Soto de Luiña
Principado de Asturias
Compound toponym. Soto, from the Latin saltus ('grove, riverside forest, fluvial woodland'), designates a wooded land beside a watercourse. De Luiña, a Gothic or Suevic anthroponym Luinia (feminine variant of Luinus / Lluis), in possessive. It documents a medieval grove owned by a Luiña.
Saltus, in classical Latin, designated a wooded and rugged land, generally unploughed, frequently linked to communal pastures and hunting. The term evolved in Asturian-Leonese Romance into soto, specialised to designate riverside forests —the forests that grow beside rivers, generally of alder, willow, ash and poplar, tree species that tolerate permanent humidity. Hispanic toponymy preserves dozens: Soto, Sotosalbos, Sotomayor, Sotopalacios, Soto de Luiña. The second element is a Germanic anthroponym: Luinia, the feminine variant of the Gothic name Luinus / Hluwins ('glorious, famous' in Gothic, from the base hluth- that also gives Ludwig, Louis), documented in peninsular Visigothic onomastics. The hamlet, a Gronze stage head between Avilés and Cadavedo, preserves the parish church of Santa María, 12th-century Romanesque reformed in the 17th. Traditionally the head of the old archpriestship of Pravia, for centuries it was an obligatory stop of the pilgrim after the hard climb of the Garita pass.
Evolution of the name
- saltus + Luinia Latin + Gothic 6th — 9th centuries
- Soto de Luiña medieval Asturleonese from the 12th century
Glossary
- Anthroponym
- A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
- Soto (saltus)
- A riverside forest beside a watercourse, generally composed of alder, willow, ash and poplar —species that tolerate the permanent humidity of the soil. From the Latin saltus, 'rugged wooded land', specialised in Hispanic Romance to specifically designate the fluvial grove. It produces toponyms like Soto, Sotomayor, Sotosalbos.
Sources
- García Arias, X.Ll. — Toponimia asturiana
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Camino del Norte