Flix
TarragonaCatalunya · Cataluña
Toponym of disputed etymology. The most sustained hypothesis derives it from Andalusian Arabic al-fīsh ('the rock, the reef'), descriptive of the pronounced Ebro meander on which the urban centre sits.
Evolution of the name
- al-fīsh Andalusi Arabic 10th–12th centuries
- Flix medieval Catalan from the 12th century
Reflections, to the letter
Look out over the meander and you see why the name speaks of a crag: the Ebro draws so tight a bend here that it wraps the town almost whole, and locals tell the upper river from the lower depending on which side of the loop you stand. Flix sits on the neck of the very rock that al-fish named, water on three sides.
Glossary
- Battle of the Ebro
- Military operation of the Spanish Civil War between the 25th of July and the 16th of November 1938, fought in the middle stretch of the Ebro between Mequinenza and Tortosa with epicentre in Flix-Mora la Nova. It was the longest and bloodiest battle of the war: 30,000 dead on each side. The Republican defeat opened the way to the fall of Catalonia in January-February 1939.
- Etymology
- The origin and history of a word and the phonetic and semantic changes it has undergone. An etymology may be confirmed, probable or disputed depending on documentary attestations and linguistic parallels.
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Camino del Ebro