The literary origin of the name A Coruña

Abstract

The current name of the city was born in 1208 to replace the name Faro, which in turn had replaced the ancient name Brigantium. The medieval institutionalization of the new name was an administrative act of King Afonso IX coinciding with the granting of a letter of settlement to residents of Faro modeled on that granted by his father Fernando II to Benavente (Zamora), a model applied in other royal villas of the kingdoms of Galice and Leon, sometimes changing the placename. When this change occurs, the motivations that cause monarchs to choose new names are not arbitrary, but respond to defined criteria, guided by a will of augury or prestige. Accordingly, we defend that the name that starts recorded in latin as Cruniain 1208 is a name of literary origin, taken from a placename that appears in the Historia Turpini, also known as Historia Karoli Magni et Rotholandi or Pseudo Turpin, the book IV of Codex Calixtinus.

Keywords

• A Coruña
• Faro
• Brigantium
• Viana
• Pseudo Turpin
• change of placenames
• Carolingian legends