The separatists lie: Galicia's toponyms in Spanish are not illegal

In Galicia, we have been suffering for many years from a systematic disinformation campaign by separatists regarding toponymy.

The PP and the 'Andalusian speech': what will come next in light of what it did in Galicia
La Libertad derrota a la ingeniería social: el español ya es la lengua más hablada en Galicia

The BNG believes that two Navy ships have illegal names

This Wednesday, the newspaper La Razón published the latest example of this disinformation campaign: BNG separatists demand that the Navy change the names of two ships because they do not match the official toponymy of Galicia, since the current law excludes historical place names in Spanish. These three vessels are the tugboat "La Graña" A-53, based in Cádiz, and the training sailboat "Arosa" A-72, based in Marín. In addition, the BNG also wants to change the name of a patrol boat of the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard, the patrol boat M-51 "Río Jallas".

The most ridiculous thing is that the BNG claims that the Galician forms of place names are "the only legal ones for all purposes." That is, using place names in Spanish would be "illegal," as this far-left separatist coalition has already claimed on occasion.

Galician place names in Spanish are not illegal

I've said this many times, and I'll repeat it today: the law can only determine official place names, but using place names in any other language is completely legal. Proof of this is what the BNG itself does, as the website Puente de Mando pointed out yesterday: the separatist party always refers to Galicia as "Galiza", which is not the official name of this community. However, no one from the BNG has ever admitted to committing an illegality by doing so.

Don't listen to these liars: It is completely legal to write Galician place names in Spanish and any other language other than Galician. For example, this is what the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts of the Royal Spanish Academy explains about the place name "La Coruña":

Traditional name in the Castilian language of the province and city of Galicia whose name in Galician is A Coruña. Except in official texts, where it is mandatory to use the Galician toponym as the only official name approved by the Spanish Parliament, in texts written in Castilian, the Castilian toponym must be used. The demonym is coruñés.

State vessels may bear these names for historical reasons

Is the name of a Navy or Civil Guard ship an official text that must adhere to that criterion? Clearly not. The fact that they are ships owned by the State does not mean that their names are official documents, since these names usually respond to historical reasons. This is the reason, for example, why an Army logistics vessel, operated by the Navy, is called "Ysabel" A-06, instead of "Isabel", since at the time it was the name used by that queen.

Similarly, the State could have ships with Latin names like "Hispania" or "Gallaecia" without violating any law, even if those place names do not coincide with the official forms used for Spain and Galicia. It goes without saying that if it is legal to assign a Latin name to a ship, it would also be legal to assign it a historical name in Spanish, which is the official language of Spain.

Toponyms in Spanish are not 'distorted'

In its eagerness to banish Spanish from Galicia, the BNG refers to Spanish place names as "distorted toponyms", as if those of us who have been using them for hundreds of years suffered from some kind of problem that must be cured by law. Here, those who suffer from a distortion of democratic principles are those of the BNG, admirers of dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela. These Spanish toponyms are part of Galicia's intangible heritage, just like the Galician place names. In fact, in some cases, the Spanish forms are older than the current forms in normative Galician, as is the case with "Bayona" or "Finisterre."

Let's also remember that from the Middle Ages until the time of Rosalía de Castro, Galician used the letter Y. The fact that current standard Galician has dispensed with it doesn't mean that everything written in that language for centuries should be erased. Similarly, what millions of Galicians have written in Spanish throughout our history shouldn't be simply erased, treating those Galicians as foreigners in their own land. Of course, knowing the BNG fanatics, who go all out like the girl in "The Exorcist" when they see something written in Spanish, I can see them capable of doing that and even worse.

---

Photo: Bloque Nacionalista Galego.