A Virxe do Mar, patroa de Cedeira por mor dun erro lingüístico

Zusammenfassung

Interestingly enough, the amy town in Galicia where Our Lady of the Sea (Virgen del Mar) is venerated as its patron saint is Cedeira, which contrasts with most of our fishing villages, in which the patroness rather corresponds to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose devotion extended in Galicia especially in the 18th century, after the Carmelite Order settled in Padrón. However, it should be mentioned that Our Lady of the Sea is the patron saint of Cedeira due to an error occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries: the expression del Mar or do Mar ('of the Sea') was interpreted as an advocation, but in fact it was a mere locative complement, as it still is today, for example, in other toponymic names (such as Santillana del Mar, San Vicente do Mar, Santo Domingo do Mar, San Pol de Mar, etc. and, in the very same Cedeira , Santallamar). The denomination of the parish of Cedeira as Santa Maria Mar or de Mar appeared as early as the 12th century (i.e., when the name Virgen del Mar had not yet emerged, in Galician, Virxe do Mar). However, the name can be traced back to me 10th century with reference to a different place. As it is shown in this paper, de Mar, equivalent to 'from by the sea', is a purely locative expression -without becoming properly a place name-, parallel to the complement mat appears, for example, in San Andres de Lonxe. Santa Maria de todo o mundo, San Roque do Camiño, etc. In short, the true patron saint of Cedeira was the Assumption, at least until 1917, when the old parish image was replaced by the current one, in which Our Lady appears on a wave saving a shipwrecked man: this explains why the festivities of the patron saint continue to be held around August 15th.