prau - grassland - prado
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:51 am
prau: pronounced PROW. An expanse of cleared ground that is suitable for grazing or tillage. In Asturias, a prau is usually an area covered with grass or other plants that can be used by livestock (cows, sheep, goats, horses). It is usually enclosed by a hedge, stone fence or slabs of slate (chantos). Synonyms at field, grassland, pastureland.
The prau is often handed down in the countryside from parents to children. Because of the practice of subdividing land among descendants, much of the land evolved into ‘minifundios’ in which small plots of enclosed land are common. This is especially true of West Asturias, where the eldest son or daughter (meirazu/meiraza) inherited the praus and then proceeded to divvy them out.
Usage examples:
Na casa conceyu dixeron-y qu’el prau de Rodiles nun ye edificable. [They told him in town hall that the field in Rodiles cannot be developed.]
El rapaz anda a la gueta d’un prau pa poner un horru. [The guy is looking to buy a field where he can prop an Asturian granary.]
U ta tou pai? Miou pai ta segando no prau xunto’l riu. [Where’s your father? My father is mowing the grassland near the river.]
Idiomatic expressions:
Dexaron pa prau el casu de corrupcion en Xixon. [They let the corruption case go unchecked in Xixon; literally, ‘they let the field grow grass in Xixon.’]
Esi prau ta paciu. [That field/pasture is spent.]
A la veira’l riu nun hai praos ensuitos. [There are no dry pastures next to the river.]
Here is a picture of a heifer (xata) grazing on a prau outside the hamlet of A Porqueira, County Ayande (Allande).
The prau is often handed down in the countryside from parents to children. Because of the practice of subdividing land among descendants, much of the land evolved into ‘minifundios’ in which small plots of enclosed land are common. This is especially true of West Asturias, where the eldest son or daughter (meirazu/meiraza) inherited the praus and then proceeded to divvy them out.
Usage examples:
Na casa conceyu dixeron-y qu’el prau de Rodiles nun ye edificable. [They told him in town hall that the field in Rodiles cannot be developed.]
El rapaz anda a la gueta d’un prau pa poner un horru. [The guy is looking to buy a field where he can prop an Asturian granary.]
U ta tou pai? Miou pai ta segando no prau xunto’l riu. [Where’s your father? My father is mowing the grassland near the river.]
Idiomatic expressions:
Dexaron pa prau el casu de corrupcion en Xixon. [They let the corruption case go unchecked in Xixon; literally, ‘they let the field grow grass in Xixon.’]
Esi prau ta paciu. [That field/pasture is spent.]
A la veira’l riu nun hai praos ensuitos. [There are no dry pastures next to the river.]
Here is a picture of a heifer (xata) grazing on a prau outside the hamlet of A Porqueira, County Ayande (Allande).