Expert: Maria - 5/24/2006

Question
I am looking for a translation of the word "corunna" from Galicia, Spain (from midevil days). NW corner of Spain. I have found that 'coru' in latin is part of 'decorus'/beautiful.

Answer
Hello,

The English name “Corunna”, A Coruña in Galician, La Coruña in Spanish, the province and city of northwest Spain on the Atlantic Ocean in Galicia, where there is an ancient Roman lighthouse(second century AD) called the Roman Tower of Hercules, does not have a Latin origin.

It seems in fact that this name derives from the ancient Greek term “kranion” meaning ‘skull’, ‘cranium’, as there is a legend which suggests that the Greek hero Herakles (Hercules in Latin) constructed the lighthouse on  the cranium and weapons of his enemy, the giant Gerion, whom he had defeated after three days and three nights of uninterrupted battle.

With regard of  ‘corus’ as a part of the adjective ‘decorus’, I must tell you that  we cannot separe ‘corus’ from ‘de-‘, because ‘decorus’ cannot be divided.
In Latin there is however another adjective “caurus “, also written ‘corus’ which means ‘mistral’, i.e. the  dry cold northwest wind that blows in squalls toward the Mediterranean coast of southern France and Italy.
Anyway it seems that this etymology for Corunna is not reliable just because this wind  belongs to the Mediterranean area, not to the Atlantic one.

Hope this helps.
Best,
Maria