Foz

LugoGalicia

From the Latin fauce 'throat, jaws', applied to a river's mouth: 'the mouth of the river', here that of the Masma into the Cantabrian Sea. Not to be confused with hoz 'sickle', of another root.

The name is a mouth. Foz comes from the Latin fauce, 'throat, jaws', which by metaphor came to name a river's mouth or the narrows of a valley —⁠the 'mouth' by which the water leaves or the pass narrows⁠—⁠; it is the same origin as the Castilian hoz 'narrows' (not to be confused with the hoz 'sickle', from the Latin falce, a different word). The town is exactly where the name says: at the foz, the mouth of the river Masma into the Cantabrian Sea. Nearby, in the same municipality, stands the basilica of San Martiño de Mondoñedo, held to be one of the oldest cathedral sites in Spain.

Evolution of the name

fauce Latin 'throat'
foz Galician 'river mouth'

Reflections, to the letter

Foz is 'the river mouth', from the Latin fauce, 'throat, mouth' —⁠the mouth by which the river Masma gives its water to the sea, right where you stand⁠—⁠. It is the same word as the Castilian hoz 'narrows'; do not confuse it with the hoz 'sickle', of another root. The name is the geography: a mouth of water. In the municipality, the old basilica of San Martiño de Mondoñedo, one of the oldest sees in Spain.

Sources

Toponomasticon Hispaniae — étimo «Fauce» (ref. Meyer-Lübke, REW nº 3225)
Cabeza Quiles, F. — Os nomes de lugar. Topónimos de Galicia (Vigo: Xerais, 1992)

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Camino del Mar

Evolution of the name

Reflections, to the letter

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Sources