Hinojosa del Duque
CórdobaAndalucía
Two-member compound. Hinojosa, diminutive of Latin foeniculum ('fennel', aromatic umbelliferous plant) with locative suffix -osa, designates a setting covered with wild fennel characteristic of the Pedroches valley. Del Duque refers to the seigneury of the Dukes of Béjar, Marquises of Gibraleón, who acquired the town in 1444 by grant of John II of Castile.
Foeniculum, a word of agrarian Latin, gave in Castilian hinojo (also finojo in medieval forms), umbelliferous plant of aniseed aroma used in traditional Iberian cuisine since Roman antiquity. Castilian toponymy preserves dozens of derivatives —Hinojos, Hinojosa, Finojosa, Fenoll, Fonollar— applied to settings with natural abundance of the plant. The town of Hinojosa del Duque, in the heart of the Pedroches Valley, was for centuries the head of the dehesa region with the highest concentration of Iberian pork livestock in Spain.
Evolution of the name
- foeniculum Latin 1st–5th centuries
- Finojosa / Hinojosa medieval Castilian from the 13th century
- Hinojosa del Duque Castilian from 1444
Glossary
- Diminutive
- A derived form indicating smaller size or affection, formed with suffixes such as -illo, -ito, -uelo, -ete. Substantivised plural diminutives abound in toponymy: Hornillos, Boadilla, Calzadilla, Comillas, Pradillos.
- 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.
- Pedroches Designation of Origin
- Protected geographical indication of acorn-fed Iberian ham produced in the Pedroches Valley (Cordoba), recognised by the EU in 2010. It comprises cured ham of Iberian pig (Pelona or Negra Lampiña breed) raised on dehesa montanera with acorn of holm oak, cork oak and gall oak. The curing period is 24 to 36 months in natural cellar at constant temperature. Annual production is limited to 40,000 certified pieces. The Pedroches dehesa comprises 320,000 hectares with two million holm oaks and cork oaks.
Sources
- Cabrera Muñoz, E. — Los Pedroches medievales
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