Galicians
Galicians are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct customs, culture, language, music, dance, sports, art, cuisine, and mythology. Galician, a Romance language derived from the Latin of ancient Roman Gallaecia, is their native language and a primary cultural expression. It shares a common origin with Portuguese, exhibiting 85% intelligibility, and similarities with other Iberian Romance languages like Asturian and Spanish. They are closely related to the Portuguese people. Two Romance languages are widely spoken and official in Galicia: the native Galician and Spanish.
Etymology
The ethnonym of the Galicians derives directly from the Latin Gallaeci or Callaeci, itself an adaptation of the name of a local Celtic tribe known to the Greeks as Καλλαϊκoί. They lived in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal and were defeated by the Roman General Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in the 2nd century BCE and later conquered by Augustus. The Romans later applied that name to all the people who shared the same culture and language in the north-west, from the Douro River valley in the south to the Cantabrian Sea in the north and west to the Navia River. That encompassed such tribes as the Celtici, the Artabri, the Lemavi and the Albiones.The oldest known inscription referring to the Gallaeci was found in 1981 in the Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, Turkey; a triumphal monument to Roman Emperor Augustus mentions them among other 15 nations that he conquered.
The etymology of the name has been studied since the 7th century by authors such as Isidore of Seville, who wrote, "Galicians are called so because of their fair skin, as the Gauls" and related the name to the Greek word for "milk," γάλα. However, modern scholars like J.J. Moralejo and Carlos Búa have derived the name of the ancient Callaeci either from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥‑n‑ 'hill', through a local relational suffix -aik-, also attested in Celtiberian language and so meaning 'the highlanders'; or else from Proto-Celtic *kallī- 'forest' and so means 'the forest '.
Another recent proposal comes from the linguist Francesco Benozzo, who is not specialized in Celtic languages and identified the root gall- / kall- in a number of Celtic words with the meaning "stone" or "rock", as follows: gall, gal, gailleichan, galagh and gall. Hence, Benozzo explains the name Callaecia and its ethnonym Callaeci as being "the stone people" or "the people of the stone", in reference to the ancient megaliths and stone formations that are so common in Galicia and Portugal. Specialists of the Celtic languages do not consider there is a hypothetical Gaulish root *gall meaning "stone" or "rock", but *galiā "strength", related to Old Irish gal "berserk rage, war fury", Welsh gallu and Breton galloud "power". It is distinct from Gaulish *calio- "hoof" or "testicle", related to Welsh caill, Breton kell "testicle", all from the Proto-Indo-European root *kal- "hard hardness". For instance, in Latin callum "hard or thick substance" is also found and so both E. Rivas and Juan J. Moralejo relate the toponym Gallaecia / Callaecia with the Latin word callus.
Languages
Galician
Galician is a Romance language belonging to the Western Ibero-Romance branch, deriving from Latin, and holds official status in Galicia. It is also spoken in bordering areas of Asturias and Castile and León.Medieval or Old Galician, known linguistically as Galician-Portuguese, evolved in the Northwest Iberian Peninsula from Vulgar Latin, becoming the written and spoken language of the medieval Galicia and Portugal. This language developed a notable literary tradition from the late 12th century and gradually replaced Latin in public and private documents in Galicia, Portugal, and neighboring regions.
From the 15th century, Galician-Portuguese diverged into Galician and Portuguese. Galician evolved primarily as a regional spoken language influenced by Castilian Spanish, while Portuguese became an international language. Despite this divergence, the two languages remain closely related, particularly northern Portuguese dialects and Galician. The Royal Galician Academy, the official regulatory institution for the Galician language, considers modern Galician an independent Ibero-Romance language closely related to Portuguese, particularly its northern dialects.
While Galician has official recognition, its socio-linguistic development faces the increasing influence of Spanish and a persistent linguistic erosion due to media and the legal imposition of Spanish in education.
Galicia also maintains a significant literary and oral tradition of songs, tales, and sayings, contributing to the spread and development of the Galician language, sharing commonalities with that of Portugal.
