Palas de Rei
LugoGalicia
From the Latin palatium 'palace, lordly house', pluralised as palatia in medieval Galician > pazos / palas. The qualifier de Rei 'of the King' refers to the Visigothic kings who had a residence here, according to local tradition supported by chronicles.
The first element, Palas, preserves the Romance pluralisation of Latin palatium. In medieval Galician, palas or pazos designated the lordly residential complexes —fortified house, chapel, agricultural dependencies— characteristic of Galician feudalism. The qualifier de Rei refers to a medieval historiographic tradition that placed here the residence of the Visigothic king Witiza (8th century): the Historia Compostelana mentions these Palatia regis. The legend has not been archaeologically confirmed, but the toponym preserved it. Today Palas de Rei is one of the highest-traffic pilgrim stops of the final stretch, due to its exact distance from Santiago (66 km, two days walking).
Evolution of the name
- Palatia late Latin 6th — 9th century
- Pazos / Palas medieval Galician 10th — 12th century
- Palas de Rei modern Galician from the 13th century
Glossary
- Metonymy
- A figure by which an object is named with the name of something related: the Palatine hill in Rome named all palaces; a champagne is a wine from Champagne; a sherry, from Jerez.
- Pazo
- A Galician lordly house, a fortified complex with chapel and agricultural dependencies, the basic cell of Galician feudalism. Pazo is the popular form of Latin palatium; pala / palas is a medieval variant, fixed in toponyms such as Palas de Rei.
Sources
- Filgueira Valverde, X. — Toponimia gallega
- Falque Rey, E. (ed.) — Historia Compostelana
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Camino Francés