ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1193
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1193
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24 Aug 1998
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for information about the 15th or 16th century Spanish surname
<de la Vega>.  Here is what we have found.

The name <de la Vega> means "of the meadow", and was originally used for
people who lived in or near a meadow.  The similar <Vega> and <de Vega>
appeared much earlier, either with the same sense, or meaning "from a place
called Vega".  All three forms were in use in your period.

We also found the forms <de Bega> and <de la Bega> in the mid-16th century
[1]; the letters <B> and <V> are used interchangably in many late-period
records, probably reflecting the emergence of the modern Spanish
practice of using the same pronunciation for these two letters.

Here are some examples we found:

  Johan de Vega, 12th C Castilla [2]
  
  Pedro Vega 1239 [3]
  
  Examples from 1477-1504 [4]
    Diego de Vega
    Fernando de la Vega
    Garcia de la Vega
    Garc,ilaso de la Vega (c, is a c-cedilla)
    Juan de la Vega
    Juan de Vega
    Juan Peres de la Vega
    Pedro de la Vega
    Pero Dias de la Vega
    Ruy Peres de la Vega
    Toribio de la Vega 
  
  Garcia de la Vega 1511 [1]

  Examples from 1535-1538 [1]
    Alonso de Vega
    Antonio de Vega
    Catalina Gomez de la Vega
    Damia/n de Vega (Antonio's father)
    Diego de Vega (Alonso's father)
    Francisco de Vega 
    Gaspar de la Vega
    Jero/nimo de Vega
    Juan de la Vega (Gaspar's father)
    Mari/a de la Vega (Jeronimo's mother)
    Alonso de Bega
    Ana de la Vega (Francisco's mother)
    Antonio de la Bega
    Francisco Laso de la Vega
    Gutierre de la Bega (Antonio's father)
    Gutierre Laso de la Vega (Franciso's father)

The slash in some names indicates an accent over the preceding letter.
These may be modern editorial additions; they certainly were not used
consistently in period. 
  

I hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was assisted in
researching and writing this letter by Elsbeth Anne Roth, Talan Gwynek,
Pedro de Alcazar, and Juliana de Luna.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  24 Aug 1998


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References

[1] Romera Iruela, Luis, and Ma. del Carmen Galbis Di/ez, _Catalogo de
Pasajeros a Indias, Siglos XVI, XVII, y XVIII_ (Sevilla: Archivo General de
Insias, 1980), volumes I to III.

[2] Menedez-Pidal, Ramon, _Crestomati'a del Espan~ol Medieval_ (Madrid:
1971).

[3] Diez Melcon, R. P. Gonzalo, _Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses: Siglos
IX-XIII, ambos inclusive_ (Universidad de Granada, 1957). 

[4] De La Torre, Antonio and E. A. de la Torre, eds., _Cuentas de Gonzalo
de Baeza Tesorero de Isabel la Cato'lica_ (Madrid: Biblioteca "Reyes
Cato'licos", 1956).  

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