Onomástica de los neños abandonaos n’AsturiesUna muestra del sieglu XVIII

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show the naming system for abandoned children or «foundlings» in Asturies. These children’s special social situation and origin, frequently dark and illegitimate, results in particular names that are collected in the Libros de los Expósitos of the Real Hospiciu (Royal Hospice) of Uviéu, the institution responsible for taking care of and raising foundlings since 1752. The reference taken for this study is a sample of children abandoned between the end of 1784 and the end of 1786, included in the Libro de los Expósitos (volume 15, pressmark 14012), which is kept in the Archivu Históricu (Historical Archive) of Asturies. On the one hand, a typological analysis of the anthroponymic chains which identify foundlings is carried out, according to their syntactic and morphological structure, as well as the possible motivations for the names. On the other hand, a brief characterization of linguistic variation in the Libro de los Expósitos is presented, paying special attention to the contact between the Asturian and Spanish languages.