Getaria
Guetaria
Gipuzkoa · GuipúzcoaEuskadi · País Vasco
From the Basque geta 'access, narrow passage' or a reduplicated form with iri 'city' (get + iri + -a), of disputed etymology. A coastal toponym documented from the 13th century as a whaling port.
Evolution of the name
- Getaria medieval Basque from the 12th century
- Guetaria / Getaria Castilian / modern Basque from the 15th century
Reflections, to the letter
Getaria has been read as 'access, narrow pass', and the walker crosses it on foot: the town stretches over a tombolo, a tongue of sand joining the mainland to Monte San Antón, an island until the sixteenth century and now the Mouse everyone photographs. That waist of land between two seas is the narrow pass the name hints at; through it Elcano set out to make the first voyage around the world.
Glossary
- Circumnavigation
- A complete voyage around the globe. The first circumnavigation was the Magellan-Elcano expedition (1519-1522): 270 men set out, 18 returned.
- 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.
- Isthmus
- A narrow strip of land joining two larger landmasses —a peninsula to the continent, or two coastal areas across the sea—. The isthmus of Getaria connects the town with the Mouse headland.
- Onomatologist
- A specialist in onomastics, the linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons (anthroponyms), places (toponyms) and institutions.
Sources
- Mitxelena, K. — Apellidos vascos
- Pigafetta, A. — Primer viaje en torno del globo (1525)
- Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga · documentación (cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com)
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Camino del Norte