Pieros
LeónCastilla y León
Toponym derived from the Latin petros (accusative plural of petra, 'stone'), a Hellenism incorporated into the Latin lexicon and from there into medieval Castilian. It describes a stony place, frequent in the Cúa basin where the village sits. The plural form fixes the collective character: 'place of many stones'.
Evolution of the name
- petra → petros Latin (helenismo) before the 5th century
- Pieros medieval Castilian from the 11th century
Reflections, to the letter
On the Celtic castro of Bergidum Flavium, Roman capital of the Bierzo. The name preserves in Latin plural the Greek word petra —stones, many, an exact description of the rocky hill on which it sits. The form Pieros did not diphthongise the e as Castilian piedra did, preserving a phonetic closer to the original Latin. The pilgrim who crosses sees vineyards of mencía to left and right —the D.O. Bierzo is made here.
Glossary
- Hellenism
- A word from Greek that Latin incorporated as a learned loanword, generally through Hellenistic culture (3rd century BC — 1st century AD) or the early Christian texts. Latin and the modern Romance languages incorporated thousands: iglesia (ἐκκλησία), obispo (ἐπίσκοπος), filosofía (φιλοσοφία), petra (πέτρα).
- Roman road
- A stone-paved Roman highway, part of the imperial communications network (Via Aquitana, Via Augusta, Iter ab Asturica); many such roads became medieval routes and, later, stretches of the Camino de Santiago.
Sources
- Diputación de León — Inventario de patrimonio jacobeo
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Camino Francés