Hospital
A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia
Toponym derived directly from the Latin hospitalis ('hospitable, for guests'), applied in the Middle Ages to pilgrim hostels at critical passes of the Camino. The noun hospitalis (domus) gave hospital as the name of the building. In this case, the toponym fossilises an old pilgrim hospital documented from the 14th century, located at the exact point where the Camino branches towards Fisterra or towards Muxía.
Evolution of the name
- hospitalis Latin 1st centuries BC–5th
- Hospital medieval Galician from the 14th century
Reflections, to the letter
The Hospital crossroads is the pilgrim's moment of decision. Here one chooses between continuing to Fisterra by the coast or going to Muxía by the interior. The most completists do both capes linking them through Lires. The crossroads preserves an 18th-century stone cross and the archaeological remains of the old hospital, partially excavated in 2014. One hundred metres to the south, the Penedo da Lebre viewpoint offers the first direct view of the Atlantic on the route: Cape Fisterra to the south, Cape Vilán to the north, and between them the two hundred kilometres of the Costa da Morte. On clear days one distinguishes the lighthouse of Touriñán, the westernmost point of continental Europe.
Glossary
- Phrase
- A combination of words functioning as a single grammatical unit (noun + adjective, verb + object). In toponymy, phrases tend to agglutinate: Villanueva, Fuentespina, Molinaseca.
- Pilgrim hospital
- Medieval Christian institution destined to receive pilgrims at the critical points of the Camino de Santiago —mountain passes, river fords, route crossings, final capes—. They were generally governed by religious orders (Benedictines, Hospitallers of Saint John, Augustinian canons) or by cathedrals and diocesan mitres, and financed by alms and donated real estate. They combined functions of shelter, basic medical assistance and charity. The hospital network of the Camino came to total more than two hundred institutions between the 12th and 15th centuries.
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
Sources
- Pena Graña, A. — Os hospitais do Camiño de Fisterra
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Camino de Finisterre y Muxía