Miravet
TarragonaCatalunya · Cataluña
Toponymic Arabism. Miravet, from Andalusian Arabic al-Murrabit ('watchtower, fortified post'), from the root rabaṭa ('to watch, fortify'). It designates the Muslim fortress atop the Ebro meander.
Evolution of the name
- al-Murrabit Andalusi Arabic 10th–12th centuries
- Miravet medieval Catalan from the 12th century
Reflections, to the letter
Climb to the castle and you grasp the name before you read it: the fortress stands on a near-vertical crag above the bend of the Ebro, and from its walls a long reach of river and its old ferry crossing lie open below. This is what al-Murrabit, the Arab watchtower that named the village, was built to watch. Any boat that crossed passed, quite literally, under the eye of the place.
Glossary
- Arabism
- A word or place name in Castilian, Portuguese or Catalan borrowed from Andalusian Arabic. The Peninsula preserves thousands: aceite, azúcar, almohada, alcázar, azulejo, Guadalquivir, Atalaia, Azofra, Azambuja.
- Templar castle of Miravet
- Gothic 12th-century fortress on the upper Ebro meander (Tarragona), seat of the Lower Ebro Templar commandery between 1153 and 1307. After the dissolution of the Order, it passed to the Hospitallers. It preserves the double walled enclosure, the Gothic church, the Templar refectory and the ensemble of twelve towers. Declared National Monument in 1949 and restored between 1985 and 2010.
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Camino del Ebro