Inici » Types of roads in Catalan: beyond common words

Types of roads in Catalan: beyond common words

by PREMIUM.CAT
hi ha un cotxe aparcat al carrer entre dos edificis amb balcons al damunt i un balcó al segon pis, Enguerrand Quarton, tone mapping, una pintura mat, incoherents

A variety of words to refer to roads

When it comes to mentioning the different types of roads in Catalan, it is common to use words such as carrer (‘street’), camí (‘path’), ronda, passatge (‘somewhat narrow street’) or avinguda (‘avenue’). These words are widely used in many populations to describe different types of roads. However, in some localities a specific word is used to designate a particular type of road, which is not found in other towns.

Example in Castelló de la Plana

Let’s take the municipality of Castelló de la Plana as an example. In this area, it is common to find many paths, which are called ‘paths’. However, to the west of the city, at the limits of the urbanized area, on both sides of the Jaume I University campus (known as the Riu-sec campus), there are roads that have a specific number: they are called ‘squares’ . These roads extend in a northeast to southwest direction, are parallel to each other (or a continuation of the other) and are currently relatively urbanized, with small isolated homes in mini-farms. Although they still preserve the structure of a road (except the square of Salera, which is already a completely urban street). Some examples of these roads are: the Borriolenc square, the Segona square, the Tercera square, the Quarta de Baix square, the Quarta de Dalt square, the Cubs square, the Saboner square, the Torta square and the salt shaker According to the Catalan-Valencian-Balearic Dictionary, in Castelló de la Plana, a quadra is a ‘Path that starts from a main path, in dry land’. On the other hand, the Valencian Normative Dictionary of the Valencian Language Academy indicates that a quadra was a path that led to an old allotment property.

Los Sedenys: a term with a mysterious origin

Not far from Castelló de la Plana is the city of Vila-real. In this town there are also numerous roads within its limits, which are called ‘camí’. However, they also have specific trails that are called ‘sedeny’. Some examples of these trails are: the Seedeny del Crist, the Seedeny del Carme, the First Seeny (del) Madrigal, the Segon Seeny (del) Madrigal, the Seeny Nou, the Seeny Pinella, the First Seeny (Solades), the Segon Sedeny (Solades), the third Seeny (Solades), the quart Seeny (Solades) and the Darrer Seeny. These roads are located to the south of the city, in an east-west direction, and are transversal to the important roads that leave the city to the south, so they are parallel to the Acequia Mayor and the Acequia de la Tanda. According to Joan Coromines, in his Dictionary of Etimològic and Complementary Catalan Languages, in the middle of the 20th century it was said ‘sereny’. However, the origin of this word remains a mystery, although several hypotheses have been raised in this regard.

In short, if you visit Castelló de la Plana or Vila-real, you may hear expressions like ‘passarem per esta quadra’ or ‘per este sedeny’. Don’t be surprised, since these words are used to refer to specific roads in these locations. In our next article, we will explore other towns and their particularities in terms of road naming.

You may also like

-
00:00
00:00
Update Required Flash plugin
-
00:00
00:00