About toponymic of Andujar

Andújar   ’Andūšar   Andura

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Andujar, the 'Andūšar Arab, the pre-Roman Andura. Toponymic of Iberian origin meaning "abundance of water". Obvious characteristic of this place, because rivers like the Guadalquivir, the Jandula and the Mares, streams such as Mestanza, Martin Gordo, Malillo, Escobar, Minguillos, Salado, etc., generously water this land.

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Andura, located on the upper course of the Guadalquivir, was under the influence of Ipolka, capital of the turdulos, known under Roman rule as Obulco (Porcuna). Area of ​​tartesica influence that reaches great economic and cultural development from the middle of the 7th century to the beginning of the 6th century b. C. The area of ​​Andura, located north of Ipolka, would be part of the economic reality of the aforementioned oppidum, which would exploit both its mining resources in the Sierra and the agricultural lands of the fertile plain.

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The archaeological study of Antonio Ruiz Parrondo in 2003, confirms the existence of a Bronze settlement on the hill of Santiago, although its temporal sequence does not exceed the bronze, its finding is of great importance, because it reveals the existence of human presence in the current Andujar. Presence that is more stable in the area between the Jandula reservoir and El Encinarejo, as a consequence of its mining deposits. Possibly, it is at this moment when the toponymic Andura is coined, persisting since then through time to the present day.

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The word "andura" consists of the prefix, and_, and of the root uhar, which means respectively, abundance and water. Prefix that we find not only in the Iberian world, but also in the Celtic. Diefenbach (1), says about it: And -, is a prefix of many names of peoples in Gaul, Spain and Eastern Europe. Zeuss, in his Monumental Celtic Grammar, includes among the separables that are observed in the ancient Gallic names the prefix and-- (2).

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Prefix, therefore, frequent in pre-Roman languages, serve as an example that in Basque there are terms such as: andura, yezgo; anda, riachuelo; andaza, (3) etc., and in the Aquitaine area we find the toponym "Anduza", a French town about fifty kilometers from Montpelier, which must be included within the cultural sphere of Iberianism.

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Everything seems to indicate that the toponymic Andura persisted as such under Roman domination, and this, despite, the intense Romanization that these lands suffered from the second century before Christ. Strabo will say about the Turdetans: "they have acquired the way of life typical of the Romans to the point of having already forgotten their own language" (3). In the time of Augustus, the process was largely completed, not admitting, for example, bilingualism in the minting of coins.

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Place name that we know, precisely, by a Roman inscription, to which Juan Agustin Cean Bermudez makes reference in his work Summary of the Roman antiquities that there is in Spain. In her it collects the term andurensis, gentile of Andura, and says thus:

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"Andujar, city of the kingdom and the province of Jaen and head of the party. It is located on a hill above the Guadalquivir, and five leagues distant at noon from the capital. Some modern geographers claim that it was called Iliturgi because the population of the ancient Iliturgi of the region of the túrdulos moved to this city; but it is conserved in a corner of the square of the Victory of Torre Jimeno this inscription:

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D. M. S.

LAELIVS EPAPHRO

DITVS. ANDVRENSIS

ANN XXII

PIVS. IN. SVIS. H. S. E.

S. T. T. L. (5) "

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Cean Bermudez (6) locates in the current municipality of Andujar three Roman cities: Andura, Iliturgi and Ipasturgi. Andura located in the current Andujar; Iliturgi in Santa Potenciana, next to the current Villanueva de la Reina, and Ipasturgi (7) in Villares. This cluster of nonsense is due to the fact that Cean Bermudez maintains a continuist line with the thesis defended in the 17th century by Martín Jimena Jurado (8) and the abbe José de Hierro. A position that would be refuted by Carlos de Torres Laguna, although he will not be able to admit that in Los Villares Isturgi and Iliturgi is located in Mengibar. On the other hand, Torres Laguna describes the aforementioned inscription, "apocryphal" (9), and states that it came from the convent of Jesus Maria de Andujar, although it is unable to reveal the reasons why the inscription ends in the town of Torredonjimeno ( 10).

