Valdoviño

Camino del Mar

A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia

It is not 'valley of wine'. Valdoviño comes, on the best-argued reading, from the Germanic personal name Baldovino —⁠the estate of a certain Baldovino⁠—⁠; another makes it Val de Aviño, on a pre-Roman hydronym.

The name deceives everyone: it does not speak of wine. The folk etymology reads it as val do viño, the 'valley of wine', and it is rejected by philology. The best-argued reading —⁠that of José-Álvaro Porto Dapena⁠— makes it a personal-name toponym: from the Germanic name Baldovino (from bald-, 'bold', the same root as English bold), the estate of a certain Baldovino, owner of an agricultural holding. Porto Dapena expressly rejects both the 'valley of wine' and the 'valley of the river Aviño'. But this last, the hydronymic one, remains alive: Navaza records it, supported by the old form Santalla de Aviño, documented in the 12th century, with Aviño as a pre-Roman hydronym; Valdoviño is not fixed until the 17th. Germanic owner or pre-Roman river, the wine has nothing to do with it: it is the mirage of a name that sounds like what it is not.

Evolution of the name

  1. Santalla de Aviño medieval Galician 12th century
  2. Valdoviño Galician from the 17th century

Reflections, to the letter

Valdoviño sounds like 'valley of wine', and it is not: philology rejects that reading outright. The best explanation (Porto Dapena) makes it the estate of a certain Baldovino, a Germanic name from bald-, 'bold' —⁠cousin of English bold⁠—⁠. Another makes it Val de Aviño, on a river of pre-Roman name (the old form was Santalla de Aviño). Whether owner or river, the wine has nothing to do with it. On its coast, the beach and lagoon of A Frouxeira. A name that sounds like what it is not: beware of trusting the ear.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

disputed

Sources

  • Porto Dapena, J.-Á. — «Sobre el topónimo Valdoviño» (Universidade da Coruña)
  • Navaza, G. — Os nomes dos concellos da provincia da Coruña (Real Academia Galega)

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Camino del Mar

  1. Neda
  2. Valdoviño
  3. Cedeira
  4. Ortigueira
  5. Xove
  6. Cervo
  7. Burela
  8. Foz
  9. ··· toward the start