Lalín
Vía de la Plata · Camino de Invierno
PontevedraGalicia
Here Vía de la Plata and Camino de Invierno converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.
Disputed etymology. The dominant hypothesis derives the name from the Gothic personal name Allini or Alini, an early medieval owner whose estate became fixed in the Latin genitive (villa) Allini. Others propose a pre-Roman root lal- without firm parallels.
The Gothic personal name Allini is attested in Galician medieval cartularies as the personal name of owners; the villa Allini would have been the rural estate of the individual who named the place after the Visigothic repopulation of the 8th century. The form evolved through elision of the final Latin -i and reduction to Lalín, with a final stressed syllable characteristic of Galician that preserves the original Latin accent. The alternative pre-Roman hypothesis (lal- root) lacks firm parallels in peninsular onomastics. Lalín is today the exact geographical centre of Galicia (Latitude 42°39′ N, Longitude 8°06′ W — a monolith commemorates the point) and the Galician capital of cocido: during the last week of February the Feira do Cocido is held, declared of National Tourist Interest, with over 70,000 visitors trying the Lalín cocido (cured pork shoulder, ear, tail, chorizo, blood sausage, chickpeas, cabbage, potato, turnip greens — up to 12 distinct elements in the pot).
Evolution of the name
- (villa) Allini / Alini Latin / Gothic 8th — 10th century
- Lalín medieval Galician from the 11th century
Glossary
- Anthroponym
- A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
- Attested
- A form or word documented in writing in historical sources; opposed to "reconstructed" (forms proposed by comparative inference but not actually documented).
- Elision
- Suppression of an unstressed vowel or syllable in the evolution of a word. The paradigmatic case is compressed hagiotoponyms: Sanctus Zoilus → Sansol, Sancti Emeterii → Santander.
- 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.
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
- Repopulation
- A medieval process by which the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian peninsula resettled territories reconquered from al-Andalus. Generates a whole layer of repopulation toponyms: Bercianos (those from El Bierzo), Navarrete (little Navarre), Castellanos, Gallegos.
Sources
- Piel, J.M. — Antroponímia germânica
- Cabeza Quiles, F. — Os nomes da terra
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Vía de la Plata