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The gentile andurensis is picked up by Enst Hübner (11), in the following terms: "Andurensis, of the Bética", admitting the Latin existence of the term although without revealing more information to us. We understand, therefore, that the gentile andurenses, is typical of Andura, and that we identify with the current term of the city of Andujar, but not with any specific Roman urban settlement. Probably because it was, in the best of cases, a simple farmhouse, which in the future would generate the current city.

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Andura, with the Arab domination, becomes' Andūšar, of which there is documentary evidence as an urban nucleus. From 'Andūšar it is passed to Andújar, after the taking of the town by Fernando III, the Saint, in 1225. The final Šīn of the Arabic word (ش), is equivalent to the sound of the French Ch (its transcription is š) and it will be represented in castillan, in the first moments, with its phonetic equivalence, "x", a script that is still observed in seventeenth-century texts, serve as an example Martin Jimena Jurado, although, we must specify, that since the thirteenth century, we find the toponymic Andujar with the current spelling, that is, with "J". Example of it, we found it in the letter of terms, granted by the king Fernando III, the Saint, to the Council of Andujar, in Ubeda in the year of 1270. (12)

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 To finish this approach to the toponymic of Andujar we will turn to Alvaro Galmes de Fuentes, who states in this regard:

"The name of Andujar (Estrada, II, 157 (13)) is undoubtedly pre-Roman. In an inscription found between Martos and Torredonjimeno. It reads the ethnic Andur®ensis, which presupposes an Andura, and which is also at the base of Andorra, Col d''Andorre (Argeles). However, Andújar seems better related to the Narbolense Anduze (Gard), derived from the Celtic name A n d u s + the Latin suffix -u t i a. In the case of Andújar, it would be the same proper name plus a Latin-a-r utous suffix (guácharo de guacha, cascara de casca, and in the toponym Bracara> Bragua, Braga, Naiara> Najera). The base, then, of our place name would be A n d u s a r o, with Mozarabic loss of the final -o, and for the step s> j compare s a p o n e> ​​jabon (soap), s u c o> jugo (juice), p a s s e r> pájaro (bird), i s e r e r e> injerir (to ingest), and in toponymy , S e a t a b i s> Jativa, S a r a m b a> Jarama, etc. The Arabic form of our place name is 'andūšar'. (14)

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 Para terminar esta aproximación al toponímico de Andújar vamos a recurrir a Álvaro Galmés de Fuentes, quién afirma al respecto:

“El nombre de Andújar (Estrada, II, 157 (13)) es, sin duda, prerromano. En una inscripción hallada entre Martos y Torredonjimeno. Se lee el étnico Andur®ensis, que presupone un Andura, y que también está en la base de Andorra, Col d¨Andorre (Argelés). Sin embargo, Andújar parece mejor emparentado con el narbolense Anduze (Gard), derivado del nombre celta A n d u s + el sufijo latino –u t i a. En el caso de Andújar, sería el mismo nombre propio más un sufijo átono latino-a r u (guácharo de guacha, cáscara de casca, y en topónimo Bracara > Bragua, Braga, Naiara > Nájera). La base, pues, de nuestro topónimo sería A n d ú s a r o, con pérdida mozárabe de la –o final, y para el paso s>j compárese s a p o n e>jabón, s u c o> jugo, p a s s e r > pájaro, i s e r e r e>injerir, y en toponimia, S e a t a b i s > Játiva,  S a r a m b a >Jarama, etc. La forma árabe de nuestro topónimo es ‘andūšar”. (14)

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On the origin of the city of Andujar

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We have commented previously that of the Roman Andura, we do not have physical constancy of its existence. Andura is, at the moment, an unknown. We are of the opinion that Andura was, at first, a place name that alludes to a place and not to an urban nucleus. The construction of the bridge at the end of the II century of our era, in times of Severe Seventh, would be more than enough claim for generate in its vicinity, a stable settlement, although this was of little importance. The economic possibilities that the bridge generated, transit of people and merchandise, make us think so.

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This arcade, under the shadow of the Roman Isturgi, would adopt the name of the pre-Roman toponym, Andura. We know nothing of that original settlement, because its beginnings were accompanied by anonymity and lack of written references, until that very moment in which the aforementioned Epaphroditus, andurensis, had the honor of having passed into the collective memory, as the first andujareño known documentarily.