Surnames
Galician surnames, as is the case in most European cultures, can be divided into patronymic, occupational, toponymic or cognominal. The first group, patronymic includes many of the most frequent surnames and became fixed during the Low Middle Ages; it includes surnames derived from etyma formed with or without the additions of the patronymical suffixes -az, -ez, -iz: Alberte ; Afonso ; Anes, Oanes, Yanes ; Arias; Bernárdez ; Bermúdez ; Cristobo ; Diz ; Estévez ; Fernández; Fiz ; Froiz, Frois ; Giance ; González; Henríquez ; Martís ; Méndez ; Miguéns, Miguez ; Páez, Pais, Paz ; Ramírez; Reimúndez ; Rodríguez; Sánchez; Sueiro ; Tomé ; Viéitez, Vieites, among many others.Because of the settlement of Galician colonists in southern Spain during the Reconquista, some of the more frequent and distinctively Galician surnames also became popular in Spanish and were taken later into the Americas, as a consequence of the expansion of the Spanish empire:
| English name | Old Galician | Modern Galician | Spanish |
| John | Eanes | Anes, Oanes, Yanes | Yáñez, Ibáñez |
| Stephen | Esteuaes, Esteuaez, Esteueez | Estévez | Estévanez |
| - | Froes, Froez | Fróiz, Frois | Flores, Flórez |
| Julian | Giançe, Gianz, Gians | Giance | Juliánez |
| Ermengild | Meendez, Meendes | Méndez | Menéndez, Meléndez |
| Martin | Martiiz | Martíns, Martís | Martínez |
| Michael | Migueez | Miguéns, Míguez | Miguélez |
| Pelagius | Paaez, Paaz | Páes, Paiz, Paz | Peláez |
| - | Veasques, Vaasquez | Vázquez | Velázquez, Blázquez |
| Benedict | Beeytez, Beeytes | Viéitez, Vieites | Benítez |
File:Texto - Noia - Galiza.jpg|thumb|Mediaeval Galician inscription in a 14th-century house, in Noia: "ESTAS CASAS MANDOU FAZER VASCO DACOSTA, ERA DE MCCCLXXVII" These houses were ordered by Vasco Dacosta, era 1377
The largest surname group is the one derived from toponyms, which usually referred to the place of origin or residence of the bearer. These places can be European countries or nations ; Galician regions ; or cities, towns or villages, which gave origin to a few thousand surnames. Another related group is formed with the preposition de, usually contracted with the definite article as da or do, and a common appellative: Dacosta, "of the slope", Dopazo or Do Pazo ; Doval, "of the valley", Daponte, Davila, Daporta ; Dasilva, Dorrío, Datorre. Through rebracketing, some of these surnames gave origin to others such as Acosta or Acuña.
A few of these toponymic surnames can be considered nobiliary, as they first appear as the name of some Galician noble houses, later expanding when these nobles began to serve as officials of the Spanish Empire, in Spain or elsewhere, as a way of maintaining them both far from Galicia and useful to the Empire: Andrade, Mejía or Mexía, Saavedra, Soutomaior, Ulloa, Moscoso, Mariñas, Figueroa among others. Some of these families also served in Portugal, as the Andrade, Soutomaior or Lemos. As a result, these surnames are by now distributed all around the world.
File:Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen.jpg|thumb|Emilio Estévez and his father Martin Sheen
The third group of surnames are the occupational ones, derived from the job or legal status of the bearer: Ferreiro, Carpinteiro, Besteiro, Crego, Freire, Faraldo, Pintor, Pedreiro, Gaiteiro ; and also Cabaleiro, Escudeiro, Fidalgo, Juiz.
The fourth group includes the surnames derived from nicknames, which can have very diverse motivations:
a) External appearance, as eye colour, hair colour, complexion or other characteristics: Formoso, Tato, Forte, Calviño, Esquerdeiro.
b) Temperament and personality: Bonome, Bonhome, Fiúza, Guerreiro, Cordo.
c) Tree names: Carballo ; Amieiro, Ameneiro ; Freijo.
d) Animal names: Gerpe ; Falcón ; Baleato ; Gato ; Coello ; Aguia
e) Deeds: Romeu
Many Galician surnames have become Castilianized over the centuries, most notably after the forced submission of the Galician nobility obtained by the Catholic Monarchs in the last years of the 15th century. This reflected the gradual spread of the Spanish language through the cities, in Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, A Coruña, Vigo and Ferrol, in the last case due to the establishment of an important base of the Spanish navy there in the 18th century. For example, surnames like Orxás, Veiga, Outeiro, became Orjales, Vega, Otero. Toponyms like Ourense, A Coruña, Fisterra became Orense, La Coruña, Finisterre. In many cases this linguistic assimilation created confusion, for example Niño da Aguia was translated into Spanish as Niño de la Guía and Mesón do Bento was translated as Mesón del Viento.