Tapia de Casariego

Camino del Norte

Principado de Asturias

Compound: tapia (an Arabism from Andalusian Arabic ṭâbiya, 'wall of rammed earth between two boards') + de Casariego, in honour of the Marquis of Casariego, Fernando Fernández de Casariego, a 19th-century indiano benefactor who financed the village's development.

Tapia is one of the most widespread Arabisms in Castilian and other peninsular Romance languages. The Arabic ṭâbiya designated an Andalusian construction technique: a wall of earth rammed between two boards —⁠the tapial⁠— removed once the earth dried and hardened. The technique spread across the Peninsula in the 8th-12th centuries; the Christian kingdoms preserved it after the reconquest along with the word. The toponym Tapia, in western Asturias, probably alludes to a defensive or agricultural rammed-earth enclosure. The qualifier de Casariego is from the 19th century: the Marquis of Casariego, an indiano enriched in Mexico and Cuba, financed the village's urban development (schools, streets, fishing port) and received the marquisate in 1864, which was added to the official toponym.

Evolution of the name

  1. ṭâbiya Andalusi Arabic 8th — 12th century
  2. tapia medieval Castilian from the 13th century
  3. Tapia de Casariego Castilian from 1864 (granting of the marquisate)

Reflections, to the letter

Walk through the Plaza de la Constitución and the central streets: the houses of the indianos, financed by the Marquis of Casariego and other 19th-century emigrants enriched in the Americas, form one of the most coherent architectural ensembles on the Asturian coast — Neoclassical or eclectic, with imported palm trees and carved coats of arms. The toponym keeps in its second half the name of the benefactor who paid for the postcard.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Glossary

Arabism
A word or place name in Castilian, Portuguese or Catalan borrowed from Andalusian Arabic. The Peninsula preserves thousands: aceite, azúcar, almohada, alcázar, azulejo, Guadalquivir, Atalaia, Azofra, Azambuja.
Indiano
An emigrant who returned enriched from the Americas (especially Cuba and Mexico) during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many indianos invested their fortunes in architectural patronage in their hometowns — the Marquis of Comillas is the paradigmatic case.

Sources

  • Corriente, F. — Diccionario de arabismos
  • Sela García, A. — Tapia de Casariego: historia de un concejo (Oviedo: Sueve, 1995)

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Camino del Norte

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Abadín
  3. Mondoñedo
  4. Lourenzá
  5. Vilanova de Lourenzá
  6. Ribadeo
  7. Castropol
  8. Tapia de Casariego
  9. La Caridad
  10. Navia
  11. Otur
  12. Luarca
  13. Canero
  14. Querúas
  15. ··· toward the start