Don Pablo remains fascinated by language and its origins and the way it links together and develops. Lately he’s been wondering about the name for the area where he has lived for the last dozen years: Serranía. Here’s what he found…
Una Serranía is a mountainous area of land incorporating several towns and villages, eg la Serranía de Ronda, the region where I live. La Serranía de Ronda comprises 23 municipios, from Ronda, the largest, to Atajate, the smallest.
Sierra, from the same Latin root serra, is a mountain range, eg Sierra de Grazalema, Sierra de las Nieves, Sierra Nevada (Granada).
It’s also, of course, a saw, presumably because a saw’s cutting edge looks like a range of mountains. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Does anybody out there know? Please get in touch if you have any information by using the comments section at the bottom of this article.
Back to sierra meaning saw. Examples include sierra eléctrica, sierra para metales, motosierra, sierra circular.
Sierra is also the name of an outdoor clothing shop, a TV station and a gaming outlet.
Serrano is the adjective pertaining to sierra, as in jamón serrano, pez serrano or indeed an inhabitant of a Serranía.
Un serranito is a Ronda tapa invented 30 years ago by Benito González, a former bar-owner in the Barrio San Francisco in Ronda. You can read more about this tapa by clicking here.
And if you haven’t tried one, I recommend you do so. I particularly like the serranitos at Bodega San Francisco and Café-Bar Berlanga, both in Ronda, Bar La Melli and Restaurante Entre Ascuas in Montejaque, Bar La Esquina in Estación de Benaoján and Bar El Chozo in Arriate. ¡Buen provecho!
See you again soon with more musings on the origins of words. Hasta luego.
***
Tags: Atajate, Bar El Chozo, Bar La Esquina, Bar La Melli, benaoján, Bodega San Francisco, Café-Bar Berlanga, latín, montejaque, mountain, ronda, saw, serrania de ronda, serranito, serrano, sierra, Sierra de Grazalema, sierra de las nieves