Otur
Principado de Asturias
Pre-Roman toponym of opaque origin. Asturian onomastics classifies the name within the linguistic layer prior to Romanisation, possibly linked to a Celtic or Paleo-European base ot-/ut- of lost meaning. Without early medieval documentation to reconstruct the original etymon.
The base ot-/ut- appears in the toponymic substrate of Asturias and Galicia with relative frequency (Otero —though this one is transparent, from the Latin altarium—, Otoñes, Utiel), without contemporary onomastics having been able to fix a single meaning. Some readings link it to elevated reliefs (cf. Latin altus, also with base al-), others to minor hydric features. Otur is one of those toponyms where medieval documentation, scarce and late, does not allow recovering the original form. The hamlet belongs to the council of Valdés, on a small height over the Negro river valley. Its parish church of Santiago Apóstol, Romanesque reformed in the Baroque, reflects the characteristic Jacobean patronage of the stop-hamlets of the Camino del Norte. The pilgrim crosses it after Luarca on the way to La Caridad.
Evolution of the name
- ot-/ut- pre-Roman before the 1st century BC
- Otur medieval Asturleonese from the 12th century
Glossary
- Etymon
- The word or root from which another word derives. The etymon of "puente" is Latin pontem; the etymon of "Santiago" is Sanctus Iacobus.
- 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
- García Arias, X.Ll. — 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