Arabic Place Names in Spain

Abstract

GEOGRAPERS, HAVING A SPECIAL INTEREST IN PLACE NAMES, may themselves make warthwhile cO'ntributians to' tDpanymic study. Far Dne, IDeal geagraphy must prO'vide cDnfirmatian Df etymalO'gical derivatians. In the study af Spanish place names, Ali jar and Guadalupe may be cited as illustrative cases.The Arabic names which have been suggested as their ariginal farms are descriptive terms referring to' characteristics af their sites, but the derivatians remain uncertain, in part because the validity af the descri ptiO'ns has nat been checked lacally.l A map sha\vingthe distributian af certain classes af place names may help to'judge the merits of alternative derivations. A Germanic and an Arabic arigin have been suggested by different writers far Valdamar, a name faund in the Galician pravinces af Luga, Orense and Pantevedra. The general distributian af bath classes af place names makes the Germanic origin by far the mare prabable in this case. The name Madina belanging to' five settlements in the small Basque prDvince af Guipuzcaa must be remO'ved, Dn similar graunds, fram the list af Arabic place names prepared by Asin Palacias. Distributian maps of place names may disclase linguistic-histarical relatianships. A Partuguese study af the distributian af Aldeia ShDWSit accurring chiefly in nDrthern Partugal, but south af the Daura, indicating that the ward, which has came to' mean 'village' in Ramance languages, was used early in the pastreconquest periad, when many small settlement units came intO' existence in that area. Evidently a geagrapher wishing to' understand the marphagenesis af cultural landscapes shauld nat neglect the farm and distributian of place names. As a crude measure af the imprint af suc-