Valladolid
ValladolidCastilla y León
Toponym of debated etymology with three main hypotheses: a) Arabic balad al-Walīd ('territory of Walid'), from the Berber anthroponym of the founder of the first Muslim settlement on the Pisuerga; b) Latin Vallis Olit ('valley of Olid'), Arabic anthroponym Romance-adapted; c) Latin Vallis Tolitum ('valley of Toledo'), from the Visigothic period. The Arabic hypothesis, sustained by Federico Corriente, Joan Coromines and Jaime Oliver Asín, is the most accepted by contemporary philology.
The Arabic hypothesis starts from the Berber anthroponym Walīd or Wallad ('the father of the place', 'the founder'), commonly applied in Maghreb onomastics to tribal leaders or settlement founders. Balad al-Walīd, 'land/dominion of Walid', would thus designate a Berber foundation of the emiral period. The phonetic metathesis balad > balat > vallat, characteristic of the passage from Andalusian Arabic to Castilian Romance, produces the first part of the toponym. The second evolution, al-Walīd > Olit > Olid, is regular. The survival of the toponym through the Reconquista —Alfonso VI took the city around 1072 without altering the name— suggests a population continuity from the Islamic phase. Alternative hypotheses (the Visigothic valley Vallis Tolitum or the Celtiberian name) have less documentary support. The foundation of the villa of Valladolid as a Castilian legal entity dates from 1072 by Count Pedro Ansúrez, who endowed it with charter and market and converted it into a head of military tenure of the territory between the Pisuerga and the Duero. Valladolid was seat of the Court of the Catholic Monarchs on numerous occasions (Isabel and Fernando married here in 1469), capital of the Habsburgs between 1601 and 1606, and native city of Philip II (1527) and Philip IV (1605).
Evolution of the name
- balad al-Walīd Andalusi Arabic 8th–10th centuries
- Valledeolide / Valladolit medieval Castilian from the 11th century
- Valladolid Castilian from the 12th century
Glossary
- Anthroponym
- A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
- Etymology
- The origin and history of a word and the phonetic and semantic changes it has undergone. An etymology may be confirmed, probable or disputed depending on documentary attestations and linguistic parallels.
- Fuero
- A medieval legal privilege granted by a king to a town, conferring special rights and freedoms. A key instrument of medieval Christian repopulation, attracting settlers by offering jurisdictional autonomy.
- Metathesis
- The rearrangement of phonemes within a word (Lat. parabola → Sp. palabra).
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
- Valladolid's ephemeral capitality
- Five-year period (1601–1606) when the Court of Philip III, by initiative of the Duke of Lerma, moved from Madrid to Valladolid. The decision, motivated by political and patrimonial interests of the favourite, converted Valladolid into capital of the Hispanic monarchy with three million subjects. The return to Madrid in 1606, after a negotiation between the Madrid Council and the Duke, returned the Court to its traditional seat. During the quinquennium were printed in Valladolid the first editions of Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605) and of Persiles (posthumous, 1617).
Sources
- Corriente, F. — Diccionario de arabismos
- Oliver Asín, J. — En torno a los orígenes de Castilla
- Wattenberg, F. — Valladolid medieval
If you have a correction or an observation about this information,
please write to us through the form at the foot of the site.
We will grow more precise thanks to your contribution.
Camino de Madrid