How did Cale get to become Oporto?
I’m becoming quite fascinated in the origins of words
which often lead back to very early times. When the possible meaning, or derivation of
a word, has associations with the early Celtic speaking peoples then, for me, it’s
a bonus.
Yesterday, I mentioned I’d maybe do a little on the
history of Oporto, so here’s a bit that interests me. I hope you can find the same
fascination!
 |
| Iberian Peninsula circa. 100 BC - Wikimedia Commons |
The Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus
conquered the region we now refer to as Portugal, and founded the Roman ‘port’ city
of Portus Cale in around 136 BC. The city ‘port’ he founded was at the
mouth of the Douro River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, a strategic place
to have a maritime base back then, as it still is now.
The people who lived in that north-west Iberian area were
possibly known as Callaeci, Gallaeci or Gallaecia, though also named as the Castra people.
The
names Callaici and Cale are the origin of today's Gaia, Galicia, and the -gal
in Portugal. The meaning of Cale or Calle is possibly a derivation of the
Celtic word for port which would confirm very old links to pre-Roman,
Celtic languages. (Read on to the end of the post)
Other historians put forward the idea that the Greeks
were the first to settle Cale and that the name derives from the Greek word
Καλλις kallis, 'beautiful', meaning the beauty of the Douro valley. Others have
put forward the notion that the word Cale came from the Latin word for 'warm'
(Portus Cale thus meaning 'warm port').
If you know anything about the name structures for men
in Ancient Rome, you may already know that a conquering general of the
republican era, or an emperor of the imperial era, often added a fourth part to
their name which gave an important geographical indication of where their campaign
took place. e.g. An emperor might have added Britannicus to his name to
indicate a triumph in Britain. Or Germanicus for a triumph in Germany. I believe
that Decimus Junius Brutus added the fourth agnomen of Callaicus to indicate a
triumph over the Callaici people.
After D J Brutus' campaigns, the territory between the
Douro and Minho rivers and some surrounding area was controlled by Rome. By the end of the 1st century BC, under the
reign of Augustus Caesar, north Portugal and Galicia were fully absorbed into
the Empire and controlled by Rome.
Eventually the Roman Empire waned and when trade
collapsed, Portus Cale also went into decline. Various other conquerors arrived
and by 584 the Visigoths dominated the region around Cale and they changed the name
to Portucale. After them, the Moors came, and in 868 it was reconquered by Vímara
Peres, a Christian warlord from Gallaecia. The First County of Portugal or
Condado de Portucale was founded.
 |
| Galician pipers during a St. Patrick's Day parade in New York. - Wikimedia Commons |
And now for the bits that appeal to me even more. In
today's Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the word for port is respectively caladh and
cala. Cala or Cailleach was also the name of a Celtic goddess. In Scotland, the
Cailleach Bheur is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter. And back in the times
of the early Celtic nations, the land of a specific people was frequently named
after its deity.
 |
| Beira - Wikipedia |
Portugal and Spain are often referred to as the
Iberian Peninsula. I imagine that Beira, queen of winter, was just as popular
there as in what we now know of as Scotland.
The Cailleach Bheur is mentioned quite a few times in
Book 4 of my Celtic Fervour Saga. My Garrigill characters Enya and Nith are not
afraid of the ‘Blue Hag/ Cailleach Bheur’ but the local lad - Feargus of Monymusk - definitely fears her!
Stay tuned. I'm not doing the official A to Z Blog Challenge this year, but I do intend to post something every day in April 2020. (That's the plan!)
Slàinte!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading my blog. Please pop your thoughts about this post in the comment box. :-)