Chapter 12 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

Outaïa a dâr is, similarly, twelve hours of water. (44)
The term expressing the standard unit of water measure in most of the kingdom of Valencia -- the fila
or hilo, "thread," of water -- has proven enigmatic to generations of scholars: they have neither
understood the rationale of the measurement nor [227] have they explained what a "thread" has to do
with water. The term "thread of water" was known in Andalusí Arabic. In a document of 1223 (619 H.)
describing a water dispute between two towns near Morvedre, the measurement unit is the khait, or
thread. (45) The only other pre-modern source known to me that corroborates this usage is Pedro de
Alcalá's translation of kait min mi (thread of water) as corriente venaje de agua (source-current of
water). (46) A modern Arabic-French dictionary published in Algiers, and thus reflecting Magribi usage,
defines khait as "saignée a un canal d'irrigation, rigole d'arrosement" (47) that is, not a measure, but the
ditch itself. This usage corresponds to an alternative use of fila in Valencia with the meaning of ditch or
canal, synonymous with cequia but perhaps connoting a smaller channel.
There is another example of the same term expressing both a liquid measure and a channel. In
thirteenth-century Murcia arrova, usually a liquid measure (of olive oil, for example) also had the sense
of a channel. Alfonso X of Castile ordered the sobrecequiero of Orihuela to look to the cleaning of the
cequias, filas, arnouas, and azarbes. (48)
The medieval documentation, especially that of Castellón, provides numerous examples of important
canals called filas: for example, "la fila dels dos hulls," the "files de la doberia" (that is, adobenia,
tannery), and "les files de Na Orellana." (49) That the Arabic equivalent khait was used in the same way
is clear from two toponyms previously misunderstood. In the town limits of Alberic there is a canal
named Alfait with its origin in the same springs that give rise to the Riu dels Ulls. (50) Miguel Asín
Palacios derived Alfait from al-faid, "stream," from the verb "to overflow," so called because the head
is augmented in times when run-off water infiltrates into it. (51) In view of the literalism displayed by
medieval Spaniards -- Arabs and Christians alike -- in irrigation terminology, it is much simpler to
derive Alfait from al-khait, "thread" (in the sense of fila, "ditch"). (52) Naming a canal "The Canal" was
by no means uncommon in the Valencian region. (53) An analogous development is the name of
Faitanar, one of the main canals of the Valencian huerta; it is quite clearly [228] derivable from Arabic,
khait al-nahr ("thread of the river" in the sense of a canal diverted from the river), in spite of contrived
efforts to find a Romance derivation for it. (54)
Several passages of the Repartimiento of Murcia allude to "irrigation of alfayt" (that is, "riego de
çequia et dalffayat, se reguen dalfayt" (55) ). The editor, possibly following Asín in associating alfayt
with al-faid, understands the term to be flood irrigation (crecida). (56) For reasons already indicated, a
derivation from faid is much less likely than from khait; therefore "riego de equia et dalffayat" most
likely means, simply, irrigation from a large channel and a smaller, secondary one.
HYDRAULIC PLACE NAMES IN VALENCIA AND MURCIA
Many of the arabisms discussed above also appear in place names. I shall not attempt to present a
complete description of all toponyms having to do with irrigation; enumeration here is limited largely
to arabisms as names of hydraulic appurtenances, such as canals and divisors, in order to give a graphic
illustration of the Islamic imprint on irrigation.
Of the main canals of the huerta of Valencia two, in addition to Faitanar, are named with arabisms
bearing hydraulic allusions. The Favara Canal derives its name from al-fawwâra, "spring." Nicolau
Primitiu, basing his argument on a single variant, Alfara (which he believes is a shortened form of
Alfafar) posits a Germanic derivation. (57)