Obanos
Camino Francés · Camino Aragonés
NavarraNavarra
Here Camino Francés and Camino Aragonés converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.
Pre-Roman toponym of opaque origin. Contemporary Navarrese onomastics classifies it as Basque-Aquitanian of lost meaning, with parallels in Pyrenean toponyms of the same belt. Documented as Obanos from the 12th century, without earlier forms that allow the original base to be reconstructed.
Obanos is one of those toponyms where the early documentation —scarce, fragmentary, almost always in ecclesiastical Latin— does not allow the original form to be reconstructed. Navarrese onomastics groups it with other opaque toponyms of the southern Pyrenean foothill (Olcoz, Tafalla, Ujué) that share a Basque-Aquitanian layer prior to Romanisation and poorly documented in epigraphy. The village became famous in the Middle Ages through the legend of Felicia, a pilgrim princess whose brother Guillén murdered her on returning from Compostela after discovering she was going to stay on as a hermit; repentant, Guillén made himself a pilgrim and died in the odour of sanctity. The festival of the Mysteries of Obanos, a medieval dramatisation of the story, is still celebrated every two years.
Evolution of the name
- *Oban- Vasco-Aquitanian before the 10th century
- Obanos medieval Basque-Castilian from the 12th century
Glossary
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
- Pre-Roman
- Prior to the Romanisation of the Iberian peninsula (3rd century BC); applied to toponyms, linguistic roots and populations.
Sources
- Salaberri Zaratiegi, P. — Toponimia de Navarra
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Camino Francés