Historians and linguists have long debated the origins of the name Catalonia. Unlike many ancient European regions, documented evidence appears surprisingly late. There is no mention by the Greeks or Romans. Instead, the first written records emerge in the early 12th century, between 1110 and 1115.
According to the renowned etymologist Joan Coromines, particularly in his work Onomasticon Cataloniae, the terms Catalania, Catalanicus, and Catalaniensis first surfaced in Italian texts. Subsequently, they became generalised across Christian Europe by the mid-12th century.
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Home » Origins of the Name Catalonia: From Goths to Lacetani
But what is the root of these words? Over the years, numerous theories have been proposed, ranging from the legendary to the linguistic. Here, we examine the most prominent explanations and why experts like Coromines largely dismiss them.
The Myth of Gotholandia
One of the oldest theories suggests that ‘Catalonia’ derives from Gotholandia, meaning ‘land of the Goths’. While romantically appealing, Coromines considers this explanation a pure invention. Linguistically, the transformation from the ending -andia to -unya is highly irregular.
Furthermore, for this theory to hold, the name would likely have originated in France. It would have passed into Arabic and then back into Romance languages. However, Coromines argues this path is ‘contradicted roundly by the fact that the Moors never used a similar name’.
The People of the Castles
A second, widely cited theory links the name to castellani, or ‘people of the castles’. Given the region’s numerous fortifications against Saracen incursions, this seems logical. Proponents suggest castellani evolved into catlans and finally catalans.
However, phonetics presents a significant obstacle. While the term catlà (castellan) existed in Old Catalan, it is etymologically unusual for an ‘a’ to insert between the ‘t’ and ‘l’. Typically, the phonetic group -tl- evolves differently in Catalan, often merging into a geminated ‘l’ sound, but never splitting with a vowel.
The Lacetani Theory
The theory that Coromines lends the most weight to involves the Lacetani, an ancient Iberian tribe. They inhabited the central and eastern parts of modern Catalonia. Coromines proposes that Italians, observing the rise of this ‘young and ambitious nation’ in the 12th century, reached for a classical name to describe them.
He suggests that Lacetani was resurrected but altered through a ‘lapse of tongue or pen’. This metathesis, commonly found in semi-erudite revivals, transformed it into Catelani or Catalani.
“The Italians needed a very clear name to distinguish this new star that was rising… cultured Italians remembered that that part of Hispania was inhabited by the Lacetani.”
Joan Coromines
Historical evidence supports the idea that the name originally referred to a specific sub-region. Chronicles from around 1182 list invaders of Aquitaine as including ‘Aragonese’, ‘Navarrese’, and ‘Catalans’. Crucially, they also list people from Pallars and Roussillon separately. This implies that ‘Catalan’ initially referred only to the territory of the ancient Lacetani, before expanding to cover the entire nation.
Legends and Objections
Other theories have been floated, including a derivation from the Celtic tribe Catalauni in France, or a legendary German prince named Otger Cathaló. The latter, a tale involving nine barons and a castle in Guyenne, is widely regarded by historians as a fable.
Even the Lacetani theory faces criticism. The Diccionari català-valencià-balear (Alcover-Moll) notes that such a ‘violent metathesis’ would typically result in a voicing of the ‘t’. This would lead to cadalà rather than català. Nevertheless, in the absence of a definitive document, Coromines’ explanation of an Italian scribal shift remains one of the most compelling solutions.
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