Navia
Principado de Asturias
Pre-Roman hydronym of the river Navia, a possible derivative of the Celtic divinity Navia, goddess of waters attested in Hispano-Roman epigraphy of the Iberian northwest. The town inherits the name of the river at its mouth.
Evolution of the name
- Navia (hidrónimo / teónimo) Celtic pre-Roman before the 1st century BC
- Navia medieval Asturleonese from the 10th century
Reflections, to the letter
When you cross the bridge over the river Navia, you are crossing the name of a Celtic goddess — a divinity of waters attested in Hispano-Roman votive inscriptions from two thousand years ago. Same structure as Deba in Gipuzkoa, two villages on the Camino del Norte that carry on their municipal sign the names of pagan divinities that Roman Christianisation could not erase. River names are Europe's most conservative toponyms: what is called so, has been called so.
Glossary
- Attested
- A form or word documented in writing in historical sources; opposed to "reconstructed" (forms proposed by comparative inference but not actually documented).
- Hydronym
- A place name derived from the name of a river, lake or watercourse (Carrión, Eo, Sella, Deba, Cueza).
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
Sources
- Olivares Pedreño, J.C. — Los dioses de la Hispania céltica (Madrid: Bibliotheca Archaeologica Hispana, 2002)
- Cano González, A.M. — Diccionario Etimológico de la Toponimia Asturiana
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 del Norte