Condeixa-a-Nova

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

Distrito de Coimbra · Distrito de CoímbraPortugal

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.

Compound toponym. Condeixa is of disputed origin: the most widespread reading derives it from late Latin condicia ('condition, pact, seigneurial agreement'), alluding to the medieval repopulation pact with which the place was founded. A-Nova distinguishes this late-medieval foundation from the nearby Condeixa-a-Velha, settled on the Roman ruins of Conímbriga.

The reading most sustained in contemporary Portuguese onomastics proposes a formation derived from condicia, a juridical late-Latin word applied to repopulation pacts —⁠the count or lord stipulated conditions to the new settlers in exchange for rights over the land. Another hypothesis, today minority, connects the toponym with a medieval anthroponym Condessa (the countess owner), without firm documentation. The byname a-Nova is categorical: the original settlement, Condeixa-a-Velha, sits barely a kilometre away, on the site of the Roman city of Conímbriga, abandoned after the Suevic invasions of the 5th century. When King Sancho I refounded the population in a new place in the 12th century, he distinguished the two Condeixas with the adjective. The Gothic matrix church of Santa Cristina (14th century) marks the historic centre.

Evolution of the name

  1. condicia / Condessa medieval Latin 10th — 12th centuries
  2. Condeixa-a-Nova medieval Portuguese from the 13th century

Reflections, to the letter

Two Condeixas live together. The Velha, old, sits on the Roman ruins of Conímbriga, abandoned after the Suevic invasions of the 5th century. The Nova, new, was refounded by King Sancho I in the 12th century barely a kilometre away, with a repopulation pact —⁠hence probably the name, from the Latin condicia, 'condition, pact'. The Camino Portugués pilgrim crosses them almost consecutively: the Roman ruin and the medieval town, separated by a thousand years and a thousand paces.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

disputed

Glossary

Anthroponym
A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
Onomastics
The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
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

  • Câmara Municipal de Condeixa-a-Nova — Arquivo histórico

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Camino Portugués

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Oliveira de Azeméis
  3. Albergaria-a-Velha
  4. Águeda
  5. Anadia
  6. Mealhada
  7. Coímbra
  8. Condeixa-a-Nova
  9. Conímbriga
  10. Rabaçal
  11. Ansião
  12. Alvaiázere
  13. Tomar
  14. Atalaia
  15. ··· toward the start