Lleida
Camino Catalán por San Juan de la Peña
Lleida · LéridaCatalunya · Cataluña
Pre-Roman Iberian toponym attested from the 2nd century BC as Iltirta on coins with northeastern Iberian alphabet legend and Latinised as Ilerda in Roman sources (Titus Livius, Caesar). The most sustained etymology —Joaquín Gorrochategui— derives the Iberian base *ildi- or *ilti- (present in Iltirta, Iltirkesken, Ilduro) of unclear toponymic value, possibly linked to the notion of 'walled city'. The Catalan form Lleida preserves the base with regular Catalan phonetic evolution.
Evolution of the name
- Iltirta Iberian 3rd–1st centuries BC
- Ilerda Latin 1st centuries BC–5th
- Lerida / Lleida medieval Catalan from the 10th century
Reflections, to the letter
The cathedral crowns the Turó de la Seu Vella, the same high, walled rise where the Ilergetes set their Iltirta. From this hill came the Iberian coins stamped with the legend that still echoes in the name Lleida. Climbing to the Seu, with the Segre and the open plain at your feet, you tread the fortified city the name has been naming for more than two thousand years.
Glossary
- Attested
- A form or word documented in writing in historical sources; opposed to "reconstructed" (forms proposed by comparative inference but not actually documented).
- 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.
- Ilergetes
- Iberian people of pre-Roman Hispania situated in the middle Segre valley and the Lérida-Huesca plains, with territory approximately corresponding to the current provinces of Lérida and parts of Huesca. Their capital was Iltirta (Lleida) and their most famous chief was Indibil, who alongside Mandonius led the Ilergete resistance against Carthage and Rome during the Second Punic War (218–205 BC). After the defeat and death of Indibil in 205 BC, the Ilergetes were integrated into Roman administration as a federated people. They minted coinage in the northeastern Iberian alphabet between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC.
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
Sources
- Gorrochategui, J. — Onomástica antigua de los Pirineos
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 Catalán por San Juan de la Peña