Quinto
ZaragozaAragón
Numeral toponym from the Latin quintus ('fifth'), ordinal of quinque. The denomination, attested from the 12th century as Quinto de Ebro, refers to the fifth mansion or milestone of the Roman road between Caesaraugusta and Ilerda (Lérida), an ordinal administrative use of the Roman milestone preserved as fossilised toponym.
Evolution of the name
- quintus Latin 1st centuries BC–5th
- Quinto medieval Aragonese from the 12th century
Reflections, to the letter
The name is a number: Quinto marks the fifth milestone of the Roman road between Celsa and Caesaraugusta, where a garrison gave rise to the town. Nothing remains of that mile-counting stone, but the trace is walked on the way out: the route leaves Quinto along the same Roman corridor whose fifth marker named it. Heading toward the Ebro is to follow, unseen, the line that set the place-name.
Glossary
- Attested
- A form or word documented in writing in historical sources; opposed to "reconstructed" (forms proposed by comparative inference but not actually documented).
- Mansio
- A staging post on the Roman road network, located every 20-30 km along the main roads (Via Aquitana, Via Augusta). Worked as a hostel, horse-changing station and administrative point. Tardajos (Otorigium), Los Arcos (Curnonium) and Castro Urdiales (Flaviobriga) are former Roman mansiones.
- Roman mansiones
- Service stations of the Roman road network, located every five thousand Roman paces (7.4 km) or every twenty thousand Roman paces (29.5 km) depending on rank. They offered cursus publicus travellers lodging, food, change of mounts and cart maintenance. Major mansions included inn, tavern, smithy, baths and stables. The numbered milestones at the entrance of each mansion gave origin to fossilised numeral toponyms such as Quinto, Octavo and Décimo.
- 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
- Beltrán Martínez, A. — La calzada romana entre Caesaraugusta e Ilerda
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Camino del Ebro