The Town With Six Names

Toponymy is a top topic in Mallorca. Place names, for the most part, are place names and they tend not to change or to be open to change. They are also usually not a matter of controversy. In Mallorca, however, toponymy is a favoured topic of conversation among the political, the geographical and the linguistic classes. Occasionally, it spills over into general conversation, as with, for example, the debate as to a possible change of name for Magalluf or the quite absurd arguments as to whether Palma should have become Palma de Mallorca (which it now has). The politico-linguistic arguments are more usually confined to the use of Catalan or Castellano. Though the regional government appears to have quietly forgotten about its insistence on place names being in Castellano, one can't rule out the possibility that it might remember that it was going to insist on this, and so cause another wholly unnecessary row. Should, for instance, Pollença always be Pollensa and so in Castellano rather than Catalan? As if, quite honestly, it makes any difference.

There is one place name in Mallorca that inspires greater discussion, greater controversy and greater argument than any other. I say one place name, but there are at least six alternatives. The world, generally speaking, knows Porto Cristo as Porto Cristo - two words - but this would be far too simple. There is a strong lobby for it to be Portocristo, while it is also referred to as Porto-Cristo (hyphenated). The lesser claims are for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor and Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme, each of them with their own pedantic supporters who prefer relative toponymic antiquity over modernity.

To start at the beginning, the original name when the fishing village was founded over a century ago was Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. Cala Manacor, as a geographer at the university argues, is the "genuine" toponymic name for the simple reason that it was a "cala" in the municipality of Manacor. However, the same geographer points out that Port de Manacor is also a "genuine" name because this described (and still does) the urban centre (such as it would have been). All of which is very interesting but doesn't explain how Porto Cristo or Portocristo or even Porto-Cristo ever came to be the name. Or names.

But Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme wasn't the original name. It was one invented in the late nineteenth century when Manacor town hall agreed to a project to build houses in what, historically, had been known as Porto Cristo (two words). This name goes back to the thirteenth century and came about because Italian fishermen took refuge from a storm and came with images of Christ and the Virgin. So, defenders of Porto Cristo are even more steeped in the defence of antiquity than the johnny-come-latelys who would put in a bid for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme.

You would think that this thirteenth century heritage would be enough to stop any argument, but you would of course be wrong, and the body which helped to make matters more complicated than they might otherwise have been was the regional government. In 1988, in attempting to arrive at some harmonisation as to place names, the government proposed calling Porto Cristo (two words) Portocristo (one word). Outraged, certain politicians in Manacor argued that Portocristo (one word) was a false toponym borrowed from other one-word "portos" on the island (e.g. Portopí). As a consequence of all this, the Balearics Supreme Court got dragged in to arbitrate. It said that the name should be Porto Cristo but suggested that it could also be a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, which wasn't, with hindsight, a terribly useful compromise, if compromise it had indeed been intended to be.

This decision by the court was taken in 1990. Twenty-three years later, the matter keeps cropping up, as it did recently during a debate at a meeting of Manacor council. The reason why it keeps cropping up is because the Porto Cristo versus Portocristo camps won't let it drop and because there are still any number of anomalies as to the spelling. While university experts have argued the case for Porto Cristo, there are those who argue the case for Portocristo, as in fact they had back in 1988 when advising the government. Political parties in Manacor are now lined up behind the two names (and perhaps the hyphenated third), but at least one local politician has conceded that it is about time the whole ridiculous matter was laid to rest. But then he supports Portocristo.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.