Vilabade
LugoGalicia
Transparent Galician compound. Vila (Latin villa) plus Bade, reduced form of the medieval anthroponym Abade ('abbot'), from the Latin abbas, abbatis (Hellenism from Aramaic abba, 'father'). It designates 'villa of the abbot', medieval property of the eponymous Galician monastery.
Evolution of the name
- villa abbatis medieval Latin 9th–11th centuries
- Vilabade medieval Galician from the 12th century
Reflections, to the letter
Vilabade is Villa Abati, the abbot's estate, and a charter of 1202 already names it so. The Gothic church of Santa Maria, the one they call the Cathedral of the Mountain, rises on the site of that early religious house: what the walker sees is the abbot of the name turned to stone. The Franciscan convent around it carries that monastic root down to the present.
Glossary
- Anthroponym
- A personal name, often used as the base of toponyms (Lucronius → Logroño, Sigerici → Castrojeriz, Sacavus → Sacavém).
- Cathedral of the Mountain
- Popular nickname of the parish church of Santa María de Vilabade (Castroverde, Lugo), Gothic-Mudéjar temple of the 15th century with dimensions disproportionate for a rural hamlet —thirty metres in length by twenty in bell tower—. It was founded in 1457 as the matrix church of the old Sotomayor seigneury and has maintained Site of Cultural Interest category since 1981. It is the largest Gothic church of the rural concello of Castroverde.
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Camino Primitivo