Errenteria
Gipuzkoa · GuipúzcoaPaís Vasco / Euskadi · País Vasco
Transparent Basque toponym. Errenteria, from the Basque errent- ('rent, tribute') plus locative suffix -eria, designates 'place where rent or customs is collected'. The hamlet was Castilian Crown customs port between the 14th and 18th centuries.
Evolution of the name
- errent + eria medieval Basque 13th–15th centuries
- Errenteria modern Basque from the 14th century
Reflections, to the letter
The town was founded as Villanueva de Oiarso, yet the name Errenteria —the place where dues were paid— won out, because here stood the royal offices that taxed the iron from the valley's forges on its way down to the port of Pasaia. You are reading a name that outlasted the official one by sheer force of customs.
Glossary
- Cantabrian medieval customs
- Medieval Castilian fiscal system (14th-18th centuries) consisting of coastal customs posts where the almojarifazgo (tax on merchandise) was collected from Cantabrian maritime trade products. Errenteria, Hondarribia, Pasaia and San Sebastián were the main customs ports on the French frontier.
- Locative suffix
- A Castilian ending marking "place of" or "workshop where X is worked": -ería (panadería, herrería), -ero/-era (barquera, Itero "place of the road"). From the Latin -arium.
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Camino Vasco del Interior