Last modified: 2024-10-07 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: genisio | zenizio | hoopoe | palm | fountain(heraldic) |
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Like all toponyms in the municipality, this commune has two names: Genísio in Portuguese and Zenízio in Mirandese (the local syncretic Asturian-Leonese dialect complex, co-official language of Portugal and given a standard orthography); each is the translation of the other and both are an untranslatable, apparently meaningless toponym. The names in brackets are Mirandese, the local language.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 Feb 2016
It is a typical Portuguese communal flag with the coat of arms centred on a plain blue field.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 Feb 2016
Shield Argent a hoopoe Or feathered Sable and Argent and armed Sable with eyes Gules (in practice this is rather a hoopoe Proper) in chief a palm Vert per fess, in base a heraldic fountain. Mural crown Argent with three visible towers (village rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters " GENÃSIO". In spite of the bilingual status (enshrined in the Constitution of 1999), the scroll of the coat of arms is not bilingual, according to the law (signed in 2005). The shape of the scroll is not the most usual but the one favoured by heraldrist José Bénard Guedes and some times also used by others.
Meaning:
The nicknameof the locals is boubielhos, the hoopoes (after this local legend [see here, a story of superstition and ornithological ignorance; apparently acc. to this webpage hoopoes occur locally only in the Summer), is featured on the arms; the Portuguese blazon uses the form "boubela", matching the local word, instead of the usual "poupa". Also featured on the arms is a token for the local Catholic patron, Saint Eulalia (I am not sure whether the one of Merida or the one of Barcelona) represented by the palm, and for Fonte dos Raposos, a local mineral water spring, represented by the heraldic fountain.
Source: Hiperglobal webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 Feb 2016
Published in Diário da República: III Série on 8 June 2005
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 Feb 2016
Genísio (Zenízio) is one of the 13 communes of the Miranda do Douro Municipality; it had 186 inhabitants in 2011 and covers 29,8 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 Feb 2016
back to Miranda do Douro Communes click here