Montefurado

Camino de Invierno

LugoGalicia

A transparent compound: Galician monte furado 'pierced mountain', from the Latin montem foratum. The name is literal: a Roman tunnel perforates the mountain to divert the Sil and take its gold.

Few place names are so literal. Furado is the past participle of Galician furar, 'to bore', from Latin forare —⁠the same root as 'perforate'⁠— and the name says exactly what is there: a pierced mountain. The hole is Rome's work. To wring the gold from the Sil, imperial engineers dug a tunnel through the mountain and diverted the river through it, leaving the meander dry to sift its sediment. The perforation is still there, with the Sil running inside, and that is why the place is also called Boca do Monte, 'the mouth of the mountain'. No etymological dispute is possible: the name is the description of a hole you can still see.

Evolution of the name

  1. montem foratum Latin etymon
  2. Monte Furado / Montefurado Galician medieval – modern

Reflections, to the letter

Here the name does not deceive by a millimetre: Monte Furado is 'pierced mountain', and you have the hole in front of you. Rome bored through the mountain to divert the Sil and keep the gold of the dried meander; the river still runs through the tunnel two thousand years later. Lean out at the viewpoint and you will see the mouth —⁠which is why the place is also Boca do Monte⁠—⁠. Of all the place names on the Camino de Invierno, this is the most honest: it says what is there, and what is there is a mountain that man pierced looking for gold.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Sources

  • Corominas, J. & Pascual, J.A. — Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (Gredos, s.v. horadar)
  • Domergue, C. — Les mines de la Péninsule Ibérique dans l'Antiquité romaine (Roma: École française de Rome, 1990)
  • Nomenclátor de Galicia (Xunta de Galicia)

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Camino de Invierno

  1. Lalín
  2. Rodeiro
  3. Chantada
  4. Monforte de Lemos
  5. A Pobra do Brollón
  6. Quiroga
  7. Montefurado
  8. Petín
  9. A Rúa
  10. Vilamartín de Valdeorras
  11. O Barco de Valdeorras
  12. Puente de Domingo Flórez
  13. Las Médulas
  14. ··· toward the start