Nueva
Principado de Asturias
Substantivised Castilian-Asturian appellative: nueva, from the Latin nova (feminine of novus, 'new'), applied to an elided villa. It means '(new) town', designating a foundation built from scratch in the medieval Asturian repopulation —a frequent pattern in the toponymy of the northern Peninsula.
The adjective nova (feminine of novus) generated in medieval peninsular toponymy a family of derivatives with villa generally elided: Vila Nova (in Portugal and Galicia), Villanueva (in Castile and León), Nueva (Asturias), Villenave. The foundation of 'new towns' is one of the most characteristic procedures of the Christian repopulation: when settlers were wanted in a depopulated or strategic region, the crown granted a charter with fiscal and legal privileges, creating a town ex novo. The toponym documents it. The Asturian hamlet of Nueva, in the council of Llanes, is documented from the 12th century in charters of the Celorio monastery, and preserves a parish church dedicated to Santa María, with a 13th-century Romanesque chancel reformed in the Baroque. The simple toponym Nueva, without a geographical complement, is relatively rare: most peninsular 'new towns' have added a qualifier (Vilanova de Lourenzá, Vila Nova de Gaia, Villanueva de los Caballeros) to distinguish themselves from the many others.
Evolution of the name
- (villa) nova late Latin 9th — 11th centuries
- Nueva medieval Asturleonese from the 12th century
Glossary
- 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.
Sources
- García Arias, X.Ll. — Toponimia asturiana
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Camino del Norte