Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hello everybody! I recently found out that my mother's family is from Asturias, and I am exploring the origin of my name. I believe it may have come from an Asturian word. If anybody knows the meaning of the word "edit" please let me know. Thank you!!!

Sorry, I don't know what is your name's origin, but I can positively assure you that this is not an Asturian name. More, there isn't any word in Asturian similar to this.

I have had a search in Internet and found a few names mainly in the USA and some other countries in Latin America, but neither is Spanish. For my ears it seems like Dutch or so (only seems, but it is not a Dutch nor German name).

The mystery continues...

Hi Carlos, thanks for your reply. I know that the name is of Indian origin, but I saw it in this article http://www.lne.es/secciones/noticia.jsp ... cia=254732
which I believe is in Asturian. Can you translate the sentence containing the word "edit"? Thanks!

Hi Vedaben.

The article speaks on the 25 most famous singers of an Asturian song style, called "Tonada" in Asturies, and "Asturianada" in Spain. This style can be described principally by two characteristics:

- free metric, without a regular compass
- a big profussion of the ornements called "melismae"

This is a very old song style near to the traditional Irish music called "Sean-nòs" ("old style, old song" in Gaelic). See the Music section on this forum.

The concrete sentence says (in Asturian):

"Pero, cien años enantes, otru gaiteru y a la vez cantador de tonada collechaba éxitos per toa América, dende los Estaos Xuníos hasta los países del Conu Sur, y les principales capitales europees, como París, Londres y Berlín. Malapenes venti años depués del nacimientu del discu, y cuando les dificultaes d'una grabación y el so preciu descomanáu vedaben esti productu a les voces más prestixoses de la llírica y de la música clásica, el Gaiteru Lliberdón firma un contratu en Milán (Italia) pol que se compromete a grabar cuarenta canciones nos diez años siguientes. Cobró por ello 3.000 francos franceses de 1911."

English translation:

But a century ago another piper and at the same time Asturian Tonada singer gathered hits along the Americas, from the United States to the southern extreme, and the main european capitals, like Paris, London and Berlin. As soon as twenty years after invention of the discs, and when a record process was so difficult and expensive that forbided this techonology to the most famous voices of Classical Music, El Gaiteru Lliberdón ('The Lliberdon Piper', artistic name of Ramón García Tuero) signs a contract in Milan (Italy) in the terms of record 40 songs along the 10 next years. He received in this concept 3000 French Francs of 1911 (a true fortune)."

In this context, the word "vedaben" is the conjugation of the verb "vedar" = do difficult, forbid, impede:

(ellos) vedaben = (they) impeded

Yo vedaba
Tú vedabes
Él, ella, ello vedaba
Nosotros vedábemos
Vosotros vedábeis
Ellos, elles vedaben.

Cheers

Carlos, thank you so much for taking the time to translate the text! I suppose the meaning of my name still lies within the Sanskrit language and Hindu texts. I wonder if there were any Indian influences in Northern Spain about 100 years ago? Hmm. The mystery continues (again)...

Indian influences in Northern Spain? Not at all... The only Asiatic influences in Asturies are a Muslim cemetery dated at the Civil War, where there are some of the Franco's Army Moorish troops, near to Navia, in the West of Asturies.

Oh, yes, and "La Casa'l Chinu" (The Chinese man's House), at Cimavilla, the old fishermen's quarter in Xixón. This is a pretty story. At the begining of XX century, a Chinese man and his wife traveled from England to the USA in a transatlantic. The woman fell ill, and the ship's captain decided to disembark both of them in the nearest harbour, Xixón, because he had not the appropiate medical resources.

The Chinese woman deceased, and her husband decided that without his wife he didn't want to continue to America.

He established in Cimavilla and became friend of the fishermen, and finally married to an Asturian woman. His descendants still live in Cimavilla and have the family name Wey. A member of this family is the owner of Las Ballenas, a well known tavern.

A romantic story, uh?

Welcome, VLD1029. You said that your mother's family was from Asturias. Was that based on the word on that article? Or is there other data to suggest this?

Carlos, your English is amazingly easy to read. I hope my Spanish is as good!

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Bienvenido, VLD1029. Dijiste que la familia de tu madre era de Asturias. Se está basado en este artículo o hay otros datos que lo indican?

Carlos, tu uso de inglés es increíblemente fácil leer. Espero que es tan fácil leer lo que escribo en castellano.

Hi, Art. I recently found a family tree that links my great-grandparents to Asturias. In an unrelated search, I found my name in an Asturian article. I guess it was just a coincidence!

This is an interesting name. Does your family have roots in India, too?

I wonder if it's possible that someone would take that verb (vedar) and create a new nick name? Then at some point it could have become a surname. If so, there must be an interesting story behind the name!

Or maybe the name was Asturian and became corrupted when an immigration officer couldn't understand it.

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Es un nombre interesante. ¿Tenía tu familia raíces en la India, también?

¿Me pregunto si es posible que alguien usaría este verbo (vedar) para crear un nuevo mote? Entonces en un cierto punto quizás se convirtiera ser apellido. ¡Si es así, debe ser una historia interesante sobre el nombre!

O tal vez el nombre era Asturiano y se corrompió cuando un oficial de la inmigración no podría entenderlo.

Hi again!

We definitely don't have roots in India. My maternal great-grandparents were from Asturias, and gave that name to one of their daughters. I, in turn, was named after her (my grandmother). I have no idea where they must have come up with it. In Sanskrit, the word "veda" means knowledge, as in the Hindu texts called the "Vedas". "Ben" is a commonly used suffix in India, meaning "sister." I sometimes wonder if they didn't just fool with the spelling of the words "vida" and "bien" to creat a name meaning "good life." Could be...

At any rate, my family from Asturias carry the names Morales, Menendez and Nunez. My great grandfather is Feliciano Manzano Morales, and my great grandmother is Inosencia Menendez Nunez. They emigrated to Fronton, Ciales, Puerto Rico in the late 1800's. If anyone has any links to my family, please feel free to write.

And thanks again to Art and Carlos for trying to help decode my unique moniker...

Was Vedaben is a first name or a last name originally?

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¿Era Vedaben un nombre de pila o un apellido originalmente?

Art wrote:
Carlos, tu uso de inglés es increíblemente fácil leer. Espero que es tan fácil leer lo que escribo en castellano.

Sí, Art, tu castellano se entiende perfectamente aunque no sea correcto del todo. Mi inglés es más bien eso que ahora llaman "globish" Te sorpendería cuánto más fácil me resulta hablar inglés con un ruso que con un americano o un británico. Será porque los dos eliminamos esas "cosas raras" del inglés

Lo curioso del tema es que estoy aprendiendo bastante a base de leer los posts en este foro, lo que no significa que no me cueste mucho redactar yo mismo frases en inglés, constantemente tengo que tirar de diccionario para resolver dudas. Pero al menos ya no tengo que echar mano de esas horribles traducciones de Altavista o similares.

Digamos que estoy en la misma situación que Bob, que lee perfectamente el español pero prefiere escribir en inglés porque le lleva mucho menos tiempo.

Ah, y gracias por las correciones!

It was a first name. The only others I have found with this name (besides my grandmother) are in India. Strange....

Art wrote:
Or maybe the name was Asturian and became corrupted when an immigration officer couldn't understand it.

Puede que Vedaben sea Veraben ya que nuestra r es muy similar a la d inglesa y si cambiamos la a de posición tenemos la palabra Verbena....una suposición muy rara no?

Possible, but I believe my family was in Puerto Rico before my grandmother was born...