade of driven stakes.

The name hides a gesture: to drive in. Chantada comes from the Latin plantata, past participle of plantare, which in Galician gave chantar —⁠'to drive in, to fix'⁠— with the typical palatalisation that turns pl- into ch- (as pluvia becomes chuiva). The sound change is beyond doubt; what is debated is what was planted or driven in. One reading is agricultural: 'planted land', of vines or trees, very much at home in a district of the Ribeira Sacra where the vineyard climbs in terraces above the Miño canyon. The other is defensive: a stockade of driven stakes, which local tradition ties to the Norse raids that came up the Galician rivers. Plantation or palisade, the verb is the same, and it still lives in today's Galician.

Evolution of the name

  1. (terram) plantatam Latin etymon
  2. Chantada Galician pl- > ch-

Reflections, to the letter

The name is a verb made place: chantar, 'to drive in, to fix', from Latin plantare. What is not known is what was driven in here. If you look at the terraces of vine hung above the Miño canyon, at Santo Estevo de Ribas de Miño, you will believe in the 'planted land'. If you look at Monte Faro, watching over the district, you will believe in the stockade of stakes against the Norsemen who came up the rivers. Both stories fit into the same word, and the word is still alive: in Galicia one still chanta a post today.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

probable

Sources

  • Cabeza Quiles, F. — Toponimia de Galicia (Vigo: Galaxia, 2008)
  • Ares Vázquez, N. — Estudos de toponimia galega (A Coruña: Real Academia Galega, 2011)
  • Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (Gredos, s.v. plantar)

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Camino de Invierno

  1. Lalín
  2. Rodeiro
  3. Chantada
  4. Monforte de Lemos
  5. A Pobra do Brollón
  6. Quiroga
  7. Montefurado
  8. Petín
  9. A Rúa
  10. ··· toward the start