Los Santos de Maimona
BadajozExtremadura
Compound toponym. Los Santos collectively commemorates the martyrs venerated in a medieval rural church, a substantivised plural hagiotoponym. De Maimona, from the Arabic anthroponym Maymūn or Maymūna ('fortunate, blessed', Semitic root ymn-), a personal name frequent in al-Andalus that left its mark on the toponym after the Christian repopulation.
The first element Los Santos, without specific dedication, is one of the peninsular collective hagiotoponyms —a pattern similar to the already seen Tosantos (Todos Santos). It usually commemorates a medieval church generically dedicated to the Christian martyrs without a particular dominant relic. The second element is of Arabic origin: Maymūn (masculine) or Maymūna (feminine) is an Andalusi personal name derived from the Semitic root ymn- ('right, right hand', by extension 'fortune, blessing' —the same root that gives Arabic yumn and Yemeni Yemen, 'the fortunate'). The name was frequent in al-Andalus during the 8th to 12th centuries. After the Christian conquest of the area by the military orders in the 13th century, the toponym preserved the anthroponymic trace of the previous Arab owner —a habitual pattern in Lower Extremadura toponymy. The town belongs to the Order of Santiago, which endowed it with its own commandery. The parish church of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, Gothic of the 15th century reformed in the Baroque, preserves a notable plateresque altarpiece.
Evolution of the name
- sancti + Maymūn Latin + Hispanic Arabic 12th — 14th centuries
- Los Santos de Maimona medieval Castilian from the 14th century
Glossary
- Anthroponym
- A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
- Hagiotoponym
- A place name formed from a saint's name (from the Greek ἅγιος, hágios, "holy"). Frequent in the medieval Christian repopulation: Sansol (Sanctus Zoilus), Santander (Sancti Emeterii), Donostia (Done Sebastian).
- 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.
- Substantivised plural
- A device by which an adjective or noun in the plural is fixed as a place name without the noun that governed it: fontanas = "[lands of the] springs", ferreiros = "[place of the] smiths". Frequent in medieval repopulation.
Sources
- Asín Palacios, M. — Contribución a la toponimia árabe de España
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