Cedeira
municipality of Galicia, Spain
Cedeira is a municipality in the province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. It is situated in the northern coast of the Rías Altas. Cedeira has a population of 6,626 inhabitants (INE, 2022).
Etymology
All scholars agree that the place name Cedeira derives from a pre-existing Latin word cetaria, which alludes to marine fish.
As no coinciding words seem to exist in the traditional lexical heritage of Galicia nor does it seem to have ever existed as a common name in the Gallaecian language, the toponym is most likely from the Roman period. However, the hypothesis that the name and the town of Cedeira have Roman origins cannot be confirmed categorically, owing to lack of historical documentation.
The question is, does 'Cedeira' derive from a classical Latin noun or a later vulgar homonym of the late Empire. The first possibility is that it derives from the substantive neuter plural of classical Latin, which, like the feminine cetariae, meant 'ponds or nurseries where large fish are raised'. The more credible alternative is that it comes from a late Latin feminine adjective cetaria, formed from cetus – whale or large fish – + arius, which combined would mean "petaining to whales or large fish", because of the abundance of Galician names that contain the suffix -eiro or -eira come normally from adjectives.
The oldest documented mention of the place appears in a document from 868, which reads:
In Era DCCCLXVIII ...
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Cedeira” as municipality of Galicia, Spain. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as municipality of Galicia, Spain. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1113395. VIAF identifies the subject as 316732830. Authority coordinates are 43.650, -8.050. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Cedeira”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Cedeira primary sources, Cedeira archive and Cedeira research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cedeira”?
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- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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This entry incorporates text from “Cedeira” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.