meirazu/meiraza heir/heiress primogenito/-a

[is]

meirazu/meiraza: Pronounced May-RAH-thoo/May-RAH-tha, chiefly West Asturian. Literally, the eldest son or daughter of a farmstead that inherited the bulk of a family’s wealth. The practice survived in the Asturian countryside well into the 20th century.

Variants in Central Asturian are mayurazu/mayuraza. Other West Asturian and Galician-Asturian variants: moirazu/moiraza, muirazu/muiraza, mourazu/moiraza.

Usage examples:

Nolo foi meirazu de Ca Xuacu en Bustantigo. [Nolo was left as the eldest son and heir of Xuacu’s farmstead in Bustantigo]

Lola quedo de mayoraza na Rasuca. [Lola became the heiress of La Rasuca]

Yera'l meirazu ya los outros tuvienon que marchar pa Sto. Domingo. [He was the eldest son/heir, and his siblings all left for Santo Domingo]

Faete falta casate bien ceu, que pa eso sos el meirazu. [You need to marry soon because you are the eldest son]

Foi de meiraza pa Ca Xuanon en Veiga. [She was the heiress and left to marry a man at Xuanon’s farm in Veiga]

Folk wisdom:

Si yes mayorazu, pa que quies les lletres ni andar col angazu? [If you’re the heir, why would you want to bother with studying or working with the rake in the fields?]

Listen to Xose Anton Abmas as he speaks with Pilar, from Almonu. This is a hamlet in the parish of Vil.lardesapos [literally, village of toads], in the southern part of County Ayande bordering Cangas del Narcea. There’s only one other farmstead nearby, known as Ca’l Caseiro. My friend Elias does not live far away…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsLiiBSpu2M

Pilar is 69 and the ‘meiraza’ of the House of Estanislao. Listen to her explain what the word ‘meiraza’ means.

She also gives the names of the adjoining villages with the characteristic West Asturian ‘ts’ sound, formerly known as the ‘ch’ vaqueira. Ambas tries to pronounce the ‘ts’ sound, but his sound is closer to a ‘ch’ than to the original. It is a very distinct sound, rougher than the Basque ‘tz’ and the German pronunciation of the letter ‘z’.

Here are a few examples of Pilar’s pronunciation:

Vil.lar [Vi-TSAR]
L.lomes [TSO-mes]
L.lourante [TSOU-rahn-teh]
Forniel.las [For-nee-AY-tsas]
Abaniel.la [A-bah-NEE-ay-tsa]
Val.le [Vah-TSAY]
L.lantigo [Tsan-TEE-go]