Moratinos
PalenciaCastilla y León
Toponym derived from the medieval adjective moratino, a diminutive of moro (from the Latin maurus, 'inhabitant of Roman Mauretania'), used in medieval Castilian to designate the Andalusi Muslims. The substantivised plural 'Moratinos' would commemorate a small settlement of Mudejar or Morisco population documented in the Christian repopulation of Tierra de Campos.
Latin maurus, originally referring to the inhabitants of Mauretania (today's Morocco and western Algeria), passed to medieval Castilian as moro with the extended sense of 'North African or Andalusi Muslim'. It was an ethnonym more cultural than strict: in the Christian documentation of the repopulation, moro included both the Almoravid warrior and the Mudejar peasant who lived under Christian lordship while preserving his religion. The diminutive moratino suggests a small group, possibly subordinate to a Christian lord or Castilianised after the conquest. The toponym appears in charters of the Sahagún monastery from the 12th century. The village preserves, moreover, a notable architectural feature: the bodegas-cueva excavated into a hillock on the way out of the hamlet, dozens of cavities for wine use that recall the rupestral shelters of the Castilian Camino.
Evolution of the name
- maurus → moro Latin → medieval Castilian 8th — 12th centuries
- moratino (diminutivo) medieval Castilian 12th — 14th centuries
- Moratinos modern Castilian from the 15th century
Glossary
- Diminutive
- A derived form indicating smaller size or affection, formed with suffixes such as -illo, -ito, -uelo, -ete. Substantivised plural diminutives abound in toponymy: Hornillos, Boadilla, Calzadilla, Comillas, Pradillos.
- Ethnonym
- The name of an ethnic group (Astures, Vascones, Suevi, Vardulos…). Often the base of toponyms: Castro Urdiales (from the Vardulos), Bercianos (from El Bierzo).
- Mudejar
- A Muslim who remained living in Christian territory after the Reconquest, preserving his religion, language and often his artisanal trades (especially carpentry and masonry). Mudejar art —a synthesis of the Islamic tradition with Christian elements— is one of the great architectural legacies of the medieval Peninsula.
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
- 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
- Diputación de Palencia — Inventario de patrimonio jacobeo
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 Francés