Muros

Camino de Muros y Noia

A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia

From the Latin muros, 'the walls': a plural toponym, after the walls of an old fortification —⁠or the stone arcades that still form its seafront⁠—⁠.

The name is of stone. Muros is the plural of the Latin murus, 'wall, rampart', a toponymic type much repeated in Galicia that usually marks the remains of an old enclosure —⁠a fortification, the walls of a castro, a pen⁠—⁠. The town is documented in the 13th century as Muro (Sancho IV made it royal in 1286) and later settled in the plural. Facing the ría, the old quarter aligns its mariners' houses over soportales, rows of stone arches under which fishing gear was kept: walls that, though not those of the name, still raise the word into view. Muros was a pilgrims' port: the records link it to the Camino as early as 1298, when Santiago was reached by sea before by land.

Evolution of the name

  1. Muro / Pobo de Muro Galician attested 1286
  2. Muros Galician modern

Reflections, to the letter

Muros is 'the walls', from the Latin muros: a name that in Galicia usually keeps an old enclosure. Do not look for the rampart; look at the arcades of the seafront, the rows of stone arches under which the fish was dried. From here pilgrims set out —⁠or rather, here they arrived⁠— by sea toward Santiago as early as 1298. You begin a road that smells of harbour: for centuries, the route was not toward the sea, but from it.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

probable

Sources

  • Blanco Quintela, A. — Toponimia de Muros (Real Academia Galega, col. Terra Nomeada, 2023)

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 de Muros y Noia

  1. Santiago de Compostela
  2. Ames
  3. Brión
  4. Noia
  5. Outes
  6. Muros