Sobre el topónimo "Valdoviño"

Abstract

Contrary to what might seem obvious, the word "Valdoviño" does not come from the combination of the words making up the Galician phrase "val do viño", that is, 'wine valley'. It most certainly comes - despite being repeatedly stated - neither from "val do (río) Aviño", 'valley of the (non-existent) river Aviño', nor simply from "val d'Aviño", that is, 'valley of Aviño', considering the name of a neighbourhood of "Valdoviño", formerly parish, that merged with Santa Eulalia, and Atios, to form a larger area also called "Aviño" until the late seventeenth century. As shown in this paper, "Valdoviño", which was used since the late sixteenth century as a designation of the old parish of Santa Eulalia (which in contrast to Atios, did not border the sea), is actually the name of the owner of a farm who was called Baldovino, Baldoviño or Balduino. The name is made up of the German root balt- or bald' 'bold' and the Latin anthroponym "Albinus", which is well documented in medieval texts, This being so, the recent etymological proposal ascribing "Valdoviño" to the Scottish Gaelic "Beul Abhann Iù", 'river mouth', in reference to the lagoon of A Frouxeira, which could never be called "Valdoviño", is completely far-fetched.