Etymology
Numerous authors, including Isidore of Seville, Julio Caro Baroja, Aureliano Fernández Guerra, Joaquín González Echegaray, and Adolf Schulten, have explored the etymology of the name "Cantabria", yet its origins remain uncertain. It is generally accepted that the root cant- comes from Celtic for "rock" or "stone", while -abr was a common suffix used in Celtic regions. Thus, "Cantabrian" could mean "people who live in the rocks" or highlanders, a reference to the steep and mountainous territory of Cantabria.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)