How did Sevilla Get Its Name?

Sevilla has a very long history and somewhere in here the name Sevilla was conceived. In this blog I will tell you about how they came up with the name Sevilla.

First, I will tell you a little bit about the history of Sevilla. Sevilla has had four different population groups many years ago. It all started with the population groups of the Romans and the Greeks, than the Islamic people came to Sevilla and after that the catholic had the power over Sevilla.

Greek and Roman

The Greek population group was here first. Old legends say that Hercules has founded the city. The Greek population group was here around 600 years before Christ, but they did not give the city a name yet.

So, then we go to the Romans population group. 205 Years before Christ they managed to take over control of the city. They named the city Hispalis, but this name is still not the reason why the city is called Sevilla right now.

Islamic

In 712 the Islamic population group took over control in Sevilla. They renamed the name to Ishbiliyya at first, but they later changed it to Shbiva.

Catholic

In 1248 the Catholic population group gained the power over the city Shbiva (read: Sevilla). They changed the pronunciation and spelling slightly, so eversince then the city has the name Sevilla.  

In short, there were four important population groups. The Greek did not give the city a name yet, the Romans gave the city the name Hispalis, the Islamic gave the city the name Ishbiliyya at first and later they named the city Shbiva, and last, but not least, the Catholic gave the city the name Sevilla.

But how did they come up with the name Sevilla?

If you pronounce the name Shbiva, the name for the city the Islamic population group gave to the city, it is almost the same as Sevilla. Because Shbiva is an Arabic name, the Spanish people had to change the name so it would fit more in Spain. So, they thought about changing the name in something which is almost the same as Shbiva, but sounds more Spanish: and then they came up with the name Sevilla.

Do you want to know more about the history of Sevilla? Check this video!  Or check our blogs to read something about Sevilla to see what it looks like right now! 

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog!