Lavadoira
AsturiasAsturias
Toponym derived from the Latin lavatoria ('washing place, place of washing'), substantivated from the verb lavare ('to wash'). The denomination, attested from the 13th century, commemorates the historical communal washing place of the hamlet, supplied by a constant spring fountain from the calcareous subsoil.
Evolution of the name
- lavatoria late Latin 5th–9th centuries
- Lavadoira medieval Asturleonese from the 13th century
Reflections, to the letter
Lavadoira names the act of washing, and what was washed here was gold. The village keeps the remains of the channels and washing beds with which the Romans sluiced and sieved the auriferous earth of the Sierra del Ouro, between Navelgas and Naraval, torn loose by water through the ruina montium technique. The walker treads the ground of an ancient washing site from which the name still flows.
Glossary
- Attested
- A form or word documented in writing in historical sources; opposed to "reconstructed" (forms proposed by comparative inference but not actually documented).
- Communal washing place
- Rural community construction characteristic of the northern peninsula between the 16th and 20th centuries, consisting of a stone basin fed by a spring where the women of the hamlet washed clothes in groups. The washing place combined domestic and social function: during the washing day news was exchanged, oral tradition was transmitted and marriages were agreed. The appearance of the electric washing machine from the 1950s ended the institution.
If you have a correction or an observation about this information,
please write to us through the form at the foot of the site.
We will grow more precise thanks to your contribution.
Camino Primitivo