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Of that Andura we do not have more vestiges, the future will say about it the last word, but meanwhile, by way of hypothesis, we handle this possibility on the origin of Andujar, which would go back to the third century of our era. For centuries Isturgi and Andura would coexist, this last one without exceeding the humility of its origin, although projecting itself with a determined step from the VIII century of our era, a moment that coincides with the total decline of Isturgi. It is the moment in which old Andujar, Isturgi, leaves the leading role to the new Andujar, 'Andūšar.

 

The only historical certainty we have about Andujar, goes back to the historical period of Al Andalus, specifically  the final stretch of the independent emirate. The first Muslim date on Andújar goes back to the time of the emir Muhammad I (852-886), and it is from the year 854.

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In that year the emir Muhammad sent against [el vale de] Jandula to Qāsim b. al-Abbās and Tammān b. Abī Attāf, chief of the cavalry, and with them the Hasans. When stopping in Andūŷar, the ambushes of Toledo set out against them, fighting the battle and the slaughter grew. Qāsim and Tammān were defeated and reached everything in the camp. On this says Safwān b. al-Abbās

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He threw himself al-Qāsim one day

A fart in the caramida

They died for it how many fish

There was in the Atlantic

This defeat took place in šwwāl / March 5-April 2, 854. (15)

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Some time later, the emir Άbd Allăh (888-912) orders the governor of the cora of Jaen, 'Ubayd Allāh b. Muhammad b. al-Gumar b. Abī Άbda, reinforce the wall, and concentrate the population within it, as a consequence of the attacks suffered by the peasants of the countryside by the Levantisca Hispano-Arab nobility.

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At the present time, the most generalized opinion is that the start of the current Andújar is in 888, serve as an example of this, the reflection that is done about it in Jaen, Towns and Cities:

"It is possible that it is now when the development of the current Andujar begins. Until that moment it had been one of the many peasant villages that dotted the rich lands of the Guadalquivir. But from that moment it becomes one of the main localities in the area. " (16)

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1. Quoted by CAMPIÓN, Arturo. On the names of ancient Baskonia. Revista internacional de los estudios vascos. P. 301

2.  Authors cited by, CAMPIÓN, Arturo. On the names of ancient Baskonia. Revista internacional de los estudios vascos. P. 301.

3.  CAMPION, Arturo. On the names of ancient Baskonia Revista internacional de los estudios vascos. P. 300.

4.  Quoted by Antonio García Bellido, La latinización de Hispania, Archivo Español de Arqueología, 40 / 115-116, 1967, p.8.

5.  Quoted by Carlos de Torres Laguna, Historia de la ciudad de Andújar y de su patrona la Virgen de la Cabezada Sierra Morena. Andujar, Editorial La Puritana, 1954, pp.120 and 121.

6.  Quoted by Carlos de Torres Laguna, Historia de la ciudad de Andújar y de su patrona la Virgen de la Cabezada Sierra Morena. Andujar, Editorial La Puritana, 1954, pp.120-124.

7.  Ispaturgi, founded by inhabitants of the ancient Arsa in the year 500 of our era. It is located in the municipality of Campillo de Llerena, province of Badajoz.

8.  Martin de Jimena Jurado, quotes the aforementioned inscription in his work: Historia Eclesiástica de la Diócesis de Jaén, and places, wrongly, Iliturgi in Santa Potenciana.

9.  Carlos of Torres Laguna. O.c., p. 124

10.  Currently this registration is not in the referred location, nor is there any record of it.

11.  HÜBNER, E. Monumenta Linguae Ibericae. Reimer, Berlin, 1893, p. 245

12.  Municipal Historic Archive of Andújar

13.  ESTRADA, Juan Antonio from. Población General de España, Historia Chronológis [sic], blasones y conquistas heroicas, descripciones agradables, grandezas notables, excelencias gloriosas y sucesos memorables. 3 Vols, Madrid, printing Mercurio, 1748.

14.  GALMES DE FUENTES, Alvaro. Los topónimos: sus blasones y trofeos (la Toponimia mítica). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 2000, p. 82

15.  Juan Antonio Souto, El emirato de Muhammad I en el Bayan al Magrib de Ibn Idarit, Anaquel de Estudios Árabes, VI (1995), pp. 213-214.

16.  JAÉN, PUEBLOS Y CIUDADES .Jaen, 1997, V I, p. 279