Mealhada

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

Distrito de AveiroPortugal

Here Camino Portugués and Camino Portugués de la Costa converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.

Disputed etymology. The most documented reading starts from the old coin name mealha + locative suffix -ada: 'place of the medieval toll or tax'. Other hypotheses derive the name from a derivative of media 'middle' (the town being halfway between Coímbra and Aveiro).

The mealha was a low-value Portuguese coin circulating in the 12th-15th centuries, equivalent to half a dinheiro. If the monetary hypothesis is correct, Mealhada preserves the name of a medieval toll point where that coin was charged on goods in transit. The competing hypothesis —⁠media 'middle'⁠— rests on the town's geographical position, equidistant between Coímbra and Aveiro on the ancient Roman road, but the phonetic change media > mealha requires undocumented stages. No scholarly consensus prevails.

Evolution of the name

mealha (sustantivo medieval) Old Portuguese 12th — 14th century
Mealhada Portuguese from the 14th century

Glossary

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.
Locative suffix: A Castilian ending marking "place of" or "workshop where X is worked": -ería (panadería, herrería), -ero/-era (barquera, Itero "place of the road"). From the Latin -arium.

Sources

Machado, J.P. — Dicionário Onomástico Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa
Marques, A.H. de Oliveira — História de Portugal, vol. I

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Camino Portugués

Evolution of the name

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

Glossary

Sources