The Place Names of Alpuente and Its Villages
13 Sept 2026 · 09:14
Toponymy is the branch of linguistics that studies the origin, meaning, and evolution of place names. As Abel Soler tells us in his book Els Noms dels Pobles Valencians. Origen i Significat, naming is a sacred act, as a name endows a living being with an intrinsic identity. But it is also an instrument of colonization, displacement, and superposition that has been used for centuries and allows us to reconstruct the history of towns and their inhabitants.
Toponymy has been generated for different purposes: for example, to celebrate the bravery of the victors, as in the case of the Roman Valentia, or to promise freedoms and franchises, as in the case of Vilafranca.
Let us discover the specific origin and meaning of the place names in our municipality:
Alpuente: Called madina of al-Bunt from approximately 1160, and Hispanicized as Alpuente from the second half of the 18th century, the origin of the name could refer to a supposed drawbridge that connected the impregnable fortress.
La Almeza: From the Arabic al-maysa, in Spanish almeza, the fruit of the hackberry tree (Celtis australis).
Baldovar: From the Arabic Balad al-Uwwal, "the first village," reduced to Balduwwal and reinterpreted as Valdoval by analogy with the Aragonese term val ("valley"). It is the first village after Alpuente.
Campo de Abajo: Both in Romance-Andalusi and Aragonese, "campo" refers to land dedicated to crop cultivation.
Campo de Arriba: As in the case of Campo de Abajo, it refers to the cereal-growing tradition and economy of the place.
El Collado: Its name derives from the presence of a mountain pass (collado) between the village and Losilla, through which an Andalusi route first ran, followed later by a royal road.
Corcolilla: A name derived from the Latin quercus ("holm oak"), which through various linguistic adaptations has been standardized into the current place name.
La Cuevarruz: It derives from Vulgar Latin and Romance-Andalusi cova, and the Amazigh asrrus ("cellar, warehouse"), as there was a cavity in the place where wheat and other provisions were stored.
Las Eras (o Las Eras del Obispo Hernández): It owes its name to the man who was first Bishop of Badajoz and later of Segorbe, the illustrious Bishop Hernández, although it is currently known simply as Las Eras.
El Hontanar: It owes its name to the abundant springs in the area: from the Latin fontana aqua ("fountain water") and the Late Latin fontanare ("fountain area"). Subsequently, the aspirated initial f gave rise to the Hispanicized form hontanar.
A journey through our words
Every corner of Alpuente and its villages holds in its very name the footprint of the cultures that have populated these lands over the centuries: Iberians, Romans, Arabs, and Aragonese. Knowing the local toponymy not only helps us understand our map, but invites us to look at the landscape with new eyes, discovering the living history hidden in every spring, every cave, and every path.