Nava de la Asunción
SegoviaCastilla y León
Two-member compound. Nava, a pre-Roman word documented in all peninsular languages with the sense of 'plain between mountains, enclosed meadow, depression covered with grass', of probable Vasco-Aquitanian origin (modern Basque naba, 'plain'). De la Asunción, Marian invocation of the parish church added in the 16th century to distinguish this Nava from dozens of peninsular namesakes.
Nava is one of the most productive topographic appellatives of pre-Roman Hispanic lexicon: it designates a plain enclosed between mountains or a flat meadow at the bottom of a valley. Peninsular toponymy preserves hundreds of derivatives —Nava de Arévalo, Nava del Rey, Navaluenga, Navacerrada, Navalmoral— with two main concentration zones: the Northern Meseta (Castile-León) and the Northern Madrid range. The hamlet of Nava de la Asunción sits in a small cereal depression of the Segovian foothills, flat meadow at the foot of the Atalaya hill. The town's foundation dates from the 12th century as a hamlet of the Segovian chapter; the epithet de la Asunción, added after the dedication of the parish church to the Assumption of Mary in 1564, distinguishes the place from other Navas.
Evolution of the name
- naba (vasco-aquitano) pre-Roman before the 3rd century BC
- Nava medieval Castilian from the 9th century
Glossary
- Nava (toponymic appellative)
- Pre-Roman Hispanic word of Vasco-Aquitanian origin that designates a plain enclosed between mountains or a flat meadow at the bottom of a valley. It is one of the most productive topographic appellatives in peninsular toponymy, with hundreds of compounds attested in Castile-León, Madrid, La Rioja and Extremadura. Modern Basque preserves the base with the same meaning (naba, 'plain').
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
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