Vilalba
Villalba
LugoGalicia
Transparent compound: vila (Galician, from the Latin villa) + alba (from the Latin alba, 'white', in reference to the lime of the walls or to the white coat of the cattle on its pastures). 'The white town.'
The Latin adjective alba means 'white, luminous'; it survives in Castilian alba (the light that precedes dawn), albo, albino, albor, in Galician alba, Italian alba, French aube and English alb (the white liturgical robe). The Proto-Indo-European root albho- is also the same as Albion (the ancient Celtic name for Britain, after its white Dover cliffs) and the river Albis (the German Elbe). In peninsular toponymy, Vilalba/Villalba is a productive name replicated in dozens of Castilian and Galician villages. In the Lugo case, vila alba probably alludes to the white-lime houses of the first medieval settlement. The Torre da Homenaxe of the Andrade castle (15th century), preserved in the village centre and converted into a national parador, is among the rare habitable medieval keeps on the Camino del Norte.
Evolution of the name
- Villa Alba medieval Latin 10th — 12th century
- Vilalba / Villalba Galician-Portuguese / Castilian from the 13th century
Sources
- Cabeza Quiles, F. — Os nomes da terra
- García Oro, J. — La nobleza gallega en la Baja Edad Media: los Andrade (Santiago: CSIC, 1981)
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Camino del Norte